Invited to Tallinn by Estonian Parliament Riigikogu, Mr Klaus Welle, the Secretary General of the European Parliament, visited Tallinn on 2nd of Dec to hold a public lecture and meet the students of ESD. Mr Welle held a short speech entitleled The EU – Preparing For The Next 25 Years in which he looked the roots of all recent crisis in Europe: financial crisis, migration crisis, reviving views of political extremism etc. According to Welle, the blame for crisis lies within the EU member states that have not properly followed the rules and regulations set by the EU. For Welle it is important to ensure the implementation of three crucial security conceptions: external security, internal security and social security, which sould be granted within the EU as well as in it’s neighbourhood.
The main message of Welle’s address was that the EU should transit from its current, predominantly legislative regime to a supplementary, scrutinising and executive regime. The EU should offer capabilities when member states’ capacities have been exhausted. This includes the EU looking the at developments on all levels of member states’ actions. SG Welle pointed out that the integration of the EU is likely to continue, but there should be no euphoria to expect treay changes as the potentials of existing treaties have not been sufficiently used and exhausted yet.
ESD students asked Mr Welle questions related to security and Eastern Partnership. The event was moderated by ESD Director Mr Ekke Nõmm.
We thank the Information Bureau of European Parliament in Tallinn.
