Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Legislation

"It was decided at the meeting of the committee preparing the presidency on Tuesday that Estonia could invite EU ministers to Estonia on at least a dozen occasions during the EU presidency," Piret Lillevali, the official coordinating the preparations for the presidency, told BNS on February 25th.

"The list of the current working version contained 16 wishes for meetings of the highest level, or informal councils. The committee decided to forward no more than 12 to the government," the Estonian permanent representative to the EU, Matti Maasikas, said in his blog.

Unlike formal meetings of EU councils, which are held only in Brussels or Luxembourg, informal meetings on the ministerial level can be held also in the courty holding the rotating EU presidency. At the informal meetings topical issues are discussed but no formal decisions made.

"For the presidency a program of events at home allows to draw attention to important substantive topics and at the same time to present one's country to EU top officials and policymakers. This is an opportunity and challenge worthy of our jubilee year," Lillevali said, referring to the centenary events of the Republic of Estonia that will culminate in February 2018. 

Maasikas indicated in his post that politicians would like to stage more rather than less of such meetings, which is why the EU Secretariat of the Government Office in its capacity as the coordinating institution was given a "negotiating and reporting task."

The Estonian representative to the EU underscored that when it comes to ministerial level events, various thematic conferences have to be preferred to informal ministerial meetings, as the format of the former can be expanded and politicians from other countries invited to take part. "This includes ministers from the Eastern Partnership countries, managers of large IT companies and other gurus, and one can set the topics more precisely too," Maasikas said in the blog.

Preparations for the Estonian presidency and holding of the presidency are being overseen by the team for preparation of the Estonian presidency of the Council of the European Union set up at the EU Secretariat of the Government Office.