Antarctica joining the Eurovision
The first day of the conference in NATO Council started in a slightly less formal manner and the delegates entered a mock session. The mock session began with a brief introduction of the delegates and the chairs. Immediately afterward several topics for further debate were set in motion in order to put the rules of procedure more easily in practice. The atmosphere was loose and relaxed. The delegates discussed Israel’s and Australia’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest as well as the possible joining of Antartica.
After the mock session, the Council began with the formal sessions on the topic of Baltic states. They started with the discussion on the (in)consistencies within Baltic states, minority issues in the region and internal problems in NATO. Representatives of different states couldn’t find a common answer on what should be discussed first. Thus, the topics included in the debate were very diverse and they changed with almost every new moderated caucus.
After lunch, Council continued debating the most pressing security and defense issues of Baltic states, as well as of other member states of NATO. There were many pro et contra arguments on further militarization of the region and the enhancement of the presence of NATO troops. However, during the unmoderated caucus, the media team received information that the members of the Council will try to work together and avoid dividing in separate blocs. The negotiations will be a zero-sum game. Furthermore, new aspects of security were brought into question, such as cyber security and protection. The last session of the day was interrupted by the Crisis Director who shared worrying news for the Council: a Russian citizen living in Estonia criticized the conditions in which the Russian minority in Estonia is living. The vlogger asked NATO Council for help. It seems that today the delegates have opened the ‘Pandora’s box’ of the complex, unexpected and dangerous aspects of the security and defense world. They made good progress by identifying the key issues concerning the situation in the Baltics. However, there is still a lot of work to be done in order to find solutions and alternatives for maintaining the very much desired stability in the region.
