Brussels, October 26, 2023 – Prime Minister Kaja Kallas of Estonia is in Brussels to participate in a meeting of the European Council. On her agenda are discussions regarding additional support for Ukraine, the state of the EU economy, competitiveness-boosting measures, and EU budget priorities. PM Kallas emphasized the significance of supporting Ukraine and stressed the need for further sanctions and the use of frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine.
In her statement, Prime Minister Kallas expressed Estonia’s commitment to fulfilling its promise of supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary. To ensure sustainability and enhance Europe’s defense readiness, she highlighted the importance of reviewing the EU budget.
Kallas stated, “To Estonia, it is very important that we fulfill our promise to support Ukraine for as long as is necessary. To that end, we will also be reviewing the EU budget to ensure that our support is sustainable and enables us to boost Europe’s own defense readiness. Moreover, I will stress that we await an agreement on further sanctions and on the use of frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine.”
Prior to the European Council meeting, PM Kallas opened the digital infrastructure session at the Global Gateway Forum on sustainable economic growth. The Global Gateway Forum aligns with the EU’s connectivity strategy, aiming to reduce the digital gap in less developed regions by promoting high-quality infrastructure projects worldwide.
Following the forum, Prime Minister Kallas is scheduled to meet with President Vahagn Khachaturyan of Armenia to discuss regional security. Additionally, she will participate in a meeting of the Renew Europe group of liberal political parties in the afternoon.
Prime Minister Kallas is set to meet with the heads of state and government of the Nordic countries, the Baltic States, and Ireland to discuss matters related to the European Council meeting. Furthermore, she plans to hold discussions with the heads of government of Finland and Sweden regarding the protection of critical undersea infrastructure.
The meeting of the heads of state and government of the European Union will continue on Friday, concluding with the Euro Summit, which will address the state of the euro area and the economy.
