00:00president thank you so much for joining us on euronews for this interview uh of course this
00:13is happening at an important time for europe and i want to get your brains on a speech that was
00:19made this week by mario draghi and he suggested this is now the time for the european union to
00:25make decisions to work like a real federation and a true union would you agree i agree with a true
00:32union i mean but i'm not sure about federation i mean if you think um it's the right way to go but
00:40i guess it's difficult at this very moment to uh to build up a federation so there are new countries
00:46you join the european unions and they probably want to keep the independence and so forth but in
00:53general we should probably at some point move to this federation because to have makes us more
00:58united makes us more faster especially these days when we have to make decisions it's very i mean
01:04it's very slow in in european union and of course you mentioned draghi i mean draghi's report is also
01:11very important uh document but unfortunately it has not been followed and i guess mr draghi is also
01:19very disappointing so uh he seems frustrated yeah i mean what is the source of the paralysis is this
01:25as you say the european union is 27 countries the functioning of the machine is very complex
01:30does that make you think to be a true union we need to change the way we operate from within
01:36yes but we can start and with very little things like uh bureaucracy i mean it's very very a lot of
01:44bureaucracy in european union and this slows everything down also in states so i have to
01:50adopt all these bureaucratic declarations and so forth so it takes time so we should start from
01:57bureaucracy and probably digitalization and ai might help but then again there are always people behind so
02:05we should start with people probably and uh president uh the european union has said by 2030 we need to be
02:11ready to face they don't use this word but ultimately this is what it comes down to a potential war a
02:16conflict a military uh clash with russia uh is that you think at this point really happening this idea
02:24of a union of defense is that materializing quickly enough are you concerned what we actually do do to
02:28make sure it's going to happen so uh that's why deterrence and i mean defense industry building up a
02:35defense industry again it's important i mean estonia is a small country and we put five percent on defense
02:40already and we should encourage also other other countries to do the same because you have to be ready
02:46not ready for a war but uh but the enemy or enemy understands it's you know there's no point to attack
02:53european union or any european country do you still believe nato is the ultimate backstop for security
02:59for the continent yes i do i mean i don't think we should build another nato in in europe i mean
03:06another defense system the reason why i ask you this question is because after the very aggressive
03:11language that president trump put forward uh on greenland and obviously that is now a member state
03:16and a member of nato denmark also in a way a perfect ally some would say within nato uh that has sparked a
03:23conversation that maybe nato will not come uh to rescue europeans is that something that now you worry
03:28about at night oh we're not worried but we don't want to test it we don't want to test article five
03:33so that's why i'm saying we have to be ready but not to be ready to start the war with our enemies so
03:39uh it's um it's a defense system you are building up because we have been rather i would say naive
03:46after the fall of a berlin war in europe so what we think all the wars are over and everything is fine
03:52and we are developing fast and so forth but if you look back in history it's uh thousands years of
03:59history it's a history of wars so that means we have to be prepared and make sure it doesn't happen
04:05again at least to postpone it and uh at this point we do have to talk about a war that is ongoing and
04:11that is uh ukraine also at this point very difficult context because of the freezing temperatures
04:16that are happening in the country and ultimately these are europeans freezing under minus 20 uh
04:22degrees at this diplomacy from the u.s but also the efforts from the europeans they are not moving
04:27forward this war is not ending anytime soon trump said already last april but we are very close but
04:33now it's almost a year but we are still discussing and the problem is it's not the question of
04:39president selensky and president trump discussing we need putting behind the table but that he's not
04:45not willing to do so and you mentioned what's happening now in kiev i mean minus temperatures
04:50and it's not minus five it's inhumane yes and now another attack last night to uh to uh cities and to
04:58uh power plants so uh it's it's not humane i mean this is uh this is not uh it's not a reality to be
05:07honest but it happens right now there is a growing number of countries that suggest perhaps the reason why
05:12the dialogue uh not just between selensky and president trump but really engaging in a sort of
05:17diplomatic channel uh with the russians is not moving it's not working is because there's no direct
05:23communication and this is the time now to name an eu envoy for russia is that a good idea in your mind
05:29yes of course i mean european union should be involved in in these discussions as well although we are not
05:36fighting with russia directly but we have been supporting ukraine for so many years already and
05:43and continue to do so so we should have a say as well but you see i mean again we are a bit late
05:50we should have started it not president maybe not president trump but maybe european union
05:55to start also finding diplomatic solutions to this to talk to russia yes to talk to russia but speak
06:00directly a couple years ago we were in a position that we don't talk to uh with aggressors and now
06:05we're worried but not we are not behind the table so uh so you would argue at this point uh it doesn't
06:12mean there's less support for ukraine but it reflects a reality we have to talk to i mean we should use all
06:18the means to end this war and to end this war like you let's adjust war like ukraine wants it's not
06:24to question what we want but ukraine wants peace that's for sure i mean people are dying poses the
06:30ukrainians have not signaled they would not like if a european as far as i know yes yeah and uh sir
06:36do you have a name in mind that you go and think it's a respected tough credible person they should
06:42engage with russia we seem to hear from the russians that they have nothing to discuss with the top
06:48diplomat and that would be kaya galas so is there anyone that you think this is i can't name the names
06:54but for sure we need a person who has credibility on both sides and it's an old question already i
07:01mean if you talk think about kissinger who said also i talked to europe who i talked to so we need it of
07:08course we do have european union but there are other european countries and we need probably a president
07:14or prime minister or chancellor from from bigger europe european countries to to to take this job or
07:22former uh former of these uh people from these positions and the other flip side beyond the war
07:28is the outlook uh that ukraine says they want and they need uh the end of the war obviously will be
07:34bring a form of stability but it's not a full piece uh they talk about a prosperity plan which i know has
07:39already been shared with the different capitals uh they talk about an outlook to 2040 and then they
07:43talk about accession a number of figures have been reported 2027 maybe before 2030 uh is there a future
07:51for ukraine in the eu within that timeline it seems to me 2027 is that realistic to be honest it's not
08:01because for us it took also more than 10 years and we were not in a war so uh it takes time and you have
08:09to uh fulfill all the requirements and and and so forth but estonia is very uh open to this uh
08:17enlarging european union and we are proponents of that developments it's not only ukraine but other
08:24balkan countries as well so but of course we should and it's not one thing is european union but then this
08:32peace plan is there we need also some security guarantees for ukraine what's going to break this
08:40cycle is it the europeans saying we will put boots on the ground is this extending perhaps a nuclear
08:45deterrence uh over in ukraine is this the united states saying we will come and engage militarily
08:51what breaks this cycle so it's credible of course there are countries who are ready to uh put boots on
08:56the ground some are not some are i mean different ways like we do now we we help militarily ukraine
09:03and train them and so forth but we need somebody present unfortunately it's also as a part of a
09:10peace deal somehow russia has to accept it as well which is they say that's world war three russians
09:16argue that you are too paranoid and you are hysterical that they have never said that they will do anything
09:20to the baltics or poland do you take that as a signal if they say they don't it means they will what
09:25we see i mean it's very difficult to be believe russia again look back to how many deals how many
09:31promises so it's very difficult to believe i mean also russia said then we never attack nato it might
09:38have it might not happen but it might also happen that's why we have to be ready and as sir just to
09:43close up this segment uh for ukraine specifically when it comes to accession um i cover brussels for many
09:49years now and everyone that i speak to about this tells me it's difficult to put a date uh 2027
09:54it's not realistic but it's also clear that the accession for ukraine will not be a normal accession
10:01is that something you would say that is a real politic it will not be a normal accession process
10:06we will have to cross lines that we have not until now we always cross lines when new member is uh
10:13is uh entering european union but of course ukraine is different so i i don't know whether it's wise to
10:21make exceptions because there are other countries who has been waiting in a hallway for quite a while
10:25they'll say it's unfair and it was political and it's uh and also moldova and and balkan states
10:31so um there are certain requirements and you one has to follow and actually ukraine is doing quite a
10:38good job i'm fighting with corruptions although we see still worry about the story around corruption
10:44i mean corruption is say is well we we did fight with this corruption in the 90s and we managed to
10:50get rid of this corruption we digitized everything that means it it's very transparent it's very
10:55difficult to be corrupting in our country just as a final uh question uh president carries uh we are
11:01obviously in dubai i think it's a very well written in in this panel you're participating for the first
11:06time in this conference why reach out to the gulf do you think you would have been here today
11:12interested and engage in this dialogue if president trump had not been elected and put on the
11:17tariffs because the impression that we get is the european union is now really reaching out
11:22in a way out of necessity no i don't think so at least as far as estonia is concerned we are trying
11:27to diversify our our businesses and we are already present in 150 countries which is for a small country
11:36it's a it's a real thing so it's not uh doesn't matter who is president the united states or who
11:42is president in somewhere else so we are trying to do our job and try to try to um develop faster than
11:49maybe some other countries well president cares thank you so much for joining us in the europe
11:53conversation a year and it's great to see you thank you very much
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