Udenrigsudvalget 2014-15 (1. samling)
URU Alm.del Bilag 14
Offentligt
THE CHANGING SECURITY ENVIRONMENT IN EUROPE
Speech in the Riigikogu, 16 October 2014
Matter of significant national importance
President of the Riigikogu,
Dear colleagues and guests,
Never before in the history of our continent have nations lived in such
wealth and freedom as today. And probably never before has the global
community offered Europe such varied security challenges as we see and
feel today.
It tends to be a fact around the world that the post-WW II international
relations system of the world has become under massive pressure. The
real issue is whether the world can rejuvenate by applying the current
international law, or are we facing more significant oppositions or even
conflicts.
European security is being challenged simultaneously by Russia's
aggressiveness, growing expansion of Islamic extremism in the Middle
East and North Africa, seemingly irrevocable rise of China to the global
leader, and transnational global phenomena, such as cyber terrorism or
poverty migration. When all is said and done, we must be very serious
about fighting the deadly Ebola virus which is spreading rapidly. The
World Health Organisation predicts a weekly increase by 10,000 victims
by the end of this year.
During the Cold War, the world seemed much simpler, at least from the
outside. This was reflected in the divided Europe of the time, with the
free world face to face with Russian imperialism behind its mask of
communist ideology. Today, the sheer number of centres of power and
influence around particular countries, not to mention other factors, has
made it much more difficult to understand the world, or to shape the best
policy.
It is no secret that the changes which affect us and our neighbourhood are
largely linked to the growing aggressiveness of Russia, which we have
been observing for several years now. In fact, Russia could be the number
one challenge for the integrity of the whole Western world.
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If any pivotal moment is to be pinpointed in the recent history of the
European security system, we cannot bypass the speech made by the
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Munich Conference on Security
Policy in February 2007. This was a speech where the Russian leader of
the time and of today gave us a clear signal that Moscow is not happy
with the leading position of the Western countries – particularly the
United States – in the world, and is ready to progress from words to
actions.
Many of those who witnessed Putin's speech in Munich remember their
utter shock at that moment. Despite the bloody Chechen war, oppression
of opposition, centralisation of authority, restriction of the freedom of
speech, and many other internal policy developments, the Western view
of Russia had been eclipsed by the end of the Cold War. Justified hope
prompted the assumption that Russia had more to gain from international
trade and partnership with Western countries, not from opposition.
Yet the currents that had guided Russian history as far back as the 19th
century turned out to be stronger and took us back to influence policy.
Vladimir Putin, who saw the collapse of the Soviet Union as the largest
geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, set out to implement his
words and goals after the speech in Munich.
The first signs of the changed situation in the European security appeared
in summer 2007, when Russia withdrew unilaterally from the Treaty on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. This gave Moscow free reign to
place its military in any quantity it wanted to strategically important
locations, which at the time mainly centred around the Northern Caucasus
region.
In August 2008, the whole world saw that Russia meant business with its
so-called independent foreign policy and creation, preservation and
extension of its sphere of influence. The aggression against Georgia and
the occupation of one fifth of its territory meant the first real steps against
the Western world. Russia did not hide that the attack on Georgia was
mainly aimed at putting a stop to NATO expansion.
Less than six years later, the world is witnessing a new and sadly an even
more serious conflict, which has been unravelling in front of our very
eyes for several months now. I am of course talking about Russia's
aggression against Ukraine. The occupation and annexation of Crimea
were a wake-up call to many who had so far not formed a clear opinion
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on the changes that had already started to take place in the European
security situation.
Dear colleagues,
All these and many other changes in the wider security environment
prompted the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu to launch
extended hearings on the security of the Nordic and Baltic countries in
2012. At the time, we set our timeline until 2020.
As you can see, we were still assuming a couple of years ago that no
rapid changes were foreseeable in the security environment. Trends, of
course, could be perceived, particularly the more active pressure policy of
Russia, but no one could predict the war against Ukraine back then.
Our Committee has the custom of asking for opinions and political
recommendations from think tanks on wider issues. This is how, at its 26
January 2012 meeting, the Committee discussed commissioning a
security study, and submitted a proposal to the Research Department of
the Chancellery of the Riigikogu for a study on the
Developments in the
Security Environment of the Nordic and Baltic Region until 2020.
Out of the three offers, the choice was made in favour of the International
Centre for Defence Studies. The report was compiled in cooperation with
the working group of the Defence Research Agency of Sweden (FOI),
and the final text was presented to the Committee on 13 September 2012.
The authors of the report, headed by Researcher Riina Kaljurand from the
International Centre for Defence Studies, gave us a 24-point list of
political recommendations, which included extra-regional factors as well
as the strengthening of regional security identity and cooperation.
The report was presented at a seminar in the Riigikogu Conference Hall
on 15 November 2012, organised in cooperation of the Committee and
the Centre. invitations had been sent to security experts and researchers,
representatives of Estonian authorities, ambassadors residing in Tallinn,
and journalists. The study is now available for everyone on the home
page of the parliament.
The joint recommendations of the Estonian and Swedish researchers
included a highlighted recommendation to achieve the political and
defence related presence of NATO, by large, and of USA, in particular,
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as the latter is the central ensurer of security in the region. The
recommendations of the report stressed that "in view of the European
deterrence plan of the NATO, it is in Estonia's interests to maintain a
balance between the conventional weapons, ballistic missile defence and
tactical nuclear weapons. In order to retain our deterrence ability, we
must improve the preparedness, the positioning and the capability of the
Northern European military forces".
The good quality of the report submitted to the Foreign Affairs
Committee is proven by the fact that a number of the recommendations
presented by the Centre of Defence Studies two years ago have by now
become a reality. For example, Finland's and Sweden's special
partnership with NATO and the ever expanding defence cooperation
between the Nordic Countries and the Baltic States are a reality today.
One recommendation, that has not been realised yet, concerned Estonia's
cooperation with our Nordic neighbours in the Arctic issues. The Centre
of Defence Studies recommended Estonia to seriously consider applying
for observer status in the Arctic Council, like Poland, in order to be
informed about the developments in the Far North and the activities of
the parties operating there, including the European Union and NATO.
In the opinion of the Foreign Affairs Committee, this is a very serious
proposal. Estonia's observer status in the Arctic Council would give us
the possibility to be more directly involved in solving of the problems of
the region that is becoming increasingly important in the global context
through, for example, research cooperation or environmental issues, and
it would also enable to expand our cooperation framework with our good
Nordic neighbours.
In addition to the research ordered from the Centre of Defence Studies,
the Foreign Affairs Committee in more than two years conducted more
that 44 hearings connected with the field of security. Besides that, we had
sittings at the NATO Cyber Defence Centre, the Information Board and
Tallinn maritime rescue centre, and also regular sittings together with the
National Defence Committee were held at the General Staff of the
Defence Forces, and a visit to international exercises took place.
The ratification of the Estonian-Russian border treaties, initiated by the
Government of the Republic on 10 March, is directly connected with the
security of Estonia. In connection with that, the Foreign Affairs
Committee has conducted a number of hearings, and on 13–14 March
visited the border regions of Narva and South-Eastern Estonia.
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In recent years, security issues have been on the agenda of all working
visits and important international meetings of the Foreign Affairs
Committee, including our working meetings in Japan, the Republic of
Korea, the USA, Russia, Finland, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Poland,
and also the regular meetings of the foreign affairs and national defence
committees of the European Union, the Foreign Affairs Committees of
the Baltic parliaments and the chairmen of the foreign affairs committees
of NB 8.
This year the Foreign Affairs Committee is also planning visits to Finland
and the USA, where the changed security situation in Europe will without
doubt be one of the central issues of discussion.
At its sitting on 23 September 2013, the Foreign Affairs Committee
decided to prepare a committee report on the basis of hearings. But taking
into account the sudden and quick changing of the whole security
situation during this year, last month the committee proposed to hold a
debate on the matter of significant national importance at the plenary
sitting of the Riigikogu on 16 October 2014. With today's sitting, the
committee is in a way ending its cycle of hearings, but naturally the
general security issues will remain one of the most important priorities of
our work.
Dear colleagues,
The National Security Concept prepared by the Government of the
Republic is a central framework document of Estonian foreign and
security policy. The last updated version of this document is from 2010.
It has become a good practice in the cooperation of the Riigikogu and the
Government to review the provisions of this document from time to time
and, if necessary, amend the policy recommendations.
The most recent reviewing took place on 14 May 2013, when the detailed
analysis of the Government of the Republic of the implementation of the
national security concept was discussed at the joint sitting of the Foreign
Affairs and National Defence Committees.
In the report submitted to us, it was stressed among other things that
although the validity of the document is not time-specific, it is provided
in the National Security Concept that it will be reviewed when the
security situation changes significantly and there is a need to update
security policy.
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In the opinion of the Foreign Affairs Committee, especially in recent
years the changes that require the reviewing and amending of the security
policy of Estonia have taken place directly in our and in a wider sense the
whole European security situation. The Government of the Republic
should do that as soon as possible.
Dear colleagues,
In today's world, the countries who have strong allies and who are
themselves active in the international security cooperation are successful
in guaranteeing their security.
Here Estonia can boast of long-time and purposeful effective activities,
thanks to which we can firmly state today – Estonia's security has never
been so well protected as it is now. Its central axis is formed of our
membership in NATO, and continuously improving bilateral relations
with our allies, including Estonia's very good neighbours Finland and
Sweden.
Estonia's reliability among our partners, which is first of all based on
fulfilling our commitments, allows us to influence the renewal of
European security strategy maybe even more actively than before. This is
especially important at the time when, as a result of recent political
manoeuvres or elections, on the main arena of the common foreign and
security policy of the European Union the number of internationally
acknowledged politicians has considerably decreased, especially among
the foreign ministers of the Member States.
Therefore it is especially important today that Estonia, together with like-
minded partners, filled that void more actively and directed the European
Union to concentrate more on strategic thinking. I am of the opinion that
the deficiencies of the latter have partly contributed to the worsening of
the security situation.
We can ask rhetorically – how can it be possible that so far the only
security strategy of the European Union dates from 2003? This was the
time when the Union had only 15 members. Until now all attempts to
review the strategy have failed. At the same time we must develop a
strategic culture in the European Union that would allow for early, rapid
and, if necessary, powerful intervention.
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A more unified and strategically more economical behaviour of European
countries would in no way contradict the activities of NATO, but would
only strengthen the common part in the security and defence cooperation
of the Western countries.
In conclusion, I would like to stress that the more coherent our society is
and the more internationally competitive our economy is, the better our
security is safeguarded. Estonia should not underrate the importance of
either of these.
The President of Estonia Lennart Meri said already in 1997 that if the
Estonian people's zeal for independence is visible, if the reputation of
Estonia is clean and spotless, and if the ability of the Estonians to keep
their independence is convincing, then the price of Estonia's integrity will
become so high that there will never be a need to protect it with arms.
Thank you for your attention!