Foreign Minister Urmas Paet Discussed Establishment of IT Agency with European Parliament Co-Rapporteur Alexander Alvaro

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Today in Tallinn Foreign Minister Urmas Paet met with co-rapporteur of the European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee Alexander Alvaro, with whom he discussed matters related to the establishment of the EU IT agency. Paet told Alvaro about Estonia’s readiness to become the location for the IT agency.

Paet stated that Estonia is of the opinion that the new IT agency should become a very strong expert centre for managing and developing interior security IT systems. “Estonia sees the agency as a whole in the sense of a central management and development, though there may be many data centres. Spreading them out is necessary to reduce technical and security risks,” said Paet.

In addition, Paet and Alvaro discussed the 2003 decision of the European Council according to which new European Union agencies should be located in new member states that do not yet have agencies. “The balanced development of Europe is vital for everyone, and the principle of establishing new agencies in newer member states is important for all of Europe,” said Foreign Minister Paet.

Paet also introduced Estonia’s plans for contributing to the development of the agency to co-rapporteur Alvaro. “In addition to being ready to invest in the construction of the agency headquarters and a data protection centre, Estonia is preparing a syllabus at the European School for the children of agency employees,” Paet explained.

Most of the European Union member states agreed in 2009 that the IT systems require central management, and for this an IT agency must be established. Estonia and France have both made bids to become the location of the IT agency.

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