The Estonian national security policy in the year 2004

The Estonian national
security policy in the year 2004
Sven Jürgenson
Under-Secretary, Security Policy Affairs
It can definitely be said that 2004 was the year when our wishes were fulfilled. After all,
our long-time dreams of membership in the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation (NATO), which were hatched upon regaining independence, finally
materialized! As the old saying goes, a watched pot is long in waiting, but back then, at
the re-birth of an independent Estonian nation, no one believed that these hopes would
be fulfilled in just 13 years, that Estonia would develop so quickly. Upon the depositing
of our accession letters in Washington on March 29, Estonia was accepted as a member
into NATO. Already on the same day, we were able to witness the first visible result of
membership -- Belgian F-16 fighters began to ensure the security of the Baltic states’ air
space. The Estonian flag was raised in front of NATO headquarters in the course of the
festive accession ceremony on April 2. Estonia became a member of the EU on May 1.
Now, we must be prepared to deal with everyday realities, and to prove to ourselves as
well as others, that we deserve these memberships, and that we are capable of making
the best possible use of them.
In the first sentence of the European Security Strategy it is stated, that Europe has never
been so secure as now. At the end of the year 2004, Estonia can, although with a few
exceptions concerning our own security and that of Europe, probably make the same
claim. Why with exceptions? For several reasons. First of all, it is possible, thanks to
international terrorism and developing globalization, to talk about the unprecedented
increase in the security of the state, but at the same time, about the decrease in the individual’s
actual and sense of security. Also, Estonia has reached the epoch when, with the
elimination of our most urgent security vacuum, namely, the need to ensure the survival
of the Estonian nation, we have begun, for the first time, to perceive the true significance
of so-called soft security and internal security. In addition to the threat of international
terrorism, which was comprehended by the general public after the terrorist attacks of
2001, we have, finally, also grasped the nature of such terrible dangers as drug addiction
and AIDS. Unfortunately, these are realms in which Estonia is, by international norms,
statistically in the front ranks.
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2004 ESTONIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS YEARBOOK
It seems that 2004 was also the year when we, Estonians, began to fully comprehend
the indivisibility of world security. We have always been aware of the dangers that, due
to our geographical location and historical background, constantly “hover over the
horizon”. But these are more of a theoretical nature. We have now had to start dealing
with contemporary and physically concrete threats to our national security, which unite
us not only with our immediate neighbours, but also with friends much farther away.
These threats are of a global nature, that can be dealt with only if we are firmly united
with others -- together with our allies in NATO and the EU, together with the rest of the
international community in the United Nations Organization. As a matter of fact, NATO
is no longer quite the same organization as the one that we dreamed of joining at the
beginning of the 1990s. Ever more time, energy, and resources are devoted, in addition
to common defence, to operations that are beyond the traditional NATO scope. Be it
participation in the Afghanistan stabilisation forces or the training of the Iraqi military.
The development of the European Security and Defence Policy, a process, which began
years ago and has had to endure various “stumbling blocks”, also started showing concrete
results in 2004. For instance, the EU took over, from NATO, the international mission in
Bosnia. In addition to the European Rapid Reaction Forces, the formation of 1500 member
EU Battle Groups, for deployment into international crisis cauldrons at 15 days’ notice,
was launched. Estonia has also expressed readiness to participate in the Battle Groups.
All these developments have, of course, not been without burden for neither NATO
and the EU, nor their new Member State, with its population of less than 1.4 million.
Ever more efforts are directed at creating the capabilities needed for dealing with these
new challenges. But I am convinced, that everything we are doing in connection with
contributing to international cooperative endeavours, is also, very definitely, helping to
increase our own national security.
Unfortunately, the year 2004 will also remain in history as the year when two courageous
Estonian soldiers were killed while serving their country abroad. On February
28, Staff Sergeant Andres Nuiamäe was killed in Iraq, as was Sergeant Major Arre
Illenzeer on October 25. Estonia has lost two of its finest. Before leaving on his mission,
Arre Illenzeer, in response to his mother’s question as to why he was risking his life,
declared: “The homeland needs defending.”
In conclusion, some statistics concerning the Estonians defending their homeland
abroad. At the end of 2004, 174 members of the Estonian Defence Forces were assigned
to various international missions: 34 to Iraq, 12 to Afghanistan, 122 to Kosovo, 3 to
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 to Israel, and 1 to the Central Command in the United States.
Plus, a highly praised Rescue Board bomb detection canine unit is helping to ensure the
security of Afghanistan’s Kabul airport.
My sincerest thanks to all of them!
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