Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and Denmark's European Union Affairs Minister Nicolai Wammen expressed hope at their meeting in Tallinn on Friday that the EU budget agreed on the level of heads of government and heads of state will be approved in the European Parliament already in the near future.
"I hope that the European Parliament will support the multi-annual budget agreed by the Council still during the Irish presidency," the Estonian prime minister said according to spokespeople for the government.
"Delaying the decision is not good as by that, for instance, also the infrastructure project Rail Baltic that is very important for the Baltic countries would be put at risk," Ansip said.
"Just like Estonia, Denmark is a very EU minded country," Ansip said. "We are glad to be sharing the same views on many issues. Cooperation between the countries has been intense through all the years."
According to Ansip and Wammen, a strong and effectively functioning EU is in the interest of both countries. Wammen, whose country is not a member of the euro area, spoke highly of the Estonian approach by which problems have to be solved together with all the member states, not differentiating between countries which belong to the euro area and countries which do not.
The meeting also touched upon Eastern Partnership as one of the regional initiatives of the EU neighborhood policy, whose goal is to intensify the cooperation and integration of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus with the EU.
Eastern Partnership is one of the priorities for the upcoming Lithuanian presidency of the EU. An Eastern Partnership summit due in Vilnius in November is expected to lead to progress in relations between the EU and Eastern Partnership partners.
Ansip and Wammen said they wish to see a resultful and successful summit.