14 February (BNS)

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who took part in an unofficial dinner together with the Dutch and Danish prime ministers given by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday, said that the wish in Europe is for agreements and treaties signed during the crisis to be transferred into the European Union (EU) as soon as possible so that the trade bloc would not split into different groups. "The most important thing is that all who were present want to see the EU as strong and moving forward together, not split up into different groups," Ansip said in a comment to BNS.

Ansip said that no doubt remained from Monday's meeting that countries did not want to see a multi-speed Europe. "We would like to see that all the agreements and treaties that have been signed between different countries at different times would be transferred into EU law as soon as possible and that the EU would continue as a strong legal and institutional framework."

Ansip said that it was his point of view that it was not possible to wait in a crisis and it was necessary to act, but simultaneously he was convinced that it is most useful for Europe if all 27 member countries move on together.

The prime minister added that at present it is necessary to deal more with the future. "There is no sense in speaking seriously about a common market if the market of services is not open. At present only 25 services can be provided across borders. We also cannot speak about a functioning common market when no good roads of connection have been built. This pertains both to energy networks, roads and railway," he added. Ansip found that more attention should be paid to physical integration and more money should be found from the budget of the EU for financing cross-border infrastructure. "That point of view has found understanding," he said.

Speaking about Greece, the prime minister said that there was will to help Greece but the precondition was that they would want help themselves. Ansip underlined that everyone would like to see Greece in the euro zone and hoped that Greece was prepared to make an effort in the name of getting the second support program to go ahead.

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and head of the Danish government Helle Thorning-Schmidt took part in an unofficial dinner given by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Meseberg Castle near Berlin Monday evening.