BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Le président hongrois appelle l'Estonie à ratifier le traité constitutionnel de l'UE

RIGA -- Le président hongrois, Solyom  Laszlo, a appelé lundi l'Estonie à ratifier le plus tôt possible  le traité constitutionnnel de l'Union européenne (UE), selon des  informations en provenance de Tallinn, la capitale estonienne. 

     M. Solyom a lancé cet appel lors d'une rencontre à Tallinn avec son homologue estonien, Arnold Rüütel. 

     Le traité constitutionnnel de l'UE est un signe important de  l'intégration dans le bloc, a indiqué M. Solyom, ajoutant que ce  document, qui est un produit de coopération multinationale, ne  devait pas être violé. 

     Durant leurs entretiens, les deux dirigeants ont également  discuté de questions de coordination entre les frontières de l'UE  et de la politique de bon voisinage au sein de l'Europe. 

     A propos des relations bilatérales, les deux présidents sont  favorables à la coopération dans les domaines culturel et  économique. 

     M. Solyom a également rencontré lundi le Premier ministre  estonien, Andrus Ansip. 

     Le président hongrois est arrivé lundi à Tallinn, entamant  ainsi une visite d'Etat de deux jours en Estonie.

La question des traités frontaliers estono-russes doit relever des rapports UE

TALLINN - RIA Novosti. La question des traités frontaliers entre l'Estonie et la Russie doit être considérée comme relevant des rapports entre l'UE et la Russie.

Cette déclaration a été faite par les membres de la commission du parlement estonien pour les affaires de l'UE, lors d'une rencontre avec leurs collègues finlandais à Helsinki, a appris RIA Novosti auprès du service de presse du parlement mardi.

De l'avis des parlementaires estoniens, le dialogue à ce sujet doit également être poursuivi entre l'Estonie et la Russie.

Selon la députée Kristina Ojuland, présidente de la commission pour les affaires de l'UE, les participants à la rencontre ont également passé en revue les questions relatives à la ratification de la Constitution européenne, la situation en Ukraine, en Biélorussie, en Géorgie et en Moldavie.

Le Saut du Tigre… ou quand Tallinn aide Tbilissi à adopter les standards européens

Par Heiko PÄÄBO (directeur du programme Prométhée à l’EuroCollège, université de Tartu)

L'Estonie a inscrit la Géorgie sur la liste des pays bénéficiant de son aide extérieure. Pourquoi ? Les Baltes et les Caucasiens formeraient-ils des nations à ce point semblables ? Si ces pays partagent des points communs, ils sont aussi radicalement différents. Outre un passé soviétique commun, le fait qu’ils forment des Etats de petite taille et qu’ils s’intègrent à des sous-ensembles géopolitiques, ces Etats présentent des caractéristiques culturelles et religieuses difficilement assimilables. De même, leur développement socio-économique et leur rôle géopolitique sont foncièrement distincts.

Depuis la « révolution des roses » de 2003 qui a porté Mikhaïl Saakachvili au pouvoir, la politique étrangère estonienne s’est davantage tournée vers la Géorgie. En même temps, Tbilissi a montré l’intérêt qu’elle porte à la coopération proposée par l'Estonie. Cette coopération géorgo-estonienne n'est guère explicable par un quelconque modèle de coopération régionale, les régions balte et sud-caucasienne étant trop éloignées l'une de l'autre. L’est-elle davantage par le poids de l’histoire ?

L'Estonie avait déjà manifesté un intérêt pour la Géorgie bien avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. À la fin du 19e siècle, des paysans estoniens avaient émigré en Abkhazie, et avaient établi une communauté estonienne en Géorgie. C’est d’ailleurs une des raisons pour lesquelles le gouvernement estonien a ouvert un consulat à Tbilissi dès le début des années 1920.

Bien plus tard, à la fin des années 1980, les républiques baltes ont joué les brise-glaces dans le processus de désintégration de l’URSS, et sont devenues des exemples pour les autres républiques soviétiques. Dans les années 1990, l’Estonie, la Lettonie et la Lituanie sont les seules anciennes républiques soviétiques qui réussissent à établir un système politique démocratique et une économie de marché viables. Les Etats baltes parviennent également à intégrer le système occidental, en devenant membres de l'Union européenne et de l'OTAN.

Aussi, pour les anciennes républiques soviétiques qui ......

Estonia picks Tallinn as European culture capital for 2011

* New EU member state Estonia has picked its capital Tallinn to be Europe's capital of culture in 2011, officials said.

"The strength of Tallinn's candidature was broad international support and the inclusion of the whole of Estonia in the project," Tallinn Mayor Juri Ratas said.

The EU operates a rotation system whereby each member state in turn nominates a culture capital.

One Estonian city and one from neigbouring Finland will be awarded the status in 2011.

The European Union designates a city as capital of culture for a year to give it a chance to showcase its cultural life and history.

KGB agents can run for the European Parliament

* A proposal to ban former KGB agents from the European Parliament elections was rejected by the legal committee in the Latvian parliament on March 28. The opposition nationalist Fatherland and Freedom (FF/LNNK) party proposed including a provision in the law that would have also banned former staff members of any foreign security, intelligence or counterintelligence agencies.
The party also wanted to include those who had been part of the anti-independence movement or Communist Party after Jan. 13, 1991, the major turning point of the independence movement. All such people are already prohibited from running in Latvian parliamentary elections.
The committee chose not to vote on those proposals and as a result they were all rejected.
Committee chairman Mareks Seglins told BNS that it had already considered arguments made by the parliament’s legal office which said the ban on former KGB agents in European Parliament elections wouldn’t be legitimate.
The ban for the Latvian parliamentary elections was legal because it could be proved in court that all those individuals had worked against the Latvian parliament. The same could not be said about their work in consideration of the European parliament.
"In Latvia they fought against the state power but we cannot speak of any threat to apply the election ban to the European Parliament," Seglins said.

Global Information Technology Report : Estonia ranks a high 23rd

The United States tops the rankings in The Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006's Networked Readiness Index, for the third time in five years, maintaining its eminent position as a leader in the area of innovation and confirming its position as an information and communication technology powerhouse.

With record coverage of 115 economies worldwide and published for the fifth consecutive year, The Global Information Technology Report (GITR) has grown into the world's most respected assessment of the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on the development process and the competitiveness of nations.

"Networking and communication technologies are enhancing the way people communicate and exchange ideas, opening the next horizon for creativity, innovation, growth and competitive advantage. The strong link between the Networked Readiness Index and global competitiveness has increased and is evidence of the critical role that these technologies play in any economy or company's strategic plans. The GITR will provide all of us with greater insight and help to guide our future decisions," said John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco Systems.

The Networked Readiness Index examines an economy's ICT condition on three dimensions: the general macroeconomic, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT ; the readiness of the three key stakeholders -- individuals, businesses and governments þu to use and benefit from ICT ; and their actual usage of the latest information and communication technologies.

Estonia leads the eastern European countries with a rank of 23 out of 115 (gaining two positions from last year), thanks to its excellent political and regulatory framework for ICT.

Networked Readiness Index 2005
Countries	Score 2005	Rank 2005	Rank 2004	Evolution
United States	2.02	1	5	Up	4
Singapore	1.89	2	1	Down	-1
Denmark	1.80	3	4	Up	1
Iceland	1.78	4	2	Down	-2
Finland	1.72	5	3	Down	-2
Canada	1.54	6	10	Up	4
Taiwan	1.51	7	15	Up	8
Sweden	1.49	8	6	Down	-2
Switzerland	1.48	9	9	Steady	0
United Kingdom	1.44	10	12	Up	2
Hong Kong SAR	1.44	11	7	Down	-4
Netherlands	1.39	12	16	Up	4
Norway	1.33	13	13	Steady	0
Korea, Rep.	1.31	14	24	Up	10
Australia	1.28	15	11	Down	-4
Japan	1.24	16	8	Down	-8
Germany	1.18	17	14	Down	-3
Austria	1.18	18	19	Up	1
Israel	1.16	19	18	Down	-1
Ireland	1.15	20	22	Up	2
New Zealand	1.14	21	21	Steady	0
France	1.11	22	20	Down	-2
ESTONIA	0.96	23	25	Up	2
Malaysia	0.93	24	27	Up	3
Belgium	0.87	25	26	Up	1
Luxembourg	0.80	26	17	Down	-9
Portugal	0.56	27	30	Up	3
United Arab Emirates	0.54	28	23	Down	-5
Chile	0.52	29	35	Up	6
Malta	0.51	30	28	Down	-2
Spain	0.47	31	29	Down	-2
Czech Republic	0.36	32	40	Up	8
Cyprus	0.36	33	37	Up	4
Thailand	0.35	34	36	Up	2
Slovenia	0.34	35	32	Down	-3
Tunisia	0.33	36	31	Down	-5
South Africa	0.30	37	34	Down	-3
Hungary	0.27	38	38	Steady	0
Qatar	0.25	39	n/a	New
India	0.23	40	39	Down	-1
Slovak Republic	0.19	41	48	Up	7
Italy	0.16	42	45	Up	3
Greece	0.08	43	42	Down	-1
Lithuania	0.08	44	43	Down	-1
Mauritius	0.07	45	47	Up	2
Kuwait	0.06	46	n/a	New
Jordan	0.03	47	44	Down	-3
Turkey	0.00	48	52	Up	4
Bahrain	0.00	49	33	Down	-16
China	-0.01	50	41	Down	-9

Source : World Economic Forum

Psychiatric hospital may take over hotel HERMES

* After a few years, the rooms of the Hermes Hotel in Mustamae, Estonia may turn into hospital rooms. The owner of the land, Tallinn Technical University, plans to sell the building and also a land plot at Sutiste tee 21. A possible buyer is North-Estonian Regional Hospital, which is planning to create a psychiatric hospital there. At present, the largest tenant is OU Amulett, which is managing the Hermes Hotel.

Sweden and Estonia call for open job market

* Estonia and Sweden, one an EU newcomer,the other an old-hand in the bloc, on Monday urged all European Union members to drop restrictions on workers from new members, saying free movement of labour benefits everyone.

"Sweden had intense debates two years ago, when the EU got new members, about whether to place restrictions on the movement of labour from those countries," Swedish Labour Minister Hans Karlsson told reporters in Tallinn.

"We did not implement any restrictions, and our experience has been only positive," Karlsson said. "I cannot cite any problem in connection with Estonia or any other new member state."

Karlsson said about 30 percent of migrant workers in Sweden come from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but the biggest source of guest workers was another new member, Poland.

"These are people who are needed on the Swedish labour market," he said. "The Swedish experience is only positive, and we are passing it on to those member states who have placed restrictions on the movement of labour."

Britain, Ireland and Sweden were the only three older EU member states to welcome workers from the bloc's former communist newcomer states from when they joined the Union in May 2004.

Finland, Portugal and Spain have also recently announced that they will lift restrictions on workers from the newcomer states. "I wish to commend Sweden for its courage in not putting curbs on the movement of labour," Estonian Social Affairs Minister Jaak Aab said.

"The Swedish experience is living proof that the ......

Lukashenko wants to become President of Russia

* Political commentator of Estonian Radio, Hillar Nahkmann said in a morning program of Estonian TV that Byelorussian President Alexander Lukashenko wants to become president of Russia, reports Eesti Paevaleht, with reference to ETV-24.

Lukashenko hopes to get the Russian presidency after Belarus joins Russia, who very much wants this to happen.

“At the same time, this unification may give Russia many problems in economy as Belarus is one of the poorest countries in Europe. The Lukashenko regime is still in power just because it gets cheap oil, gas and other natural resources from Russia,” says Nahkmann.

Still, he admits that Lukashenko is popular in Belarus, especially in rural areas.

Civil advocates look for CIA prisoners in Estonia

* Amnesty International demands that Estonian Premier Andrus Ansip reports – if the US intelligence has used Estonian aerodromes or air space in arresting people, reports Eesti Paevaleht, with reference to Eesti Express.

AI Secretary General Irene Khan says Estonia must demand relevant explanations from the US. In a letter to Estonian Interior Ministry, AI asks if they have got answers to its questions about CIA flights. Civil advocates are pushing the government to demand that the US report if the CIA has ever used Estonia’s air space or Estonia-based US planes for carrying military prisoners.

Jan 12 2003 a CIA Boeing-737 was seen landing at Pärnu aerodrome, but the authorities assure it had no prisoners onboard.

30,000 non-citizens will be given suffrage

* The Estonian Parliament will have to give suffrage to 30,000 resident non-citizens so as to play into the hands of the Centrist Party at the local elections in 2009, says Eesti Paevaleht. The Parliament will have shortly to lift the four-year ban on vote at local elections for those foreigners and non-citizens with residence permit who have not lived in their towns or provinces for five years by the time of the elections.

The Justice Ministry says that this ban is contrary to the Constitution and is “a groundless restriction of a person’s right to freely move and choose his residence.”

Hence, Justice Minister Rein Lang is going to submit draft amendments to the law on elections that will allow 29,856 foreigners and con-citizens to vote at local elections. Holding the “gray passports” in Estonia are mostly Russian-speaking residents, whose favorite party is the Centrists. But still to be able to vote they should have an at least 5-year residence in the country.

Lithuanians want to store their nuclear waste in Estonia

* The Lithuanian members of the European Parliament take it for granted that after building the joint Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Estonia and Latvia will have to take care for its waste, reports Eesti Paevaleht. The European MP from Estonia Andres Tarand says that Lithuania has repeatedly said that each contractor state will have to store part of the waste and has informed the EP of this plan.

The only depot for the waste in Estonia is the layer of blue clay on the northern steep coast, says Tarand. “But the problem is that this waste stays harmful for not just tens but thousands of years,” he says and notes that Premier Andrus Ansip’s signature under the joint NPP contract has given rise to many questions, with the most serious one being the storage of the waste.

When the daily asked this question to Ansip, he said it was not time yet to speak about that. “Naturally, Eesti Energia does not think it realistic to store the waste in different places” says the company’s spokesperson Helen Sabrak.

Eesti Energia : There will be no nuclear waste in Estonia

Eesti Energia refutes the press reports that part of the waste from the new nuclear power plant in Lithuania will be stored in Estonia. “It is more expedient economically and technically to have one depot rather than three ones in different countries. We have not decided yet where to store the waste from the operating Ignalina NPP and are keeping it in a temporary depot for the time being,” says Eesti Energia Development Director Alo Kelder. “The waste from both the present and future plants will be stored in one place like they do it in Finland. We will probably keep the waste from both facilities in the same temporary depot — as building a new one will be expensive,” says Kelder (DELFI)

Estonian youth show one of the lowest interest in politics in Europe

* Such is the result of an EU-sponsored survey among 8,000 youths (15-25) in 8 European countries, reports Postimees. The survey has shown that young people in Estonia, the UK and Slovakia show almost no interest in the politics.

But the Estonian youth are much more optimistic of the future than their peers in the West.

Much more interested in the politics are youths in Germany, Italy and Austria. The survey has also shown that young people tend to show more confidence in NGOs, such as Greenpeace or Amnesty International, than in any political party. They say that the NGOs work much more effectively. Still they show more trust in the European institutions, such as the Council of Europe and the European Commission, than in their own national institutions. The key political instructors for the youth are, reportedly, school, press, parents and friends.

Estonian Byelorussians voted for Lukashenko

* 636 people took part in the election of the Byelorussian President in Estonia (Estonian Youth reports that there are almost 20,000 Byelorussians in Estonia with 500 of them being Byelorussian citizens and having right of vote )

The overwhelming majority of voters voted for acting Byelorussian President Alexander Lukashenko: 599 people gave their votes to him at the electoral district in the Byelorussian Consulate in Tallinn. Byelorussian Consul Yuri Bulavka says that the past election has shown that Lukashenko is the most popular politician among the Estonia-based Byelorussians. 20 people voted for the only opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich, 6 for Alexander Kozulin, 4 for Sergey Gaidukevich.

The youth organizations of all the parliamentary parties of Estonia organized a picket near the Byelorussian Consulate General in Tallinn Mar 19 to express their support for democracy in Belarus and their protest against “the authoritarian rule” of Byelorussian President Alexander Lukashenko. (Postimees)

Two Estonian observers detained in Belarus

The Byelorussian authorities detained two Estonian observers in the center of Minsk Mar 20 evening. According to the preliminary reports, the representatives of the Open Estonia Foundation Tinis Leht and Erik Mora were detained not far from the Minsk central square, but they were not participating in the manifestation. They were searched and pushed into a car to be later interrogated by almost a dozen of rude people for a whole hour. Now they are free. The Open Estonia Foundation is indignant at such a treatment of its representatives and believes it to be one more proof that the election in Belarus was not democratic and that Belarus is ruled by a dictatorial regime. (Delovye Vedomosti)

Finnish media : Estonia has used its northern neighbours

* In its Mar 20 article the largest Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat rebukes Estonia for inability to remove the oil slick on its own. Estonia did not ask Finland for help not out of national dignity but for economic reasons – if you ask for help you have to pay, says Postimees. And so Estonia waited for Finland to offer help itself – which Finland finally did – for there was a danger that a strong wind could blow the oil to the Finnish shore. And Estonia simply used that help.

Director of Estonia’s Border Department Roland Peets disproves the charges. He says that after the sinking of Runner-4, the Interior Minister told him that Estonia was ready to pay for whatever help needed.

“We had a relevant agreement with Finland. But having our own multi-functional EVA-316, we thought there was no need of emergency forces,” says Peets. Meanwhile, the Border Department reports that during the operation the Estonian ship was used mostly as an ice-breaker. (DELFI)

They have failed to split the coalition with “a Byelorussian hedge”

* During the Mar 24 elections of the board of Riigikogu, Centrist party representative Toomas Varek was elected Speaker, Maret Marpuu and Ene Ergma first and second deputy speakers respectively.

According to the tradition, the office of Speaker and his first deputy is given to one of the ruling parties, while that of second deputy to the opposition. But this tradition was broken last March when resignation of the Juhan Parts government caused a reshuffle in the ruling coalition. The Res Publica party went into opposition. The offices of Speaker and his deputy were given to Republicans Ene Ergma and Taavi Veskimagi, while the ruling coalition had only one representative left — Centrist Toomas Varek.

The past elections might give a surprise. The ruling Centrists, Reformers and Populists had 52 out of 101 votes, while Speaker can be elected only by more than half of the votes. On the eve of the voting, the Social-Democrats demonstratively asked Foreign Minister, Reformer Urmas Paet to comment on an article by the Centrist Kesknadal daily, whose view of the last events in Belarus was different from the official FM stance. But the key point of the request was the mention of the author – Toomas Varek’s assistant. Despite this attempt to split the coalition with “a Byelorussian hedge,” 54 MPs voted for Varek, with his Pro Patria rival, academic Peeter Tulviste getting only 41 votes. (Estonian Youth)

Rüütel's granddaughter caught drunk by police !

The police have warned President Arnold Rüütel and his wife Ingrid that some drugs may be put furtively into the school bags of their granddaughters, reports SL Ihtuleht. Police Chief Tarmo Kohv refuses to say where they have learned that from. “We have actually warned the presidential family against possible provocation. But only the police know where they got this information from,” says Kohv.

The daily reminds its readers that the President’s granddaughter was caught by the police in the center of Tallinn Mar 1, while drinking beer with friends. Seeing she was a bit tipsy, the police took her to the presidential palace, where youth policemen had a talk with her grandmother Ingrid Ruutel. The mother of the girl, the President’s daughter Maris Leif learned the news from newspapers. She said she tried to call them but in vain. “My mother is keeping me in a real information blockade and setting my children against me” said Leif.

Estonia: talks begin on Baltic railway

* Transportation ministers from Finland, Poland and the Baltic states agreed to study building a rail link between Helsinki and Warsaw via the three Baltic States, Estonian officials announced March 27.

The railway, called Rail Baltica, could begin construction in 2010 between Warsaw and the Lithuanian city of Kaunas. Officials emphasized that feasibility studies and funding must be assured before construction begins.

Eulogies

Tallinn – Eulogies for President Meri by President of the Republic of Estonia Arnold Rüütel, President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen, and Mr Carl Bildt in Kadriorg, 26 March 2006 have been published to http://www.riik.ee/lennartmeri/?id=26228

Yours sincerely,
Government Communication Office

Former Estonia president laid to rest in Tallinn

Tallinn - Baltic heads of state and international dignitaries paid their last respects to Lennart Meri, Estonia's first post-Soviet president, at a state funeral Sunday in the capital.

Meri, president from 1992-2001, died March 14 at age 76 after a long illness. The charismatic and witty statesman, writer and filmmaker, steered the tiny Baltic nation of 1.4 million toward EU and NATO membership.

The presidents of neighboring Finland, Latvia and Lithuania attended Meri's funeral service at the 19th century Kaarli Church in central Tallinn.

In a dignified and solemn ceremony, Estonian writer Jaan Kross, a key person in Estonia's pro-independence movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s along with Meri, recalled his close friend as "a visionary with (a) sunny personality.''

Others among the 1,300 guests included former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, now the U.N. envoy mediating talks on Kosovo's future ; former German President Roman Herzog and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt. The Duke of Kent represented Britain. Russia's ambassador to Estonia also attended.

After the service, Meri's casket (draped in the blue, black and white flag of the Baltic nation) was escorted in a convoy past Tallinn's Old Town to the Presidential Palace, situated in a picturesque park just outside the city center.

As a military homage to the Estonian statesman, two NATO fighter jets that patrol the airspace of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania passed over the convoy. Polish MIG-29s repeated the salute a bit later before returning back to their base in Lithuania.

Speaking in front of his official residence,  .........