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Lennart Meri Conference 2023

12-14 May 2023 · Radisson Collection Hotel, Tallinn

Three days packed with insights by distinguished policymakers, analysts, politicians, military officials and academia from around the globe in Tallinn, Estonia. Key foreign and security policy issues discussed mostly from the perspective of the northern and eastern parts of Europe.

Conference Agenda

Agenda

You can watch again the public panel discussions that were not restricted by the Chatham House Rule. Links to the recordings, photo galleries and introductions are available under each discussion.

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Some key messages

Recaps

Articles

Nordic-Baltic Security without the United States?

When the Nordic and Baltic states joined NATO, whether in 1949, 2004, 2023, or 2024, the decision was primarily grounded in a desire to have the United States as an Ally. It was the transatlantic security ties to the global superpower and its extended conventional…

LMC 2025

How to Resist Russia’s Covert War Against the West

In parallel with the continuation of the military intervention in Ukraine, Russia has intensified its non-military aggression in western countries, using the entire spectrum of covert actions: from supporting political proxies and propaganda, to the formation of paramilitary organisations and conducting sabotage actions against critical…

Seizing the Opportunity to Enhance Intelligence-Policy Relations

The unusual geopolitical moment created by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and, now, by the shift in official US policy and tone present enormous challenges for Europe’s political leaders, national security officials, and intelligence professionals. But the troubling times also offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity to…

LMC 2025

Trump, Silicon Valley, and Europe’s Far-right

A new transatlantic alliance is forming. The old partnership was based on advancing liberal democracy, upholding the rules-based international order, and a security contract between the US and Europe. It is being replaced by one based on ultra-conservative values, autocratic tendencies, and nativism.

LMC 2025

Learning from Ukraine: Failing to Manage Risk Guarantees Failure

If I have learned anything from the war in Ukraine, it is that national security professionals love the word “risk.” They talk about managing risk, escalation risk, and the risk of miscalculation. But if you poll them, you might hear dozens of different definitions of…

LMC 2025

European Energy Policy in a Time of Crisis

The focus of European energy policy, for at least the last decade, has been the energy transition, with renewables playing a central role. Given the threats posed by climate change, this focus was understandable. However, such a policy is inadequate in an extreme crisis, when…

LMC 2025

Speakers

Alar Karis

President of Estonia

Kaja Kallas

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission

Krišjānis Kariņš

Prime Minister of Latvia

Ingrida Šimonytė

Prime Minister of Lithuania

Timothy Garton Ash

Professor of European Studies at University of Oxford

Margrethe Vestager

Executive Vice-president of the European Commission and Commissioner

Christopher G Cavoli

Commander of the US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe

Fiona Hill

Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Foundation and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution

Karel Řehka

Chief of Defence of the Czech Republic

Constanze Stelzenmüller

Director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution

Susan Glasser

Staff Writer and Columnist at The New Yorker

Greg Yudin

Professor at The Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences and Visiting Research Scholar at Princeton University

Anna Wieslander

Director for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council

Elina Valtonen

Member of the Finnish Parliament and Vice-Chair of the National Coalition Party

Akiko Fukushima

Senior Fellow at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research

Thomas Bagger

Ambassador of Germany in Poland

Supporters and Partners

About Lennart Meri Conference

“We can never have too much security,” said President Lennart Meri. To mark his continuing legacy in foreign and security policy thinking, the annual Lennart Meri Conference aims to encourage curiosity and debate, highlight unity and diversity, and foster liberty and democracy.