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Estonian Review: October 10-16, 2005 
20.10.2005
TOP NEWS
FOREIGN NEWS
ECONOMIC NEWS
CULTURAL NEWS
SPORTS NEWS
TOP NEWS
Estonian polls: Centre Party collects more than one-fourth of votes
Oct 16 - In Sunday's municipal elections the Centre Party collected 126,440 votes or 25,4 percent of the total votes nationwide, coming close to matching the same level they had achieved in the 2002 elections. Some 83,961 votes or 16,92 percent were cast for the Reform Party whose support three years earlier was around 12 percent.
Support for the People's Union, with 61,872 votes, rose to 12.47% percent from around 11 percent in 2002. Pro Patria Union collected 42,565 votes, which puts support for the party at 8.58% percent compared to under 7 percent three years ago.
Votes cast for Res Publica numbered 42,006 or 8.46 percent of the total, a sharp drop from over 15 percent, which they had collected in 2002. The Social Democratic Party secured 31,919 votes or 6.43 percent. In 2002 the party, which then was named the Moderates, was supported by roughly 4 and one half percent of the electorate. All the six parties are represented in parliament as well.
Support for the Estonian United People's Party, Christian People's Party, Independence Party, Russian Party in Estonia and Left Party remained below 1 percent. None of them has a representative in parliament.
In Estonia's Capital city, Tallinn, the Centre Party managed to capture 56,143 votes or 41,11% of the total. They were followed in a distant second by the Estonian Reform Party, which received 28,220 votes, or 20,66% of the total.
"It is worth noting that in previous elections the role of that the Russian ticket has played is practically gone. That means that politics are governed by a new set of rules than they were in the past. As a whole the rising phenomenon of Pro Patria and the Social democrats is an interesting development", according to sociologist Andrus Saar.
In all, 47 percent of the voting age population went to the polls.
Estonian Disaster Relief Team went on a Mission to the South-Asian Disaster Area
Oct 14 - The Government of Estonia dispatched the Estonian Disaster Relief Team (EDRT) to Pakistan to contribute to the rescue and relief work going on in the South-Asian region damaged by the earthquake.
The eighteen-member Estonian team is composed of several units with different functions capable of administering emergency medical help, initial repairs to infrastructure and logistical support in disaster areas. The team is also equipped with a field hospital and additional medical supplies financed from the means allocated for humanitarian aid in the Foreign Ministry's budget.
The team arrived in Pakistan on October 11. The team's specific working area was assigned shortly after the arrival. The length of the mission is twelve days and according to the planned agenda, the team is residing and working from its own base camp.
The Estonian Rescue Board's chief director, Mati Raidma also joined the team and is working in the disaster area as a member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team. Estonia has been represented in the UNDAC since 2000. In previous years Raidma has taken part in UN missions in Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Yakutia and Georgia.
At the beginning of this year the Estonian Disaster Relief Team worked in Indonesia in the Banda Aceh region.
Estonia will run for membership on the UN Security Council in 2020-2021
Oct 13 - Membership on the UN Security Council, the main institution ensuring peace and security in the world, is a weighty and special responsibility for every state. The majority of the European Union member states have been or will soon be members of the Council.
Membership on the Security Council will give Estonia a unique opportunity to participate in decision-making concerning international peace and security, and will increase Estonia's influence and visibility in the international arena. The membership also tests the ability of each country to participate equally with the other members in settlement of issues within the competence of the Security Council. Successful performance of the member's obligations requires very thorough advance preparations by the state.
At the moment, it is difficult to predict the costs accompanying candidacy and membership obligations. In relation to membership, Estonia's permanent mission to UN in New York and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for example, will need to increase their workforce.
The UN Security Council is one of the six main bodies of the UN, and is responsible for ensuring international peace and security. The Security Council has five permanent members (China, France, Great Britain, USA and Russia) and ten non-permanent members elected from the General Assembly for two years.
Non-permanent members are elected so as to maintain a geographical balance: thus, three members of the Security Council must be from Africa, two from Asian, two from Latin-American, one from Eastern European and two from Western Europe and other regional groups of countries.
FOREIGN NEWS
Estonia helping to bring schools online in Georgian Republic
Oct 12 - Experts from Estonia's Tiger's Leap project to computerize the country's schools offered advice to representatives from a similar program in Georgia called Deer's Leap. A 16-strong delegation led by Georgia's deputy minister of education and science visited Estonia 12-18 October to get familiar with the Estonian experience. "Eleven active teachers will pass a week-long course arranged by the e-Governance Academy to prepare them for training of teachers in Georgia. Five employees of the Deer's Leap foundation will start implementing the program in Georgia on the basis of the experience acquired in Estonia," manager of the e-Governance Academy Ivar Tallo said.
The Deer's Leap project sponsored by Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili received an official status in August and is currently in the early stages of development. Looking at Estonia's experience, the Georgians are now trying to find the most sensible strategies and ways to use computers in the teaching of different subjects. Mart Laanpere, an Estonian who helps to develop the Deer's Leap project, said teachers in Georgia were full of enthusiasm to make teaching in schools open and create possibilities for communicating with other parts of the world. The program was financed by the Open Estonia Foundation.
Estonia appoints first ever ambassador to Egypt
Oct 13 - On Thursday, Estonian President Arnold Rüütel signed the appointment of Tiia Miller as the country's ambassador to Egypt.
Being the first ever ambassador of Estonia to Egypt, Miller will be residing in Tallinn. The Foreign Ministry is considering opening Estonia's embassy in Cairo. Trained as a teacher and a mother of two, Miller has been working at the Foreign Ministry since 1990, currently as director of the division for state symbols and orders.
Estonia makes contribution towards new NATO headquarters
Oct 12 - From 2004-2011 Estonia will pay 2.78 million euros in annual instalments to co-finance the construction of the new NATO headquarters in Brussels. This will be financed by the budget of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At the beginning of this year Estonia paid 204,970 kroons (EUR 13,100) as its contribution for 2004 and 2005. The size of next year-s instalment is to be about 600,000 kroons. The largest annual sums 9.86 million kroons and 12.2 million kroons - would be paid respectively in 2009 and 2010.
Under current plans the new building of the NATO headquarters, situated close to the existing headquarters, will be completed by 2012.
Estonian Foreign Ministry surprised that Russian Minister is poorly informed
Oct 14 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statement in Paris, October 11, on the Russian-speaking minority being deprived of the primary democratic rights is inaccurate. The Russian Foreign Minister's claim that the Russian-speaking minority does not have the right to study in its mother tongue and cannot participate in local elections is not true.
Estonian legislation gives the opportunity to get an education in a minority language. During the 2004/2005 school years there were 63 Russian language secondary schools, 14 basic schools and 4 kindergartens as well as 21 Russian departments at dual language schools. 42,530 students studied at Russian language schools, making up 23% of the total number of students in Estonia. The Estonian education system is unique because instruction in another language besides the state language is a part of the national education system and thus, financed by the state.
Also, citizens of other countries or those who do not have Estonian citizenship are not deprived of the opportunity to vote at local elections. Any Estonian resident 18 years old on Election Day, regardless of citizenship, who has permanently lived in Estonia for five years has the right to vote at the local elections. 167,847 third country nationals and individuals of undetermined citizenship were registered to vote in the most recent local elections taking place on Sunday, 16 October . This forms 16% of the total number of voters. Estonia is one of the few European states, which gives permanent residents, regardless of citizenship, an opportunity to vote at the local elections.
ECONOMIC NEWS
Average declared gross income up 8 percent on year
Oct 11 - According to data from the tax board, Estonian residents declared an average annual income of 78,000 kroons (EUR 4,990) in their tax returns, for 2004, or 8 percent more than a year earlier. The gross income declared in 2003 averaged 72,000 kroons. The average monthly income thus increased in 12 months from 6,000 to 6,500 kroons.
"The growth of gross income is due to both an overall increase of incomes and the bigger number of tax returns filed," the tax authority noted. The Tax and Customs Board received a total of 469,781 tax returns for 2004, of which joint tax returns formed 16 percent. Compared with 2003, the number of tax returns was up by 9 percent whereas the number of joint tax returns dropped by 4 percent. Three-fourths of all tax returns were filed through electronic channels. The aggregate income declared for 2004 came to almost 39.9 billion kroons, an increase of 21 percent from the preceding year.
Currency Rates in Kroons
October 16, 2005
British pound - GBP - 22.858
Canadian dollar - CAD - 11.014
Swiss franc - CHF - 10.098
Danish krone - DKK - 2.096
Japanese yen - JPY - 0.114
Latvian lat - LVL - 22.454
Lithuanian lit - LTL - 4.532
Norwegian krone - NOK - 1.997
Russian rouble - RUB - 0.455
Swedish krona - SEK - 1.662
US dollar - USD - 13.020
Euro - EUR - 15.647
CULTURAL NEWS
Children's Choir of Tallinn Music High School won overall title at choral competition in Cologne
Oct 17 - The children's choir from the Tallinn Music High School, conducted by Ingrid Kõrvits won the overall Silver Rose Bowl and ETV's (Estonian Television) Girls Choir, conducted by Aarne Saluveer won in its category of the Euroradio Choral Competition Let the Peoples Sing. The competition was held on 16 October by WDR (Germany) in Cologne, Germany.
"Let the Peoples Sing" is an international competition for amateur choirs, which takes place every two years promoted by the European Broadcasting Union. Three age categories take part in the competition. Children's choirs, none of whose members may be over the age of 15 on the date of the semi-finals; youth choirs, none of whose members may be over the age of 25 on the date of semi-finals and adult choirs. Each choir can have a minimum of 16 members. Each category has a winner and one of the three category winners is chosen to receive the overall title of BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year.
This year the other finalists were: Akademski Pevski zbor Tone Tomšic Ljubljana from Slovenia, Female Choir of the Kiev Glier Music College, Hymnia from Denmark, Mädchenchor Hannover from Germany and Voci nobili from Norway.
The Children's Choir of Tallinn Music High School has 43 members varying in age from 12 to 16. They performed Three Estonian Spiritual Songs, arranged by Cyrillius Kreek; "Song of Birds" by Mart Saar, and the "Singer's Childhood" and "Northern Lights" by Veljo Tormis.
ETV's Girl's Choir has 38 members ranging from 18 to 22 years. Their programme included Urmas Sisask's (Gratias agamus domino Deo nostro) and Veljo Tormis's (three parts from Autumn Landscapes).
SPORTS NEWS
Võsu wins MM-silver
Oct 12 - On Tuesday 11 October Marika Võsu won silver at the 2005 World Fencing Championships in Leipzig. She was left shy of the gold medal by one touch. Nevertheless, her team-mates and trainer were left very satisfied with the final results. Commenting on Võsu's accomplishments, team mate Heidi Rohi remarked, "Maarika has belonged to the top for a long time, unfortunately she still remains just short of attaining the very top position. Today everything went really well, only in the end did one touch slip away."
vmpress@vm.ee
 
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