The “travel bubble” of the Baltic States must be renewed / Article / LSM.lv

The Baltic ‘travel bubble’ needs to be rebuilt, despite the increase in Covid-19 infections. Such an opinion was expressed by Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu during his visit to Riga. At the same time, the Minister emphasized that the Covid-19 crisis has brought the Baltic States closer together in this century.

LTV: Why is it important for you to be in Riga at this very moment?

My visit has several objectives. Firstly, the Latvian representatives and my Latvian colleagues must exchange information on the political crisis in Belarus, how we should act before the European Council and how we can achieve the adoption of a list of sanctions at European Union level, including the security situation in Russia and our region.

Secondly, it is very important to exchange information on the future of cross-border movement. I think we need to take into account that the virus can continue for months and we need to develop a new model for the “Baltic bubble”.

And this is my suggestion – let us take into account all the concerns about health care.

For example, we have a testing system in place in Estonia as an alternative to quarantine.

There are also many other issues of mutual cooperation at the moment. My Latvian colleague and I have also agreed to establish an economic cooperation award between Estonia and Latvia. I think this crisis has brought us together the most in this century. Therefore, we must use these moments to find new dimensions of cooperation between Estonia and Latvia in these difficult and challenging times.

You mentioned that there are plans to rebuild the Baltic “travel bubble” or create another bubble. But at the same time, here in Riga, we have received news about the most negative statistics so far – more than 90 cases a day, and it seems that the situation is only getting worse. In these circumstances, how is it possible at all to find solutions and develop new policies that could promote economic cooperation and restore our common ties?

What is important and what we saw in the spring, when the first “Baltic bubble” was formed – when the virus spreads – and it is not unique to our countries, it is happening across the continent – then we need to introduce some health measures. We have mutual trust that the other country will implement them, and that gives a greater sense of security.

In addition, we were able to track people entering from outside. Therefore, allowing travel would be a practical step to allow people to move inside and thus help our economies with tourism. In addition, it is also psychologically important.

I have just read that it is possible to arrive in Latvia without quarantine only if you are flying from the Vatican. I do not know how many direct flights there are from the Vatican, but I think it is very important that in the coming months people have, so to speak, free space to move, otherwise the situation will be very bleak. Our people love freedom, they want to visit the near abroad, where it is relatively safe to go for all health reasons.

It was very interesting to see how we could develop new tourism projects. For example, the opening of new ferry services for tourists from Finland. Therefore, it would be very good if we could develop this “Baltic bubble” in the Baltic States and Finland. This would be a very practical and very useful project.

At the same time, when we had discussions about raising the infected threshold from 16 to 25 cases to one hundred thousand, Latvia was not ready to increase this threshold. Now we know that it would not have helped either. But how do you assess this position of Latvia, were you disappointed?

No! We understand, of course, that these are decisions of national competence, and concerns about the health of our people and the interests of our nation are very understandable arguments. At the same time, we had the opportunity to exchange information very openly both between our health care officials and me and my Baltic colleagues. It is important that we discuss, even if our views differ. We are always ready to negotiate. And if there is the political will to restore the “Baltic bubble”, everyone will benefit. However, of course, it will be important for each partner in this project to have security mechanisms in place to prevent the spread of the virus.

You are also presenting an award for promoting Latvian and Estonian languages. How would you describe the links between our countries? Yes, we can’t visit each other now, but do we, for example, know enough about each other, or are there still ways we can perhaps learn a little more about how our neighbors live?

There are many problems with this ‘corona crisis’ at the moment, but I think this is also a very positive moment.

I feel that there are no closer friends during this crisis than our Baltic friends. So we need to use this inertia to improve our friendships in different areas.

Today I also visited the Liv Institute at the University of Latvia, where we plan to establish a Liv scholarship, we have agreed on the establishment of an economic award with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia. And if we manage to create the second version of “Baltic Bubble”, there will be a lot of Latvians who will open new places in Estonia and vice versa. It is an opportunity for a new, fraternal romance between our countries.

CONTEXT:

About the new coronavirus spread China informed the World Health Organization (WHO) late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, home to 11 million people. WHO in March 2020 announcedthat Covid-19 has reached the level of a global pandemic.

A few months later, in the summer, there was a decline in the spread of the infection in Europe, which led to the lifting of a series of strict restrictions. However, in mid-September WHO warnedthat Europe will face an increase in Covid-19 coronavirus deaths in the autumn months.

In September, neighboring countries were also included in the “list of self-isolation countries” established by Latvia Estonia a Lithuania. True, self-isolation requirements exception established for the residents of the border towns of Valka and Valga.

But also with October Latvia has reached the threshold for wider distribution of Covid-19.

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