European Union

On 22 May 2015 the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Council (Coreper) endorsed the terms of an agreement between the Latvian presidency and European Parliament representatives on the reform of the Travel Package Directive. The Competitiveness Council will be invited to confirm the political agreement at its meeting on 28 May.  

The new directive will update current EU rules on package holidays by aiming to adapt to travel market developments in order to meet the needs of consumers and businesses in the digital era.  

Current rules for package travel are difficult to apply in the digital age where consumers are increasingly booking customised packages online, either from one trader or several traders commercially linked. This often leaves buyers uncertain about their level of protection and traders unclear about their obligations. 

For that reason, the  new directive will extend the protection for traditional packages to combinations of separate travel services, in particular if sold online. 

Furthermore, the new rules will increase transparency and strengthen consumer protection in relation to: 

• packages where two or more travel services are purchased either from the same trader on a website or from a high street travel agent under one contract;
• "click-through" sales where two or more services are purchased from multiple on-line traders under separate contracts but where the traveller's name, e-mail address and payment details are transferred directly between traders within 24 hours; and
• linked travel arrangements, where at least two different travel services which are sold by a trader facilitating the travel arrangements for the purpose of the same trip or holiday.

 The future directive will contain other main features such as: 

 Improved pre-contractual information requirements. Before the conclusion of the package travel contract the traveller will be entitled to get clear and concise information on the main rights and obligations including specific standard information on the envisaged package travel or corresponding offer. 

Fairer and more predictable prices for package travels, with stricter controls on price changes (termination rights in case of price increase more than 8% and a requirement to pass on price reductions in equivalent circumstances). 

Improved termination rights. Travellers will enjoy more flexibility by being able to terminate the contract before the start of the trip. In that case the traveller may be required to pay to  the organiser an appropriate and justifiable termination fee. Travellers will be able to terminate the contract free of charge, before the departure in the event of natural disasters, civil unrest or similar serious situations at the destination that would significantly affect the holidays. 

Higher protection in cases where the traveller's return is impossible because of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. Travellers will be entitled to compensation of up to three nights accommodation if they can not return home. 

More effective rules on insolvency protection for travellers in case of the trader's insolvency. A network of central contact points in the member states will be created to facilitate cross-border cooperation. 

Stricter liability of traders in case of underperformance of the package. The directive also lays down rules for cases of lack of conformity of the package, alternative arrangements, termination of the contract, repatriation or compensation of damages. 

The new conditions will also favour a level playing field for businesses by harmonising rules, removing obstacles to cross-border trade. This will open up more opportunities for companies, particularly SMEs, to expand their activities across borders. 

This will generate a broader choice for booking holiday products and may therefore lead to cheaper prices for consumers.   

Good afternoon. Before anything else, let me first express my sincere gratitude to honestly host, to you Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma and to the Latvian Presidency, for all the work undertaken in preparing the Summit. I am glad to see such a high level of participation from all. It sends a very strong message about our commitment to the Eastern Partnership.
 
This message of our continued, consistent and strong commitment to the Eastern Partnership and each of our partner countries is the main message of this summit. And it is a necessary message in light of the last years' turmoil, aggression, intimidation and even war in this part of Europe. The Eastern Partnership is our framework of engagement that offers closer political association and economic cooperation with the European Union. It is based on mutual interests and commitments as well as the free will, sovereignty and independence of all parties.
 
Today, we all reaffirmed our common interest to continue developing strengthened, closer, differentiated relations with each of our partners to help them become more resilient in the face of increasing challenges to stability and security in the region and to make sovereign choices. Strengthened and more transparent institutions, free from corruption, will make our partners stronger and help us maintain the Eastern Partnership relevant for all. This is the second main message of the summit.
 
During the summit we took stock of achievements we have witnessed since Vilnius and set out a positive agenda for the future.
 
Since the Vilnius Summit, we have signed Association Agreements and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (AA/DCFTAs) with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. This has brought our cooperation to a new level. The AA/DCFTAs are already provisionally applied, except for the DCFTA part for Ukraine which will enter into force as of 1 January 2016.
 
We reviewed the early stages of the implementation of AA/DCFTAs and demonstrated our strong commitment to deepen our cooperation.
 
We reiterated our support to others who are seeking more tailor-made relations. We have reached an understanding with Armenia on the scope of our future relationship. We should also be able to take some steps forward in deepening our critical engagement with Belarus. And we have received Azerbaijan's suggestions regarding the renewal of the contractual basis for its relations with the EU.
 
Let me stress that the Eastern Partnership is more than just the sum of our bilateral relations. Our multilateral framework will continue to be critical to keeping our partnership together.
 
Over the past six years the multilateral dimension of the EaP has established a dense network of contacts, e.g. through Informal Partnership Dialogues. We have taken the Eastern Partnership beyond governments, to parliaments, local authorities, civil society and businesses. And today we confirmed our intention to make energy and transport cooperation distinct priorities for the coming years.
 
Overall, we agreed to advance our cooperation in those areas which bring tangible benefits to our partners' societies and economies, in particular in state building, mobility and people-to-people contacts, market opportunities and interconnections.
 
With regard to mobility issues, we welcome the positive impact the visa-free regime with Moldova has had on travel and people-to-people contacts, with around 500,000 people having benefited from this opportunity during its first year. Progress is also being made with Armenia and Belarus. With regard to Georgia and Ukraine, which are the closest in line to achieve the objective of visa-free travel, President Juncker and myself are determined to be as ambitious as possible in terms of seeing this process to a successful finalisation. But it is of course also up to Georgia and Ukraine to set the pace when it comes to fulfilling the necessary steps.
 
We also agreed to continue to improve our communication efforts to better explain the benefits of the Partnership to the general public.
 
In addition I praise the fruitful meetings of side events in the margins of the Riga Summit: The Business Forum, Civil Society Conference and Media Conference.
 
To conclude - and repeat. The European Union is a partner for the long-haul. Our partnership, as well as the Riga Summit itself, are not about dramatic decisions or taking giant steps forward. No, our relationship is built on free will, respect and equality. And our partnership will go forward step-by-step,  just as the European Union has been built. Through concrete progress on matters such as trade, energy, transport, mobility and reforms our partnership will grow increasingly closer and offer by far the best prospects for Europe as a whole.

Thank you

On the 21th of May 2015 I had for the first time in my life the honour to present my research paper as a Panelist at the VIII International Student Conference “Politics & Society in Central and Eastern Europe” at the University of Wroclaw, Poland. The heading of my Paper was “Transformation of Politics in Estonia – Contextualizing Political Accountability in the European Union” and it was built on my presentation held at the CBEES Annual Conference at Södertörn University in December 2014.

The Conferece took place in the framework of 21-22 May Dni Politologa: http://politologia.uni.wroc.pl/index.php/instytut-2/wydarzenianew/522-dni-politologia , and hosted very interesting research results from University of Wroclaw, University of Warsaw, University of Bucharest, Vytautas Magnus University Lithuania, Masaryk University in Brno Czech Republic, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca Romania, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi Romania, University of Donja Gorica in Podgorica Montenegro, and an independent researcher was representing Iran.

Not to talk about managing technical problems (and this time, in addition to the problems with the computer, I was myself too focused on the text of the presentation and concepts – to the extent that I completely forgot that it usually is an advantage to have a clear structure in the beginning of one’s presentation), I was talking about the scientific and normative concepts of political party and political party operating at European level (Europarty), the political history of Europe, comparatively about the Europarties and political parties of the EU Member States, political representation in the European Parliament. I mentioned political foundation at European level as different from Europarties and gave an overview about Europarties and Estonia’s representation in those. The overall aim was to better understand governance and accountability in the European Union (by demonstrating those through political and historical context).

The presentation distinguished between party competition / political competition (duopolism as an example of party competition) and political opposition as known from the Cold War era / understood very generally as East-West opposition (not connected with a State government solely but as applicable toward World governance). These are different phenomena and the relevance of the difference can be explained followingly: while one can see continuity in party competition, one can see discontinuity in such political opposition / conflict as referred above, maybe similarly to continuity and discontinuity in human rights history. And, being a lawyer with human rights research background, I would claim that although human rights are political rights, requiring existence of political mechanisms for their validation and implementation, that the real “career” of human rights for Europe  developed after the II World War, and that politicians have used and use human rights for achieving political aims (marking their discontinuity), human rights are emanating from something more continuous than political processes, being connected with human nature and nature of societal co-existing.

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