Baltics could show more joint muscle in Europe - Estonian justice minister

TALLINN - Estonian Minister of Justice Kalle Laanet met with his Latvian counterpart Inese Libina-Egnere on Thursday to discuss the harmonization of the positions of Estonia and Latvia regarding the initiatives of the European Union.

According to Laanet, the volume of EU initiatives and accompanying legislation has grown unreasonably large over the years. The minister added that the quality of other national legislation suffers because of this.

"For countries the size of Estonia, for example, the volume of European Union legislation is very burdensome. Often the content of the EU's initiatives is not a problem in our country at all. It is important for those heading them to understand that compared to larger European countries, our country is significantly thinner and the number of officials smaller," Laanet said.

The ministers agreed that in order to optimize the volume of legislation coming from the EU, the Baltic states could in the future harmonize their positions in relation to the EU's initiatives. Laanet wants to discuss this possibility with the minister of justice of Lithuania in a few weeks.

In addition to meeting his Latvian colleague, Laanet also visited Olaine Prison. This is Latvia's first modern prison, the construction of which was based on the experience of construction and design of new prisons in Estonia.