On Thursday morning, Vice-President of the European Commission Raffaele Fitto walked onto the bridge crossing the River Piusa at the Koidula border crossing point in south Estonia. Fitto pointed out that the bridge is not just the border between one country and another but also the border of the European Union. That border could also be strengthened by re-directing EU structural funds to allow the union's border states to spend more on defense, he explained.

"We are working on new priorities and that is how we are now working with the Council and the Parliament to complete this process. In this proposal we are giving five new priorities, one of which is defense. We believe that this is an important opportunity because the message is that defense is a priority also for these areas. I imagine that this is the ideal solution for the use of these resources for both military and civilian purposes," said Fitto.

According to Estonian Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi (Reform), it is important that decisions about the use of the funds are taken this year, as it would then be possible to use them as soon as next year, to establish a defense industrial park, for instance, as well as for the development of civil infrastructure.

"The government has dropped the main points, now we need to negotiate with the European Commission to make sure that it meets the objectives, which are set out in the Lisbon strategy," he said.

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