Estonia has hope of achieving an even better result at the talks over the European Union's budget for the next seven years, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said on Thursday.
Estonian PM: I believe our position will improve
7th February 2013, 21:38
Please note that the article is more than five years old and belongs to our archive. We do not update the content of the archives, so it may be necessary to consult newer sources.
"I'm not here to lose and there are some promising indicators that the outcome will be further improved for us," Ansip told BNS in Brussels. Despite Estonia's being one of the largest net recipients under the draft financial framework 2014-2020, the country's position may still improve when the budget is agreed, he said.
The prime minister said at the same time that he wouldn't want to raise Estonians' hopes too high, acknowledging that nothing will have been agreed until everything is agreed.
The start of the European Council meeting on the EU financial framework was put back two and a half hours and a new proposal for the negotiations was to be handed to heads of government at 6:30 Estonian time.
Ansip said he hopes that an agreement will be hammered out after all and the new budget of the EU will be adopted at the summit which according to plans should end at 6 a.m. at the latest.