According to the opinion of the European Union, the above-mentioned amendment supports Estonia s accession to the European Union. However, the parents must have legally resided in Estonia for at least five years by the date of application. A prerequisite for obtaining citizenship by the simplified naturalisation process described above is that the minor must permanently reside in Estonia and no other state has claimed, according to the valid legislation of this state, that child as a citizen. A new and already now marked trend in the work of the legal department concerns European Union law. The Division of European Union Law was established last year to deal with this issue.
Great effort goes into co-ordinating the application of international humanitarian law in Estonia.
In 1998 the International Red Cross Committee prepared a report providing an overview of the Estonian situation in this field. It is also worth noting that the representatives of the Legal Department participated in the founding conference of the International Criminal Court.