Main points from our meeting are:
- All informal ministerial meetings will be held in the Tallinn Creative Hub, a former power plant transformed into a cultural hotspot, on the edge of Tallinns old town
- A special informal ‘Digital Summit’ of EU-leaders will be held in Tallinn at the end of September or in early October.
- There are currently hardly any direct flights between Brussels and Tallinn. To fly to Tallinn journalists will often have to transfer in Copenhagen, Helsinki or Warsaw. API stressed that this is a problem, especially for AV-media carrying a lot of equipment. The Estonian presidency is trying to find out if there is a solution for this problem.
- The media center is also within the Tallinn Creative Hub
- There will (in principle) be no fixed telephones in the media center as Estonia is going ‘all mobile’. But at API’s request they will try to provide a very limited number of fixed phones, and also ISDN-lines for radio use. One advantage: from mid June on there will be no more roaming charges within the EU.
- Accreditation will be done very flexible. (Very) late accreditation wil be possible. Accreditation will be a ‘one-time procedure’, and will be open from June 1st via the presidency website (eu2017.ee) which will then go online.
- There will be ample space in and outside the media center for standups, doorsteps, on the spot interviews etc.
- The presidency is considering holding background briefings in Brussels before informal ministerial meetings. No decisions have been taken yet.
- The traditional press trip (in combination with the European Commission’s visit) to Tallinn will be on June 29th and 30th. Invitations will be sent out soon.
- API plans to organize an on the record pre-presidency briefing (API Hour format) with the Estonian permanent representative, Ms. Kaja Tael, in the second part of June (date to be confirmed).
- Planned dates for important informal ministerials: JHA 6-7 July, Gymnich 7-8 September, Ecfin 15-16 September.
