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Estonian Review: April 19-25, 2006
26.04.2006
TOP NEWS
FOREIGN NEWS
DOMESTIC NEWS
DEFENCE NEWS
ECONOMIC NEWS
MISC
IN THIS ISSUE
Updated tourism information and relevant internet links!
TOP NEWS
Estonian Parliament to Vote on EU constitutional treaty on May 9
Apr 20 - The constitutional committee of the Estonian parliament decided to put the EU constitutional treaty to a final vote in the parliament on May 9, the Europe Day.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said Estonia's decision to go on with the process of ratification of the constitutional treaty had been met positively in Europe. There are less and less of those who say that the constitutional treaty is dead, people are rather expressing their readiness to look for a way how to go on with the process, Paet said. The government sent the bill on the ratification of the EU constitutional treaty to parliament on May 10 last year and its first reading was completed in early February this year.
Estonia among EU Countries with Biggest Budgetary Surplus
Apr 25 - According to Eurostat, the European Union's (EU) statistical office, Estonia has the smallest public sector debt and one of the biggest budgetary surpluses among EU countries.
The average government sector debt of EU25 was 2.3 percent of GDP last year, and the average debt burden was 63.4 percent of GDP. Estonia has the smallest state debt and its budgetary surplus last year was 1.6 percent of GDP, the Finance Ministry said.
"The fact that Estonia has one of the biggest budgetary surpluses among countries of the European Union shows the success of the government's budgetary policy. The budget has a surplus, the foreign debt is declining and reserves are increasing," Finance Minister Aivar Sõerd said. "Besides, Estonia has the lowest debt burden in the European Union."
Exports Increased more than Imports
Apr 25 - According to preliminary data of Statistics Estonia, in February 2006 the value of Estonia's foreign trade was 20 billion Kroons, of which exports was 8.7 billion Kroons (44%) and imports was 11.3 billion Kroons (56%). Compared to February 2005, exports increased 28% and imports 25%.
The value of foreign trade increased 26% compared to February 2005 and 8% compared to January 2006. The trade deficit was 2.5 billion Kroons (in February 2005 it was 2.2 billion Kroons and in January 2006 - 3.2 billion Kroons). Compared to February 2005, the exports of goods increased 28% and 14% compared to January 2006. In February the share of EU countries in exports was 63% and the share of CIS countries in exports was 9% of total exports (in February of the previous year the indicators were 81% and 7%, respectively). The main destination countries in exports were Finland (19% of total exports), Sweden (12%) and United States (10%). Compared to February of the previous year, there was an increase mainly in the exports of mineral products (by 1.3 billion Kroons), of transport equipment (by 170 million Kroons), of miscellaneous manufactured articles (by 98 million Kroons), of articles of plastics and rubber (by 80 million Kroons) and of metals and products thereof (by 72 million Kroons). At the same time, there was a decrease only in the exports of textiles and products thereof (by 61 million Kroons) and of wood and products thereof (by 36 million Kroons).
GOV Approved Estonia's Participation in NRF
Apr 20 - The Estonian government endorsed a bill on the participation of an Estonian explosive ordnance disposal team in the NATO Response Force (NRF).
According to the bill which still needs to be approved by parliament, Estonia grants permission to use a defence forces mine clearance unit of up to 15 personnel in the NATO response force from this July until Jan. 31, 2007. The bill pertains to no concrete military operation but is necessary for Estonian soldiers' urgent participation in a NATO military operation if need for it should arise. The seventh rotation of NRF, into whose ground component Estonia contributes the team, will be ready from July 1 this year until Jan. 1, 2007. The bill was to be discussed already last week but was postponed by the defence minister because provisions related to the planned participation of the Estonian mine hunter Sulev in NRF had to be changed. Sulev will be part of the mine countermeasures squadron of the NRF sea component from Aug. 28 to Dec. 15 this year. The duty of Sulev will be to take part in mine hunting operations in order to reduce risks to civilian navigation. The ship will not be part of the Reaction Force that will be sent on an operation if NRF is activated.
The Estonian navy's flagship, the staff and support ship Admiral Pitka, served as staff and support vessel for the same unit from May 12 last year to March 20, 2006.
FOREIGN NEWS
PM: Poor Afghanistan a Threat also to Estonia's Security
Apr 24 - Opening a Senior Course in National Defence, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip called contribution to the rebuilding of Afghanistan one of the priorities of Estonia.
Estonia is planning a significant contribution to the reconstruction of the Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the premier said. "I am confident that our contribution will change the situation there, will make it better," Ansip said in his speech.
He said that due to its small size Estonia was taking part in the mission as part of a bigger British unit and that Estonian personnel would be also working closely with Danish, Dutch, Romanian, US and Canadian troops.
The head of government said instability and poverty along with weakness of state structures had made Afghanistan a hotbed of international drug-related crime and terrorism. "The spread of international terrorism and narcotics are serious security risks, which concern the entire international community, including Estonia," Ansip said. "It is our duty to react to these risks. An Afghanistan left on its own would be a threat for the security of the whole world, including us," he said.
Speaking about Estonia's security policy, Ansip said that although Estonia had been a member of NATO and the EU for almost two years and the country's security had never had as good safeguards as it had at this point, it was Estonia's duty not to let itself be lulled to sleep by the thought that everything has been done and it is now time to enjoy the fruits.
Willingness to defend one's country is needed exactly as much now as it was before, Ansip said, adding that the main channel through which citizens can express their willingness to defend their country was and will be Kaitseliit (Defence League), which forms an inseparable part of the national defence system.
Speaking about today's world, the prime minister said the end of the Cold War and the disappearance of a bipolar world had led to changes in the perception of security and consequently also of national defence, because the dangers of today are more complex and more difficult to predict.
"International terrorism, environmental problems, threats of technogenic nature, epidemics, organized crime and cybercrime do not know national borders," Ansip said.
He said that with the disappearance of clearly identifiable sources of threat and hostile sides the concept of neutrality had changed too, because no state had immunity against these threats.
FM: Iraq Mission Likely to Continue in 2007
Apr 21 - In an interview to the daily Postimees Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said that the Estonian soldiers' mission in Iraq would in all likelihood have to continue also next year.
Paet said that bearing in mind the present situation the defence forces should be ready to continue their mission. "It is my opinion that with great probability presence of the Estonian mission in Iraq will be necessary also next year," he said.
The minister said he was convinced that although the parliament should extend the mission four months before the parliamentary elections next spring important foreign and security policy issues would not become part of the election campaign. "I hope that if there are very clear arguments caused by safeguarding Estonia's own long-term security, they will not be outweighed by domestic policy aims," he said.
Paet said continuation of the Estonian defence forces' mission would depend on developments in Iraq, where the new government would hopefully be installed as soon as possible and the interim period of turbulence would be over. "This means that the new government will start to restore and then increase security that has meanwhile deteriorated," he said.
At the beginning of December the Estonian parliament decided to extend the Estonian defence forces' mission in Iraq until the end of this year. Estonian soldiers have been in Iraq since June 2003.
Estonia to Give Money for Building Memorial to Victims of Communism in Washington
Apr 20 - The Estonian government ruled to allocate 65,500 Kroons (EUR 4,185) to help build a memorial to victims of communism in Washington D.C.
A representative for the memorial's foundation has earlier turned to the Estonian embassy in Washington with a request that Estonia supported the project financially.
According to the explanatory letter of the bill says the construction of the monument would be in conformity with the Estonian foreign policy stance as regards the condemnation of all authoritarian regimes. In symbolic terms, aiding the construction of the memorial financially would mark a continuation of the work of late President Lennart Meri, who used to be one of the members of the foundation's international council.
Justice Minister: Ukraine's Accession to EU, NATO is in Estonia's interests
Apr 20 - Ukraine's becoming a member of both the European Union and NATO is in Estonia's national interests and Estonia backs the aspirations of Ukraine as regards both these goals, Estonian Justice Minister Rein Lang said in Kiev.
In Ukraine on an official visit, Lang met with Ukraine's Justice Minister Sergei Holovat and Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk.
After meeting with Tarasyuk, Lang said the vision of the Ukrainian government of the country's future was that of an European-style country and was directed toward membership in the EU and NATO.
Lang and Tarasyuk also discussed matters related to the EU constitutional treaty. Lang voiced hope that the Estonian parliament will ratify the constitutional treaty as soon as possible. He stressed that adoption of the constitutional treaty was a prerequisite for the admission of new members into the EU in the future. "It is largely in our national interests that Ukraine, with whom we share the same experience in history, would have a clear prospect of accession both into the EU and NATO," Lang said.
President to Take Part in Vilnius Summit
Apr 20 - Estonian President Arnold Rüütel will take part in the summit of the Baltic Sea and Black Sea countries to be held in Vilnius on May 4 and 5, in which Vice President Dick Cheney will represent the United States.
The meeting will bring together the heads of state of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, several heads of government and foreign ministers, as well as top-ranking officials from the EU and NATO.
The main topic of the meeting will be democracy in Eastern Europe. Several heads of state will make speeches on that topic, including Rüütel, who will speak of Estonia's experience.
DEFENCE NEWS
Chief of Estonian Contingent in Afghanistan Took up Post
Apr 22 - Lt. Col. Raivo Tamm, earlier head of the logistics department at the defence forces headquarters, took up the post of commander of the Estonian contingent in Afghanistan.
Tamm, who arrived in Afghanistan before the Estonian units, met with chiefs, operative commanders and key planners of the coalition units and the British-led Helmand battle group and discussed with them Estonia's participation in operations in the composition of international units in southern Afghanistan.
The chief of the contingent has to organize operations of Estonian units and coordinate information exchange between army contingents.
Tamm said that launching of Estonian-British operations in southern Afghanistan is logistically complicated. "The climatic conditions of the area are difficult both for the personnel and machines; the degree of difficulty of the operation, distance from home, terrain hazards and passability make it complicated to carry out the operation and to logistically support it," he said. Besides, he said Estonia itself provides logistic support to its units to such a high degree for the first time. "I believe that my earlier service as chief of the logistics department of the defence forces headquarters comes in handy here," Tamm said.
He said Estonian soldiers would be using several new elements of supply for the first time in southern Afghanistan. So they will be testing Pasi armoured personnel carriers, armament modernization projects and new soldier kit elements. For the first time Heckler&Koch pistols the defence forces acquired at the end of last year will be taken into use in field operations.
A team of military observers, an ordnance clearance team and a logistics group are the first units of the Estonian defence forces to start service under British command in the Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. They arrived at the Kandahar airfield Thursday, April 21.
Before the beginning of operations the Estonian soldiers will attend briefings on peculiarities of the area of operation and get ready the supplies and equipment earlier used by Estonian units in northern Afghanistan and arriving from Estonia from Great Britain.
In the second half of June a 34-strong infantry platoon will arrive in southern Afghanistan. Together with the reconnaissance team, the logistics unit and staff officers it will swell the Estonian contingent in Afghanistan to 80 by Midsummer Day.
At the end of the year the number of Estonian soldiers serving in Afghanistan is expected to rise to 120, when another infantry platoon, company command and members of a logistic unit will go to the mission simultaneously with the rotation of the infantry platoon.
Estonia has participated in the Afghanistan mission since March 2003.
Estonia Sending Arms Inspectors to Turkmenistan on OSCE Mission
Apr 24 - The arms control group of the Estonian defence forces' General Staff will be conducting an inspection in Turkmenistan under the OSCE Vienna document.
The inspectors will look at military units and training grounds, exercises and other activities in the Ashkhabad and Mary regions in the south-eastern part of the country.
A guest inspector from Britain will take part in the mission along with three Estonian officers. The four-strong inspection team will be led by the commander of the Pärnu infantry battalion, Maj. Margus Rebane.
The purpose of the inspection is to ensure a relationship of trust and security between member countries of the OSCE. The inspectors will check whether the data about weapons, above all heavy weapons, submitted by the OSCE member state to its OSCE partners is correct and whether the published coordinates of the locations of military units are correct.
OSCE has 55 members, including all countries of Europe, Trans-Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as the United States and Canada.
Last year, Estonian arms inspectors went to Armenia and Finland.
DOMESTIC NEWS
Reform Party Wants Estonia among Five Richest EU Nations
Apr 19 - The economic policy platform for next year's general elections that the board of the liberal Reform Party endorsed says the party's long-term goal is to have Estonia emerge among the top five of the European Union's richest nations.
In order to achieve that goal, the party wishes to lower the income tax rate to 18 percent by the year 2011 and to 12 percent by the year 2015, from the present flat rate of 23 percent. Also, the country needs to preserve its present tax system whereby profit reinvested in the enterprise is not taxed, and refrain from increasing VAT.
To promote saving and investment, the income tax system should be changed in such a way that no tax would be paid on earnings from securities investments by individuals if the earnings are invested back in securities within 90 days.
The Reform's proposed measures to improve the business environment are to cut red tape in the establishment and operation of companies and to achieve a situation where a company able to function could be set up in two hours.
The party also pledges to cut the number of fields where a license is needed to conduct business.
The party would sell or give into private hands by means of public tender the state-owned real estate that is not necessary for performance of the duties of the state as well as sell off the state's business holdings not necessary for the performance of these duties.
The party would focus on ensuring free and fair competition, with the possibility of applying restrictive measures to monopolies, cartels and market manipulations that push up consumer prices.
The Reform wishes to liberalize the labour market, increase the state's investments in research and development and in the development of infrastructure.
"The Reform Party wishes Estonia to be a place where people have maximum freedom to successfully cope with their lives," the party's chairman, Andrus Ansip, said.
Reform is senior member of Estonia's three-party coalition government, which also includes the leftist Centre Party and the rural People's Union.
Information for the Cruise Passengers Visiting Estonia
Estonia does not make any exceptions for the cruise passengers regarding the visa requirement. The citizens of the third countries who are required to have Estonian visa and who visit Estonia as cruise passengers still need a visa in order to enter Estonian territory.
The countries whose citizens are exempted from a visa requirement can be found here http://www.vm.ee/eng/kat_132/915.html
Estonian, Latvian Police to Patrol Together in Border Areas
Apr 20 - Leaders of Estonian and Latvian police agreed during a meeting in the Latvian town of Valmiera that joint police patrols of the two countries would look after law and order in border areas as border controls will be scrapped.
Police chiefs Raivo Aeg of Estonia and Janis Zascirinskis of Latvia focused on the countries' preparations for accession to the Schengen treaty, which abolishes controls on the member states' internal borders.
One of the decisions adopted was that a work group would be set up already in April to prepare a plan for the joint patrolling. The plan must, among other things, name the areas where joint patrols would be formed.
1363 Births Registered in March
Apr 21 - According to the data of the Population Facts Department of the Ministry of the Interior, 1363 births were registered in March; 711 of the babies were boys and 652 were girls. 34 pairs of twins were born in March (17 pairs of boys, 11 pairs of girls and 6 paternal twin pairs).
The most popular names for boys in March were Rasmus, Nikita, Martin, Christian / Kristian / Kristjan, Marcus / Markkus / Markus and Daniel. The names most commonly given to girls were Anastasia / Anastassija / Anastassia, Ksenia / Ksenija, Sofia / Sofija / Sofja, Victoria / Viktooria / Viktoria / Viktorija, Laura and Maria / Marija.
Permanent Residence Permits to be Swapped for Long-Term Permits Automatically
Apr 24 - Holders of permanent residence permits will not have to apply for a long-term residence permit that under a law stepping into effect from June 1 will replace permanent residence permits in Estonia.
Such residents will be deemed long-term residents automatically and their documents showing a permanent residence permit will be replaced with documents showing a long-term permit as part of the procedure of replacement of documents, the Citizenship and Migration Board said.
The amended law allows the status of long-term resident to be sought by residents who have lived in Estonia on a fixed-term residence permit during at least five years.
Under the amendments that the parliament passed on April 19 the requirement to pass a basic-level proficiency test in Estonian will be added for applicants wishing to obtain a long-term residence permit starting from June 2007.
Aliens who submit their application before that date will not have to pass the test.
ECONOMIC NEWS
Currency Rates in Kroons
(Bank of Estonia)
Estonian Energy CEO not Afraid to Open Electricity Market
Apr 24 - Sandor Liive, board chairman of the Eesti Energia (Estonian Energy) power utility, said the European countries' opening electricity market was a "great opportunity" for Eesti Energia.
Liive said that in addition to the 350 megawatt submerged cable between Estonia and Finland it would be necessary to build another one and the total capacity of power cables linking Estonia with its Nordic neighbours could be 1,000 megawatts.
In order to fully integrate the Baltic countries with the European electricity market, the aggregate capacity of all the links could be as high as 3,000 megawatts.
Eesti Energia has set itself the target of selling electricity to two million clients in the Baltic Sea region in 2015.
Estonia has been granted the special right of keeping its electricity market closed until the beginning of 2013.
Sale of Pollution Quota Raised Estonian Energy Profit to Record High
Apr 24 - Mainly thanks to proceeds from the sale of carbon dioxide emission quota the Eesti Energia (Estonian Energy) power utility earned a net profit of 2.15 billion Kroons (EUR 137 mln) at 8.3 billion Kroons of operating earnings.
The year before the company earned a net profit of 671 million Kroons at 6.22 billion Kroons of operating earnings.
Of the total net profit sale of emission quota accounted for 1.16 billion kroons. As a result the net profit without proceeds from the emission quota totalled 968 million Kroons, 44 percent higher than last year.
The Eesti Energia operating profit before depreciation (EBITDA) increased by 78 percent to 4.15 billion Kroons, while the operating profit increased by 70 percent to 2.58 billion Kroons.
Audited finacial results of Eesti Energia will be released at the end of June.
Former Owners of Skype Earn More than EUR 108 mln from Sale
Apr 20 - The company Ambient Sound Investments that belongs to former Estonian owners of the Internet telephone firm Skype earned a profit of nearly 1.7 billion Kroons (EUR 108.63 mln) from the sale of Skype to the online auctioneer eBay Inc. last year.
According to the profit distribution proposal, ASI will distribute 16 million Kroons in a dividend to owners.
The firm's annual report shows that ASI owns 916 million Kroons' worth of eBay stock.
ASI's balance sheet total stood at 726 million Kroons at the end of 2005.
ASI is equally owned by four creators of Skype - Toivo Annus, Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla and Priit Kasesalu - all of whom also have seats on the company's board.
Estonia's EMT Launches 3.5G Mobile Communication Service
Apr 25 - EMT, the biggest Estonian mobile communication operator, became the first company in the country to give its clients access to the HSDPA mobile internet service based on new 3.5G technology.
3.5G is a development based on the new generation 3G data communication service. There is 3.5G support in most of the EMT 3G network in Tallinn and in the next few months it will be extended throughout the 3G network in Tallinn as well as Tartu, the company said.
The HSDPA mobile internet standard considerably increases the mobile internet speed, the company reported.
The mobile internet speed will rise to 1.8 megabits per second as the maximum and in real use to an average of 1-1.4 megabits per second, faster than many home internet connections, EMT said. In the future the speed will rise to up to 5 megabits per second, EMT said.
EMT said this is the second HSDPA network in the Nordic countries. Supplier of the EMT network installations and software is Ericsson, whose technology is used in most of the world's public 3G and HSDPA networks.
MISC
Former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar is the Winner of Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty
Apr 20 - Former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar has been awarded the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, a biannual award accompanied by an USD 500,000 cash check.
The award will be handed over during a ceremony in Chicago on May 18.
Laar is the third recipient of the award - previous winners were development economists Peter Bauer and Hernando de Soto, respectively in 2002 and 2004.
The Wall Street Journal said in its editorial article that Laar had acknowledged that Friedman's book "Free to Choose" was the only economics book he had read when he took power in 1992, at age 32.
Laar absorbed Friedman's ideas about privatization, the flat tax and free trade and moved with impressive speed to make them policy, turning Estonia into a reform leader not just among the ex-Soviet bloc countries, but compared with the increasingly calcified welfare states in Western Europe too, WSJ said.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial - Baltic Tiger
Apr 20 - What's the reward for taking over a devastated ex-Soviet economy at the tender age of 32 and rapidly turning it into one of Europe's dynamos? Some measure of personal satisfaction, no doubt. The gratitude of your countrymen. And, it turns out, a pretty substantial cash prize. The Cato Institute will announce today that former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar is the winner of its biennial Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. He will receive a $500,000 check at a ceremony next month in Chicago.
Mr. Laar is the third recipient of the award -- previous winners were development economists Peter Bauer and Hernando de Soto -- and in one sense, at least, the most apt. Mr. Laar has acknowledged that Mr. Friedman's "Free to Choose" was the only economics book he had read when he took power in 1992. He had absorbed Mr. Friedman's ideas about privatization, the flat tax and free trade and moved with impressive speed to make them policy. "It seemed common sense to me and, as I thought it had already been done everywhere, I simply introduced it in Estonia," he said.
Mr. Laar soon discovered he was turning little Estonia into a reform leader not just among the ex-Soviet bloc countries, but compared with the increasingly calcified welfare states of Western Europe too. One of the prices Estonia reluctantly paid for the perceived security guarantees that came with its European Union membership in 2004 was some degree of retrogression -- the EU calls it "harmonization" -- in its free-market economic policies.
Still, Estonia ranks seventh among the world's freest economies in the annual Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom, the only ex-Soviet bloc country in the top 10. It has a flat-rate income tax, a currency board that pegs its kroon to the euro for stability, and a low external tariff rate (albeit slightly higher since joining the EU). Those policies have helped Estonia achieve 6%-plus annual economic growth in recent years.
Mr. Laar hasn't stopped championing the cause of freedom since his premiership ended in 2002. "Central Europeans and others won't stand French-style anti-Americanism," he told us three years ago when Estonia joined the "Vilnius 10" in backing freedom for Iraq. His Friedman Prize is well deserved
EESTI RINGVAADE is compiled from local news services, including BNS, and is issued by the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Eesti Ringvaade is also available through the Internet at http://www.vm.ee
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