“In the context of defending the values of the European Union, it is underlined that supporting Ukraine requires achieving a just and lasting peace and compliance with international law. It is also noted that the goal is to strengthen the EU’s role as a promoter of a rules-based international order,” Tali said. “As regards improving competitiveness, we fully agree with the goal of simplifying rules, strengthening trade relationships, lowering energy prices, and accelerating digital development.”

On 1 July, Ireland took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months, focusing on strengthening the economic prosperity, security and core values of the EU. The meeting will also address parliamentary cooperation and democratic resilience in an uncertain world. The meeting of the Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs will open with a welcoming address by Verona Murphy, Speaker of Dáil Éireann (lower house of the Parliament of Ireland).

COSAC is a cooperation format that brings together the European Union Affairs Committees of the national parliaments of the 27 EU Member States. The COSAC Plenary Meeting will take place in Dublin on 6–8 December.

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Link uudisele: Tali discusses Europe’s competitiveness and security with his counterparts in Ireland

“Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has been ongoing for more than four years already. Putin’s regime is unable to achieve a breakthrough on the front and is therefore continuing its massive terrorist attacks against the people of Ukraine, residential areas of its cities, and vital civilian infrastructure. Russia has used air strikes to make the lives of ordinary people in Ukraine as dangerous as possible, in order to break the Ukrainians’ will to defend themselves,” Tali said.

“One of the greatest military challenges for Ukraine is manning its units on the front and mobilisation, and that is precisely why it is neither reasonable nor fair to grant war refugee status to Ukrainian citizens who should be on the front. This is a fundamental change aimed at supporting Ukraine’s ability to continue defending itself,” Tali said, adding that nothing would change for those Ukrainians who already had been granted temporary protection.

Temporary protection grants war refugees the right to live, work and study, as well as access to social services, in European countries. According to the Implementing Decision, temporary protection will be extended until 4 March 2028. Currently, nearly 4.4 million people who have fled Ukraine enjoy temporary protection in the European Union.

The Government’s positions on extending the application of temporary protection to Ukrainian war refugees were presented at the sitting of the European Union Affairs Committee by Minister of the Interior Igor Taro. The European Union Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu decided to approve the positions by consensus.

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Link uudisele: Riigikogu supports extending temporary protection to Ukrainian war refugees with a restriction

“We support an EU-wide company form, but on the condition that the administrative burden on businesses will be reduced and no unreasonable obligations will be imposed on the public sector,” Tali said. “We support a solution according to which a company can be established within 48 hours, digitally and at low cost, based on model articles of association. However, the provisions that threaten legal certainty, create unjustified restrictions, and increase regulatory fragmentation must be removed from the proposal.”

The positions note that Estonia does not support the provisions on insolvency law in the regulation or addressing tax law issues in this legislative act, as these topics go beyond the scope of the objective of harmonising company law in the internal market, are problematic in terms of Treaty-based competence, and require separate and more thorough consideration.

According to the explanatory memorandum, it is intended to adopt the proposed regulation at the end of the year. Estonia supports the fast time framework of the proposed regulation but points out that speed must not increase the administrative burden on economic operators or impose disproportionate additional costs on the public sector.

The positions of the Government regarding the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on the 28th Regime Corporate Legal Framework – “EU Inc.” were presented at the sitting of the European Union Affairs Committee by Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta and Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi. The European Union Affairs Committee approved the positions in an amended form by consensus, taking into account the opinion of the Legal Affairs Committee.

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Link uudisele: The Riigikogu supports simplification of setting up of companies in the European Union

“To evade sanctions and transport oil, Russia is using a shadow fleet consisting of ships in very poor condition, which poses a threat of an environmental disaster and whose vessels serve as platforms for hybrid warfare. Our aim is to put an end to the operations of this shadow fleet in the Baltic Sea,” Tali said. “We must work closely together to monitor the shadow fleet and intercept dangerous vessels, and ensure that coastal states do not have to bear the responsibility and potential damage alone. Estonia will continue to work on measures against the ghost fleet and will strive to achieve a total ban on maritime services to these dangerous vessels within the European Union.”

In addition to Tali, Chairs of the European Union Affairs Committees of the parliaments of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, and Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the parliaments of Iceland and Norway participated in the meeting.

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Link uudisele: Parliamentarians from the Baltic Sea countries discussed energy security

Estonia’s positions point out that the current quantities ensure cost predictability and investment security for businesses, which is why changes to the quantity of allowances should be as moderate as possible, and that the European Commission’s proposal reduces the benchmarks for several sectors too rapidly in comparison to improvements in technological and economic capabilities.

Estonia’s positions also note that when revising the Emissions Trading System (ETS) Directive, the methodology for determining allowances should also be thoroughly updated so that it would better take into account the actual capacity of sectors to reduce emissions, and the improvements in technological readiness. The directive itself will not be amended at present; only the implementing act of the directive will be reviewed.

The positions of the Government regarding the Commission Implementing Regulation determining revised benchmark values for free allocation of emission allowances for the period from 2026 to 2030 were presented at the sitting of the European Union Affairs Committee by Head of the Climate Department of the Ministry of Climate Laura Remmelgas.

The European Union Affairs Committee approved the positions of the Government, taking into account the opinion of the Economic Affairs Committee.

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Link uudisele: The European Union Affairs Committee: Benchmark values for free allocation of emission allowances should not be reduced too abruptly

“That is why the European Union Affairs Committee added a clause to Estonia’s positions stating that it must be possible to apply for financing for the development of drone-related curricula, centres of excellence, and regional testing capabilities from the existing European Union programmes as well as from the funds of the next budget period, 2028–2034,” explained the Chairman.

Tali also believes that the opportunity to participate in the development of testing capabilities of counter-drone measures is of significant importance to Estonia. “The European Union wishes to support the creation of testing centres for drone and counter-drone technologies in Eastern Europe. This initiative is very important to us, considering the overall security situation, and especially the events of the past six months, not to mention that it would be a great opportunity for our defence industry companies. However, we believe that the testing centre should definitely be located not in Eastern Europe, but in countries on the European Union’s eastern border, that is, in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, or Romania. We actually have drones flying, and Putin’s regime is actually using electronic warfare tools,” he explained.

Regina Tagger, Adviser of public sector innovation at the Strategy Unit of the Government Office, presented the Government’s positions on the European Union’s Action Plan on Drone and Counter Drone Security at the sitting of the European Union Affairs Committee. The European Union Affairs Committee approved the positions by consensus, taking into account the opinion of the National Defence Committee.

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Link uudisele: The Riigikogu made the Government’s positions on the European Union’s drone action plan stricter

Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee Peeter Tali said that in order for Albania to join the European Union, it was important to continue with implementing reforms. He added that he was happy to see the country’s commitment and rare consensus regarding integration with the EU. “Albania’s plan is to close most of the chapters in its negotiations with the European Union by the end of next year and achieve full membership by 2030. This requires the support of all 27 member states,” he said. “Enlargement is a political decision, but consensus is always easier to achieve when the candidate country has done its homework perfectly.”

Bilateral relations, cooperation – particularly in the fields of defence industry and digital skills – as well as the situation in the Western Balkans, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and transatlantic relations were also discussed during the meetings. Member of the European Union Affairs Committee Urve Tiidus also participated in the meeting of the Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee with the Speaker of the Parliament of Albania.

In the morning, Peleshi met with President of the Republic Alar Karis and visited the Memorial to the Victims of Communism at Maarjamäe. The Speaker of the Parliament of Albania will also meet with Chairman of the Estonia-Albania Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Riigikogu Eerik-Niiles Kross and member of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Andrei Korobeinik later today.

Photos ( (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)

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Link uudisele: President of the Riigikogu to the Speaker of Albania: Our cooperation for security will continue

“While 115 million euros is not a huge sum, we have to start somewhere, and it will go to the right place. It is positive that the initiative encourages the cooperation between smaller companies and large defence industry companies, and production specifically within the European Union, so that our independent production capacity in the defence industry could grow. This is undoubtedly necessary for strengthening European security and also useful in every way for Estonian defence industry companies,” Tali added. “High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, and European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius have done and continue to do excellent work.”

According to the positions, we support the adoption of new technologies and innovation in the defence sector. We also support the continuation of the programme in the next European Union budget period. We find that the programme should support solutions based on the defence needs of the countries of the eastern flank of Europe and the lessons learned from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We are of the opinion that Ukrainian companies should also be able to submit proposals.

At today’s sitting of the European Union Affairs Committee, Director of the Defence Industry Development Department of the Ministry of Defence Miiko Peris gave an overview of the positions of the Government on the Programme for agile and rapid defence innovation (AGILE). The European Union Affairs Committee approved the positions by consensus, taking into account the opinion of the National Defence Committee.

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Link uudisele: The Riigikogu supports the EU Programme for defence innovation

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Marko Mihkelson said that the discussions at the joint sitting of Riigikogu committees had been substantive and frank and had focussed on Ukraine. “Estonia as a border country is well aware of the situation. We recognise that in order to achieve a just and lasting peace, it is necessary to continue with supporting Ukraine and exerting pressure on Russia. Only when the aggressor realises that continuing the war will not bring the desired result, it will be ready to hold real negotiations. We cannot begin talks with Russia in the near future, but Europe can work towards this goal and continue to strengthen its own security,” Mihkelson said.

At the sitting, Kallas gave an overview of current issues in the European Union’s foreign and security policy, noting that the greatest attention was currently focused on Ukraine and the Middle East.

Photos (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)

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Link uudisele: Riigikogu committees discussed foreign policy with High Representative of the EU Kaja Kallas

Last year, electric vehicles formed 27 per cent of new cars in the European Union. “It is important to promote the production of new electric vehicles in the EU so that we would be less dependent on fuel from third countries. It also helps mitigate the pressure that cheap electric cars produced in China have put on our car manufacturers – this is a serious problem for the European economy,” Tali underlined.

It was found at the sitting that car manufacturers had already made investments to transition to the production of low-emission vehicles, so it would not make sense to consider further lowering of the target. It was also noted that countries with automotive industries had not proposed a significant reduction in emission targets. The rules apply to new vehicles manufactured in the EU, not to those already on the market.

According to the approved positions, Estonia considers it important that the introduction of flexibilities would not impose an additional administrative burden on Member States. Flexibilities must support, and not limit or hinder, the availability of vehicles, including electric vehicles, on the European Union market. Therefore, solutions must be designed in a way that simultaneously supports the achievement of climate targets and the continuation of a functioning and competitive vehicle market in the EU.

The Government’s positions regarding the initiative to amend the CO₂ emission performance standards for passenger cars and vans were presented by Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Climate Kristi Klaas. The European Union Affairs Committee approved the positions, taking into account the opinion of the Economic Affairs Committee and the Environment Committee.

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Link uudisele: The Riigikogu supports more flexible emission standards for EU car manufacturers