OREANDA-NEWS. April 26, 2012. "Both of us – Estonia and Finland – are more optimistic than our laconic, Nordic nature would assume, in believing that we are capable of overcoming the challenges faced by the euro area," told the President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, at a meeting with the Finnish Prime Minister, Jyrki Katainen. "We realise that a strong, responsible and disciplined euro area is the guarantee for an efficient European Union."

According to the Estonian Head of State, both the European Financial Stability Facility and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism contribute to strengthening the euro area's resistance to crises.

President Ilves also reminded that solidarity in Europe means that each country has to take care of itself seriously enough to avoid causing its allies any problems.

"At the same time – and here we must be honest with ourselves and the European Union in general – we also need to be prepared for considerable future changes to the current euro area, where some of us will move on and others will remain. We must have a plan "B" for situations such as these," told President Ilves. "However, Estonia and Finland with their responsible and conservative fiscal policy have repeatedly proven that they are among those that are making progress."

The Estonian Head of State and the Finnish Prime Minister also discussed regional projects such as the Rail Baltica railway link.