BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Sügisball

This November from 1-20 the American Film Institute Silver Theater in Silver Spring MD is having its second European Union Film Festival.  One of the films is from Estonia.  Autumn Ball (Sügisball) will be screened Nov 10 at 1 PM and Nov 11 at 8:15 PM.

There are also films from Latvia, Lithuania and Finland as well as the other countries of the EU.  Detailed information can be found at : http://www.afi.com/silver/new/

Border blockages highlight Russia/EU problems

* As Russia and the EU talked trade differences in Portugal, among other things, there are very concrete signs of their discord on Russia's border.

Hundreds of lorries - queuing for days to get into Russia - are blocking roads in Finland, Estonia and Latvia.

In south eastern Finland the line of lorries is now said to be 50 kilometres long, and the government fears if nothing is done they could be looking at 100 km long queues this winter.

At the Narva border crossing in northern estonia the estimated waiting time is 52 hours. 200 lorries are in line.

All three countries are blaming badly-organised Russian customs authorities who have started to take longer and longer to process each vehicle.

Most border crossings boast few facilities for the drivers with no foodstalls or restaurants, or even toilets.

It's not only foreign trucks which are affected. Finland says 80% of the lorries waiting in ITS queues have Russian numberplates.

Video

Not Druzhba but Nord Stream ........

* However, a real rapprochement in relations and talks on the partnership deal are hampered not only by Poland’s hostility. The past year was marked with Russia’s chilled relations with several Eastern European nations which became a large-scale conflict that the EU cannot fail to notice. All old wounds broke open after the spring’s information war between Russia and Estonia. Officials in Mafra are not going to discuss the transfer of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn or a cyber-attack on Estonian governmental servers, but there are plenty of problems to talk about, anyway.

President Putin won’t lose a chance to blackwash Estonia and Latvia for infringing on the rights of Russian speakers in their countries. The Russian leader has recently accused the two countries’ authorities of fostering neo-Nazism, which Europe saw as a sign that the spring row is not over yet. Meanwhile, the Council of the European Union has recently decided to hold a conference within the next six months to consider crimes by totalitarian regimes during the Second World War and afterwards. Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania lobbied the conference which is aimed to condemn not only Fascism but also Communism, which Russian authorities may perceive as a challenge against them.

Estonian Railway sees profits on track

TALLINN - State-owned railway Eesti Raudtee says in an internal business plan memorandumit that it expects to earn a net profit of 204.4 million euros over the next 10 years , meaning that it would recoup, in less than a decade, the 150.1 million euros the government paid to renationalize this January.

The report, obtained by the Estonian Eesti Paevaleht daily, shows Eesti Raudtee planning on income growth through infrastructure fees for cargo and passenger transport, implementation of new freight categories, and cost savings through increased operating efficiencies.

Politicians debate dual currency system

By Joel Alas

TALLINN - Estonian politicians have begun debating the concept of introducing the euro as a parallel currency alongside the kroon.
The debate was sparked by Taavi Veskimägi, a parliamentarian in the governing coalition party IRL, who said interim measures should be considered as the euro currency zone accession date slips further away.
Veskimägi called for discussion around the idea of allowing the euro to be used as legal tender until Estonia could meet the economic criteria to join the euro zone.
He said businesses would be saved the cost of exchanging money on export sales. Homeowners who have borrowed money from foreign banks in euro terms would be alleviated of the concern of a potential adjustment of the kroon-to-euro peg, he said.

Veskimägi was at pains to point out that his idea was not an official proposal from the government, but a concept for public debate.
Politicians and economists were quick to jump on the idea, with most condemning it as a flawed and dangerous solution to Estonia’s economic challenges.
Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said a dual currency system would be expensive and would not bring any real benefit. Ansip – head of the Reform party, IRL’s coalition partner – said the kroon would remain the only official currency until Estonia joined the euro zone.
Jurgen Ligi, chairman of the parliamentary committee on financial affairs, said he was “skeptical” about a dual system.

Signatures will soon be a thing of the past

By Joel Alas

TALLINN - Signature-based card payment systems will be obsolete within a year as Baltic banks and retailers push toward PIN-authorized transactions.

Card fraud has been made nearly non-existent thanks to the extensive reach of EMV cards and readers – better known as the ‘chip and pin’ system. While other European nations have been slow to take up the secure system, Baltic banks are among the world’s leaders in adopting the technology.

Around 85 percent of bank customers in the Baltics now hold a ‘chip and pin’ card.

Second Newcastle disease outbreak suspected

By Joel Alas

TALLINN - Wild pigeons could be responsible for spreading a bird disease that has affected one of Estonia’s largest poultry farms.

Over 200,000 hens may have to be culled at the Tallegg egg-laying farm near Tallinn after veterinary authorities declared a suspected outbreak of Newcastle disease. The disease can wipe out bird stocks but has little impact on humans. Nevertheless, it is considered a serious disease because of its potential to impact the poultry industry.

Blood samples taken from the Tallegg farm will be analyzed at the Veterinary and Food Board laboratory.

Propertastic ! Downgrades property in Baltics .... !

Stratford-upon-Avon - Propertastic ! (www.propertastic.com ), a new website which claims to be the leading independent source of information for buyers of property in Central & Eastern Europe plus the developing Mediterranean area, today announced that it is downgrading its rating of property in the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) from ‘hold’ to ‘sell’ in light of gloomy analysis of the country’s economic prospects plus recent developments on the local property markets.

The three ‘Baltic Tigers’ have seen Europe’s largest gains in house prices over the past few years. Latvia was the #1 territory for 2006, with prices increasing by an average of 61.2%. Estonia was the champion for 2005 and again saw impressive rises of 24.5% in 2006. Lithuania was never far behind its two neighbours with a rise of 21.7% in 2006 and Knight Frank forecasting that it would see the fastest growing territory in Europe for 2007 with a predicted growth of 20%.

Employers refuse new minimum wage deal

In association with BNS

TALLINN - Talks between Estonian trade unions and employers over the next year's minimum pay will continue in November after the Confederation of Estonian employers refused to sign an agreement that would have established a minimum monthly wage of 4,800 kroons (307 euros).

Harri Taliga, leader of the Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions, told the Baltic News Service, Oct 25, that the employers did not sign the agreement drawn up by trade unions but did not make their own alternative proposition, either.

Taliga said the employers would discuss the trade unions' proposal at a meeting of their extended board on November 7.

Phantom of the hip-hop-era

By Joel Alas

TALLINN - Estonian performer Chalice is an enigmatic artist. He is best known as a rapper, and a talented one at that, earning praise while most white European hip-hoppers draw derision.
But from November 16 he will don a very different mask. Chalice has been cast to play Erik, otherwise known as the Phantom of the Opera, in a production at Tallinn’s Linnahall.
The challenging role will be a stretch but not an impossible one. Chalice is a skilled singer, pianist and writer. It’s not his first involvement with theater, either, as he has written and performed in plays at the avant-garde Von Krahl Theater.

The only stretch might be for his loyal fans – most of them young hip-hop aficionados – who might find it difficult to accept his switch to such a mainstream, commercial and high-brow production.
There’s another challenge in store for this particular production – explaining that it’s not the musical they might be expecting.
You see, it’s not “Phantom of The Opera,” the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that most people around the world are familiar with. It’s called simply “Phantom,” and although it’s based on the same story, it’s an entirely different production.
In fact, this production lays claim to being the original and authentic Phantom musical, though it’s certainly not the most famous.

It was written in 1982 by Maury Yestin and Arthur Kopit, who had obtained the right to do so from the estate of Gaston Leroux, the French writer who penned the novel “Le Fantom de l’Opera” back in 1910.
But in 1984 they were dealt a blow when it was announced that a British production of the same story would be staged in London. Strangely, this was also not the Lloyd Webber version, but one created by a writer and director named Ken Hill.

Estonian premier under fire over communist record

TALLINN : Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip yesterday rejected claims that he covered up a role in suppressing anti-Soviet protests in the 1980s, when he was a communist official. “I was not linked to events in Tartu on February 2, 1988,” Ansip said.
The independent Eesti Päevaleht newspaper published an interview yesterday with a former city hall official from Tartu, in southeast Estonia, who said Ansip was involved in the security force operation there 19 years ago.
“Ansip is lying,” Robert Narska, who was deputy mayor of Tartu at the time, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The accusations have surfaced several times in the past but now have a new edge because of Narska’s direct comments.
Ansip, 51, is the leader of the centre-right Reform Party and became premier in April 2005. In the 1980s, however, he was the Communist Party’s organisational head in Tartu.
The university city was the scene of numerous protests during the dying days of Soviet rule, and thousands of students took to the streets on February 2, 1988.
Although the communist militia - the regime’s riot squad - did not use direct violence against the crowd, they locked down part of the city centre and used dogs to intimidate the protesters.

Reform party keeps large lead in Estonia

* The Estonian Reform Party (ER) is clearly the preferred political organization in the Baltic country, according to a poll by TNS Emor. 43 per cent of respondents would vote for the governing party in the next parliamentary election.

The Estonian Centre Party (KESK) is second with 20 per cent, followed by the Union of Fatherland and Res Publica (IRPL) with 15 per cent, the Social Democratic Party (SDE) with seven per cent, the Estonian Greens (EER) also with seven per cent, and the Estonian People’s Union (ERL) with six per cent.

In early March, a legislative election took place in Estonia. Final results placed the ER in first place with 27.8 per cent of the vote, followed by the KESK with 26.1 per cent, and the IRPL with 17.9 per cent. In early April, the ER, the IRPL and the SDE agreed to form a government. ER leader Andrus Ansip retained his post as prime minister.

Earlier this month, Russian president Vladimir Putin accused Estonia and Latvia of "glorifying" the Nazis and their allies in recent years.

Estonia breaks into globalization top 10

By Mike Collier

TALLINN -– Estonia has been ranked as the world’s tenth most globalized nation in the latest A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Globalization Index.

The index tracks and assesses changes in global integration, incorporating measures such as trade and investment flows, movement of people across borders, volume of international telephone calls, Internet usage, and participation in international organizations.

The 72 countries ranked in the 2007 Globalization Index account for 97 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 88 percent of the world’s population.

Estonia’s burgeoning reputation as a country that has embraced globalization and turned the process to its advantage is reinforced by the report, which waxes lyrical about the Baltic nation’s economic policies.

“Milton Friedman would be at home in Estonia,” the report enthuses. “That’s because the small former Soviet republic has put many of the late Nobel Prize-winning economist’s ideas to the test. The result ? Estonia, having shaken itself free from its communist-era shackles, may now qualify as the first Baltic Tiger ; it debuts this year at number 10 in the index.

“In keeping with Friedman’s free-market philosophy, the country’s government has moved aggressively to open itself up to the outside world. For all practical purposes, Estonia has no corporate income tax, and shareholder dividends are subject to a simple flat tax. Bureaucracy isn’t a problem, either ; the government just steps aside to let investors do their thing. The World Bank ranks Estonia 17th among 175 economies in ease of doing business, and sixth in ease of trading across borders. Additionally, the government places no restrictions on foreign ownership of real estate, which has fueled a property investment boom among overseas buyers.”

Estonia testing public patience

* Urmas Rooba admitted Estonia "deserved" to be booed off after their 1-0 friendly defeat against Montenegro left the national team in crisis.

Miserable form
The friendly defeat last Wednesday completed a run of 20 games in which Estonia have won just twice in 24 months. They have lost nine of their eleven games in 2007, and have slumped from their all-time high of 60th place in the FIFA rankings, achieved in 2002, to 127th. The departure of coach Jelle Goes and the arrival of Viggo Jensen as his replacement has yet to have the desired effect.

Remodelled side
The experienced Dane Jensen, who celebrated his 60th birthday on 15 September, has tried to remodel the team's tactics, but his new diamond-shaped, four-man midfield and commitment to set-pieces have yet to bear fruit. "Results are not good and we have not been able to play as a unit in recent games," FK Khimki centre-back Andrei Stepanov said. "I don't know why, but yes, there is a crisis."

A.T. Kearney releases 2007 Globalization Index

* Hong Kong, Jordan, and Estonia debut among the top 10 in an expanded ranking of the world's most globalized countries.

Singapore remains in the top spot ; United States falls four places despite continued strength in technology.

A.T. Kearney releases 2007 Globalization Index

Hong Kong, Jordan, and Estonia debuted among the top 10 most globalized nations in their first year on the Globalization Index, an annual study produced by A.T. Kearney and Foreign Policy which assesses the extent to which nations are becoming more or less globally connected.

Singapore ranked first for the third consecutive year. However, Hong Kong debuted very close behind, in second place. The Netherlands rose four places to third, followed by Switzerland and Ireland at fourth and fifth. The United States dropped four spots to seventh overall, despite its continued strength in the index's technology score. Index newcomers Jordan and Estonia ranked ninth and tenth, respectively.

Latvian ambassador caught drunk driving in Tallinn

TALLINN - Estonian police caught the Latvian ambassador to the country drunk driving in Tallinn last month, it has been revealed.

Latvian ambassador Rihards Mucins was at the wheel of a car driving the wrong way down the road when he was stopped by police officers on September 20. Tests revealed that he was over the legal blood alcohol level.
As diplomats are given immunity from prosecution by the Vienna Convention, representatives of the police unit responsible for foreign embassies' security were called to take the drunken diplomat home.

The only measure Estonian police could take was to inform the Foreign Ministry, which in turn sent an official note to the Latvian Foreign Ministry.

"The ambassador has apologized for the incident and expressed regret," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ehtel Halliste told the press.

But we aren´t all diplomats, are we ?

Estonia and Russia cite contradicting numbers of Russian citizens in Estonia

Registered or non-registered !

Read it in Russian

The difference in official numbers of Russian citizens residing in Estonia from the Estonian and Russian sides is 27,000 people. As of early October, according to Population Register of the Estonian Interior Ministry, there are 91,950 Russian residents, while the Consular Department of the Russian Embassy to Estonia gives the figure of almost 119,000 people. At the same time, The Estonian Department for Citizenship and Migration cites a third figure – 98,199 people. The numbers were confirmed today by the Estonian Interior Ministry and the Russian Embassy correspondingly.

The head of the Russian Embassy Consular Department Alexander Mamayev believes the discrepancy to be “a natural thing,” as each party uses its own data base : the embassy is grounding on the number of Russian citizens registered at the Consular Department in Tallinn and the Consulate General in Narva. In an interview to the Estonian radio he said that, from his point of view, the Estonian side does not have full information on a number of Russian citizens, who are fixed in the Register as owners of the so-called “grey passports,” i.e. they have the status of non-citizens. “Such things do happen,” Mamayev says. He admits that Estonia and Russia do not exchange data and do not compare their data bases, as it is a common practice in the world. He adds that embassy officials are interested in contacts with Estonian officials on the issue and such contacts take place from time to time.

In its turn, the Estonian embassy in Moscow has no data on the number of Estonian citizens residing in Russia. There is no such account, the Estonian radio informs. When parliamentary elections take place in Estonia, the embassy in Moscow sends invitations for voting only to those citizens who registered at the embassy and the Population Register as ones who left to Russia.

Film Festival : When music & politics collide

BY JIM MOREKIS

WHILE MOST AMERICANS probably can’t find Estonia on a map, the small Baltic country actually provided a stirring portrait of bravery during its occupation by the former Soviet Union.

Filmmaker Jim Tusty, whose father came to the U.S. as a child from Estonia in 1924, has made a documentary about that episode of European history, The Singing Revolution. The film’s centerpiece is a historic gathering in 1969 when thousands of Estonians at a music festival, prohibited by law from singing anything other than Soviet propaganda songs, defied the ban by singing their own traditional songs.

While both Jim and his wife Maureen are respected producers, the 96-minute The Singing Revolution represents their first feature effort. The film is inspired by the couple’s return to Estonia in the late ‘90s to teach a film course. Using very rare archival footage and interviews with key newsmakers, it’s tied together by the narration of Academy Award-winning actress Linda Hunt.

Jim Tusty spoke to us from Estonia last week.

You make the point that Estonia had the remarkably bad fortune to be conquered by two of the most heinous dictators in history : Stalin twice, with Hitler in between.

New country manager and head of SEB in Estonia

STOCKHOLM - Ahti Asmann has been appointed new head of SEB in Estonia, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of SEB Eesti Ühispank. Asmann has been acting head of the bank since August.

Commenting on the appointment, Bo Magnusson, head of Retail Banking, says : "Ahti Asmann has extensive experience of working in the bank and an excellent knowledge of the financial market in Estonia. In our process to look for a new country head, Ahti has proven to be the best candidate to lead SEB's future operations in Estonia - a market that is of growing importance to the SEB Group. We are looking forward to see Ahti and his local team continue to grow our business and presence in Estonia for the benefit of our clients."

Ahti Asmann has worked at SEB Eesti Ühispank since 1994. He was appointed head of its retail banking business in 2006.

SEB is a North European financial group serving some 400,000 corporate customers and institutions and five million private customers. SEB has a local presence in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Germany, Poland, the Ukraine and Russia, and a global presence through its international network in another ten countries. On 30 June 2007, the Group's total assets amounted to SEK 2,188bn while its assets under management totalled SEK 1,403bn. The Group has about 20,000 employees. Read more about SEB at www.sebgroup.com. For further information, please contact :

Bo Magnusson, Executive Vice President SEB and Head of Retail Banking, tel. +46-8-763 92 93

Press contact : Katja Margell, tel. +46-70-745 91 38

Estonia's GREEN CHRISTMAS festival : More bands announced

TÕNIS MÄGI & ULTIMA THULE, HOUSE OF GAMES, LOITS, and RECYCLE BIN have been confirmed for the Green Christmas festival, set to take place December 21-22 at the Rakvere Sports Hall. The festival billing is shaping up as follows :

PARADISE LOST (UK)
U.D.O. (GER)
LIQUIDO (GER)
MUSTASCH (SWE)
NEAERA (GER)
DAGOBA (FRA)
CALIBAN (GER)
HATESPHERE (DEN)
TÕNIS MÄGI & ULTIMA THULE (EST)
RECYCLE BIN (EST)
LOITS (EST)
HOUSE OF GAMES (EST)

Tickets to the festival are available at Piletilevi in Estonia, Bilesu Serviss in Latvia, Tiketa in Lithuania and Tiketti in Finland. In other countries the tickets can be ordered via e-mail : tickets@greenchristmas.ee .

For more information, visit www.greenchristmas.ee.