The discussion organised by the Estonian Representation of the European Commission, where the speakers included President Ilves and barrister Jüri Raidla, focused on the future of the European Union.
One of the main forward-looking questions is the issue of the two-chamber parliament: the upper house, where all states are equally represented, and the lower house with proporional representation, President Ilves said.
According to him, the current crisis demonstrates that in today's Europe, there is almost no distinction made between "old" and "new" Europe anymore, because the union is divided into countries that follow the agreed rules and countries that violate these rules, and the ones violating the rules are not "new".
"Estonia supports a strong Europe," President Ilves assured. "If we want Europe to be a force to be reckoned with in the world, we also need hard power. NATO and the EU have a combined population of 900 million, which yields enormous power for the protection of democracy in the world."
Office of the President
Public Relations Department
Phone +372 631 6229
