Estonian president to EU: It’s payback time

During the Baltic state’s presidency of the Council of the EU it wants to focus on digital innovation in public services.

TALLINN — On the eve of Estonia’s first stint at the helm of the Council of the European Union, President Kersti Kaljulaid said Thursday it was “payback time” for the EU’s help and support for the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“When we regained independence, we were weak, but we received quite a lot of support and help, and also of course the opportunity to join the European Union was very strong support to help cement our presence in Europe,” Kaljulaid told reporters in a news conference outside her office.

“It is only 25 years since, and we feel that we have a lot to offer to Europe,” she continued. “It’s in a way payback time now.”

Estonia’s six-month turn at the rotating presidency, which begins Saturday, will focus on digital innovation, particularly electronic public services, which the Baltic nation has made a hallmark of its own government. Estonia likes to boast that the only things a citizen cannot do online are get married, get divorced, or sell their home.

“We are proud to offer this experience, back to our partners and allies,” Kaljulaid said, “to offer our understanding of digital society and to offer our help to make sure that digital aspects of all EU policies would be well-covered and taken forward during our EU Council presidency.”

More broadly, the president said her country would use its leadership role to be sure all EU countries — big and small — were given due consideration. In fact, small countries have had an outsized role of late because of Brexit, with Estonia taking over the presidency from Malta because the U.K. relinquished its turn following the referendum to leave the EU.

Like Malta, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Estonia has said it intends as much as possible to minimize the impact of Brexit on the EU’s agenda.

“Your main responsibility is to guarantee what actually we in Estonia believe is really important in the European Union, and that is that every country, every member state, has a voice and a right to be heard,” Kaljulaid said.

“I feel very strongly about this,” she said, “because this is what we always tell our own people here in Estonia: everybody has a voice.”

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