Estonian PM urges to bring EU "out of comfort zone"

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip Tuesday railed against what he called the European Union's (EU) "comfort club", calling for greater responsibility on the part of member states and an increase in fiscal controls. "The European Union itself has for a long time acted as a comfort club," he said. "Therefore our goal is clear -- we must bring the EU out of this comfort zone." Ansip also urged more moves to increase the accountability of member states, "to make rules more efficient and to enhance the capacity of the EU and eurozone." Though some mistakes were made at the national level, they came to affect the entire union, he said, adding that the member states, including Estonia, had been guilty of ignoring the problem, according to the report by local national ETV. "In the future, the eurozone cannot sit by and watch while the irresponsible spending of one member state puts the stability of all others in danger," Ansip said, even if preventing such a situation meant changing the founding treaties of the EU. Regarding the debt-ridden Greece, the Prime Minister said that solving the country's problems was ultimately in the hands of its own government and parliament, but stressed the importance of Estonia's continuing to aid the troubled nation. "To quote Angela Merkel, 'When things aren't going well in Europe, they won't go well in Germany.' That goes all the more for Estonia," Ansip said.