OREANDA-NEWS. January 23, 2013. Prime Minister Andrus Ansip met with Polish Sejm Speaker Ewa Kopacz today. They mainly focussed on issues related to the European Union.

Speaking about the challenges the European Union is facing, Ansip and Kopacz hoped that the European Council will agree on the next budget of the EU at its next session in February.

Estonia and Poland both belong among Friends of Cohesion Policy, whose goal is to protect investments that support the development of less developed regions in the long-term budget in order to reduce inequality between Member States and make the European Union more competitive.

The Prime Minister explained why the Connecting Europe Facility and the funds it plans to allocate to infrastructure construction are among Estonia’s priorities. Ansip said that a true common market of the European Union cannot exist as long as there are separated energy islands and a lack of competitive transport options in Europe.

“The main reason why the Connecting Europe Facility is important for us is that we need to launch the Rail Baltic project,” said Ansip. “It is essential for connecting Europe and creating equal competition conditions.”

The future of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was also discussed at the meeting. Kopacz said that Poland as a country that does not belong to the eurozone would also have a say in shaping the future of the EMU. The Prime Minister said that Estonia wants to see the European Union remain unified.

“Estonia does not want the European Union to divide into countries that do and do not belong to the eurozone,” said Ansip.

The Prime Minister also gave a thorough overview of the steps taken in Estonia during the crisis.