Laar: EU, NATO accession costs for Estonia's own good

TALLINN (BNS) - Membership in NATO and the European Union will
eventually be a cheaper and better option for Estonia than any of the
alternatives, Prime Minister Mart Laar said before Parliament on June
12.

"Integration with NATO is the most positive and surely also the
cheapest option for ensuring our national security, which as a matter
of fact will take the least funds from other spheres of life," Laar
said. "Today it's impossible to imagine Estonia as a small, closed
community where we would be trading by our own rules, without
integrating with the world, without going along with the world and
taking into account the universal quality standards," the prime
minister said.

Laar cited for example the policy of the government led by Estonian
President Konstantin Pats in the 1930s, which in the second half of
that decade abandoned efforts aimed at creating security.

The Estonian government is confident that all its foreign policy
steps, above all, integration in the EU and NATO, directly proceed
from Estonia's interests, Laar told lawmakers.

He said in accession to the EU and NATO, the country's residents
didn't have to yield any of the benefits they have enjoyed so far,
because it was more important for Estonia to be a stable country with
a clear future.

"Unfortunately it's impossible today to achieve security in a
situation where one doesn't spend anything for security," Laar said.

As Laar said, all such attempts had proved fruitless and very naive,
having brought very difficult ordeals on the Estonian state and taken
a very heavy toll.

Estonia is aiming to increase defense spending to 2 percent of GDP by
2002 and be ready for NATO membership by that time.

Estonia aims to be ready for entry into the EU in 2003.