Activites

• 2007/05/24 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0215/2007 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a joint resolution on Estonia by 460 votes in favour to 31 against with 38 abstentions. It expresses its support for, and solidarity with, the democratically elected Estonian Government in its efforts to ensure order, stability and the rule of law for all residents of Estonia, and regarded attacks targeting one of the smallest EU Member States as a test case for the European Union's solidarity.To recall, in April 2007, demonstrators protesting against the Estonian Government's decision to relocate the Soviet "monument to the liberators of Tallinn" from the centre of the Estonian capital to the Cemetery of the Estonian Defence Forces a few kilometres away were responsible for two nights of violence, which started with demonstrators attacking the police and resulted in widespread vandalism in the centre of Tallinn. These attacks were carried out with the active organisation and cooperation of forces located outside Estonia. There were also hostile demonstrations in Moscow outside the Estonian Embassy and physical attacks on the Estonian and Swedish Ambassadors. In addition, systematic cyber attacks have been organised, mostly from outside Estonia, in an attempt to block official communication lines and Estonian administration websites. Those attacks have come from Russian administration IP addresses. Wide-scale restrictions on Estonian exports to Russia were introduced, with Russian companies suspending contracts with Estonian firms, Estonia's energy supplies being threatened and the Estonia-St. Petersburg train connection being suspended with effect from the end of June 2007. Parliament stated that Estonia, as an independent Member State of the EU and NATO, has the sovereign right to assess its recent tragic past, starting with the loss of independence resulting from the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939 and ending only in 1991. It considered inadmissible the various attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of Estonia by the Russian authorities, and was alarmed by the inadequate protection by the Russian authorities of the Estonian embassy in Moscow and by the physical attacks on the Estonian Ambassador by the "Nashi" demonstrators. Parliament condemned the attempts by Russia to exert economic pressure on Estonia as an instrument of foreign policy and called on the Russian Government to restore normal economic relations between the two states. The Russian authorities were reminded that the indiscriminate and openly hostile rhetoric used by the Russian authorities against Estonia is in sharp contrast to the principles of international behaviour and will affect EU-Russia relations generally. The Russian Government must engage in an open and unbiased dialogue with the eastern and central European democracies on the history of the 20th century, as well as on the crimes against humanity, including those of totalitarian communism, committed then.Parliament called on the Commission and all the Member States to assist in the analyses of the cyber attacks on Estonian websites and to present a study on how such attacks and threats might be addressed at EU level, and called on Russia to assist in these investigations to the full.Lastly, it welcomed the words of the Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who emphasised that people who came to Estonia in Soviet times and now live in the Republic of Estonia, as well as their children and grandchildren, are all Estonian fellow countrymen. All Estonians have their own, very painful experience of life under three consecutive occupying powers in the last century, and there is a need to be able to understand the tragedies of others. He reminded all parties concerned that the Estonian domestic dialogue must be enhanced so as to bridge existing gaps between the different communities and to create new opportunities to integrate Russian-speaking countrymen in particular.

• 2007/05/22 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament

Documents

• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0215/2007

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)