Middle East & North Africa (MENA)

Estonia’s Co-operation With the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood: Strategic Objectives and Focus

The countries of the Middle East and North Africa are often viewed by Europeans primarily through the lens of security, but in order to address security problems, it is necessary to focus on the economic and social development of these countries. The EU seeks to promote cooperation and spread democratic values through the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which was established in 2004. Although the negative developments in the region reflect the ineffectiveness of the ENP, its goals continue to be important. For Estonia, the ENP is a significant framework that creates solidarity among the priorities of different member states and lays down common goals.

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Mihkel Maripuu/Eesti Meedia/Scanpix

Geopolitics of Europe’s Hydrogen Aspirations: Creating Sustainable Equilibrium or a Combustible Mix?

Discussions about hydrogen’s role in the transition to carbon-neutral economies and the EU’s Green Deal seldom include consideration of geopolitical aspects and/or national security imperatives. However, given the importance of energy as a factor in global and regional geopolitical trends and national security, hydrogen development will reshape not only energy relations between countries but will also alter the broader geopolitical picture.

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NATO’s Southern Neighbourhood: The Alliance Needs a Strategy for the Regions to its South

Allies in the Mediterranean region rightly expect NATO to take threats and challenges from the south as seriously as they do those from the east. NATO needs to work out and to implement a comprehensive strategy and plans for the south that include concrete aims, joint actions, and resources. Alliance cohesion and solidarity depends to a substantial extent on the ability of the Allies to do this. The north-eastern flank Allies are ready to play their part, but it is the Mediterranean Allies who have the understanding and expertise necessary to define the content of a strategy for the regions they border.

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Soldiers of Peace

Estonian, Finnish and Irish troops serve under a combined battalion in the UNIFIL mission in south Lebanon. The size of the contribution these three states make to UN peacekeeping is perhaps not well known – they are respectively the fourth, second and first largest European contributors, per capita, to UN missions. For each of them, UNIFIL is their single largest contribution to peace support operations.

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