- Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joining the European Union and NATO had a very significant impact on the legal, political, and economic environment that provides a broader framework for Baltic cooperation – the decision-making competence of several issues and the cooperation between officials within their areas of competence changed.
- Joint activities focus on the topics of foreign and security policy, defence cooperation, energy, and transport. In economic cooperation, projects based on common interests now receive more attention than before.
- In 2024, the chairing country of the Baltic Council of Ministers is Lithuania, taking it over from Estonia. The priority topics are:
- Regional security, including security of critical infrastructure
- Bolstering regional interconnectivity
- Support to Ukraine including uniform sanctions implementation
Baltic Council of Ministers
The format for intergovernmental cooperation among Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is the Baltic Council of Ministers (BCM), which acts pursuant to the terms of reference signed in 1994.
The Prime Ministers’ Council as the highest organ of the BCM provides guidance for the intergovernmental cooperation of the Baltic states. The BCM meets in the format of the Prime Ministers’ Council once a year. In addition, an informal meeting of the prime ministers is also held at least once a year.
The ministers of foreign affairs meet in the Cooperation Council within the framework of the Baltic Council, which is the format for cooperation between governments and parliaments. The Baltic Council meeting takes place once a year within the framework of the session of the Baltic Assembly. At the Baltic Council, the minister of foreign affairs of the rotating chairman state gives the Baltic Assembly an overview of the cooperation of the Baltic states in the year of its presidency and the minister of foreign affairs of the next rotating chairman state gives an overview of their plans for the next year.
Five committees of senior officials (defence, energy, environment, internal affairs, and transport committees) have been created within the BCM. In practice, the work of the committees of senior officials is being replaced by the usual needs-based meeting formats in the respective field. In addition to the committees of senior officials, prime ministers can, if necessary, form task forces, which are created for a certain period of time to perform specific tasks outside the competence of the committees of senior officials. Representatives of the committees of senior officials are invited to Baltic Assembly committee sessions and thematic conferences.
In 2024, Lithuania chairs the Baltic Council of Ministers. With the aim of strengthening regional security and cooperation among the Baltic states, Lithuania has stipulated the following priorities for its Presidency year:
- Regional security, including security of critical infrastructure
- Bolstering regional interconnectivity
- Support to Ukraine including uniform sanctions implementation
Baltic Assembly
The Baltic Assembly, established on 8 November 1991, is an institution for parliamentary cooperation between Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. Each of the Baltic states is represented in the assembly by 12–16 parliamentarians. The chairmanship of the Baltic Assembly coincides with the chairmanship of the BCM and lasts for one calendar year.
The Baltic Assembly convenes once a year for a session. In the time between the sessions, the work of the Baltic Assembly is coordinated by the Presidium that meets six times a year, the chairman of which is the leader of the chairman nation’s delegation to the Baltic Assembly.
The assembly is a coordinating and consultative institution. The Baltic Assembly has the right to make its views known to national parliaments, governments, and the Baltic Council of Ministers. The Baltic Assembly adopts resolutions, decisions, declarations, and recommendations and cooperates with other international parliamentary cooperation organisations, especially the Nordic Council. The Baltic Assembly has five standing committees.
Cooperation between Baltic presidents
On 12 May 1990, the chairmen of the supreme councils of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania met in Tallinn and established the Council of the Baltic States, which was meant to be a cooperation forum for the heads of state of that period. The initial name was used later as well on the occasion of the meetings of presidents.
On 18 November 1993, the presidents approved a statute renaming the cooperation format as the Baltic Council. As the joint forum of the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers began to use the same name, the heads of state stopped using the name as a title for their meetings. The meetings of the presidents have also been called the Baltic Presidents’ Council. As a rule, they meet once a year.
History
The first steps in the cooperation between Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia were made in the 1920s and 1930s, soon after the three states achieved independence. The cooperation among the Baltic nations intensified in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the fight to restore national independence. Thanks to this, the Baltic Way, which took place on 23 August 1989, attracted a lot of international attention.
Full-scale cooperation among Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania was re-established on 12 May 1990 when the Declaration on Unity and Cooperation by the Republic of Estonia, Republic of Latvia, and Republic of Lithuania was signed in the White Hall of the Riigikogu in Tallinn. That decision was in line with the Treaty on Concord and Cooperation concluded between the three Baltic states in 1934 in Geneva. After the restoration of independence, structures for intergovernmental and interparliamentary cooperation were quickly established. In 1994, several source documents were approved. Since 2004, activities in NATO and the European Union have become important areas of cooperation.
Last updated: 09.01.2024