BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Social Dems nominate Deputy Mayor of Tallinn

On October 26, the Tallinn branch of the Social Democratic Party, governing the city in coalition with the Centre Party, chose Vladimir Belobrovtsev as their candidate to the post of deputy mayor of Tallinn, replacing Jüri Pihl, who walked out after the party congress chose Sven Mikser as the new party chairman.

Belobrovtsev (32) has a degree in law and was until now working as deputy elder of the city's Mustamäe district. He formerly worked as a journalist for the television channel Pervy Baltiiski, as editor-in-chief of the Russian-language newspaper Estonija and as an editor at the Delfi news website.

"I am a citizen, not a bureaucrat, and I'll strive to make the city government frendlier for the people," he said, citing parking problems and the fight against illegal taxis among his priorities.

Belobrovtsev refuse to compare himself with Pihl, although he said their cooperation in the past had been functional.

The new deputy mayor of Tallinn will be confirmed on November 18.

Tallinn authorities drive children into debt

The authorities in the Estonian capital of Tallinn have drastically increased fines for children who use public transport without a ticket.

A ridiculous strategy, the daily Eesti Päevaleht concludes:

“The consequence is that even before they reach adulthood these children have accumulated a mountain of debt, because the fines add up until in the end their accounts are seized. This is absurd because many of these children come from poor families and are at the same time under the care of social workers. The officers hide behind the convenient phrase: ‘the law is the law and laws must be obeyed’, but we are talking here about a clear example of idiotic and ineffective bureaucracy. Poverty is a complex problem and won’t disappear at the snap of one’s fingers, but only with many small steps. Better cooperation between the authorities instead of idleness and a lack of ideas would be one example of how to tackle the problem.”

Swedish exports drive growth in Estonia

Exports to Sweden drove Estonia's 37 per cent rise in foreign trade in August, according to figures from the country's statistics agency.

The data shows that exports to Sweden increased by 67 per cent compared to the same month last year.

A total of 16 per cent of all Estonia's exports went to Sweden during August, making it the second most important destination after Finland.

Sweden imported some 1.8 billion kroons (£102 million) worth of Estonian goods.

Wood and timber products made up the bulk of the goods alongside electrical equipment and furniture.

Overall, exports of wood from Estonia's forests increased by 58 per cent on August 2009.

The figures come after the Estonian State Forest Management Centre revealed that sales of Estonian timber have risen by 46 per cent in the first nine months of the year.

The majority of the revenue came from the sale of felled timber and wood chips.

Knowledge based economy is necessary

TALLINN - According to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia will assume the presidency of the Baltic Council on January 1, 2011.
At the session of the Baltic Council in Riga, the Foreign Minister of Estonia, Urmas Paet, emphasized that Estonia’s main priorities during the presidency of the Baltic Council will be the development of a knowledge-based economy, increased energy security, and the establishment of energy and transport associations, reports the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When speaking of energy security, the Foreign Minister emphasized the importance of the creation of an energy market as a part of a common Baltic-Nordic electricity market. “This would be contributed to considerably by the expansion of Nord Pool Spot to Latvia and Lithuania. It is also necessary to establish a common regulation for electricity imports from so-called third countries, to avoid market distortion and ensure the smooth operation of the electricity market,” Paet stated.

According to Paet, work needs to be continued on the establishment of a common gas market and the diversification of gas deliveries.
Paet added that apart from the establishment of an energy association and the diversification of deliveries, it’s as important to focus on projects for regional transport links, above all, Via and Rail Baltica. “Transport connections and transit are a vital issue for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Restoring train connections, first of all, between Tallinn and Riga and then to Central Europe is required to meet the pace of globalization,” Paet claimed.

Transitional provisions for Minimum reserves in Estonia

FRANKFURT - The European Central Bank has decided to provide for the credit institutions in Estonia a transitional maintenance period to ease their integration into the Eurosystem's minimum reserve system.

TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS FOR THE APPLICATION OF MINIMUM RESERVE REQUIREMENTS IN ESTONIA

On 26 October 2010 the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) adopted a Decision on the application of minimum reserves by the ECB following the introduction of the euro in Estonia (ECB/2010/18). That introduction will take place on 1 January 2011.

As of that date, credit institutions and branches of credit institutions (hereafter referred to as "institutions") located in Estonia will be subject to the Eurosystems minimum reserve requirements. Given that the regular reserve maintenance period runs from 8 December 2010 to 18 January 2011, transitional provisions will be necessary to ensure that the relevant institutions are integrated smoothly into the Eurosystems minimum reserve system without placing a disproportionate burden on them.

The Decision therefore provides for a transitional maintenance period from 1 to 18 January 2011 for the imposition of minimum reserve requirements on institutions located in Estonia.

Estonian and Russian teachers divided by more than language

Estonian and Russian history and social studies teachers take a different approach to many issues and a common information space should be developed, says the Estonian NATO Association.

Director of the Estonian NATO Association Viktoria Punga told ERR radio news that a consistent form of dialogue should be developed. "This is the goal - to develop a common information space."

Punga said that in spite of standardized textbooks, teachers at Russian-curriculum schools rely on completely different sources of information than their Estonian counterparts. An Estonian teacher might watch the ETV news program Aktuaalne Kaamera but his Russian colleague typically gets information from Pervyi Baltiiski sponsored by Russia. Punga says it is logical that this shapes a different worldview among students.

The Estonian NATO Association, an NGO which lists cross-ethnic integration as one of its goals, has invited history and social studies teachers to Pärnu to discuss how the economic crisis poses challenges to democracy and to try to bring teachers closer together.

Pork still No. 1 meat produced by Estonia

The Estonian meat market report of 2009, published by the Institute of Economic Research, says pork makes up 58 percent of the country's overall meat production.

In 2009, 45.8 tons of pork were produced, giving Estonia a 103 percent self-sufficiency in this food category.

In June, the Association of Estonian Food Industry launched a campaign promoting pork in consumer groups, pointing to a variety of health benefits, creative cooking options and seasonal uses.

Older Estonian expats urged to consider returning

When the nation says it wants Estonians to come home, it is making clear that invitation has no age restrictions. 

Minister of Social Affairs Hanno Pevkur, who is on a visit to Toronto's sizable Estonian community, including the Ehatare retirement home, said that Estonia stands willing to provide all facets of assistance and support.

"Estonia has a bilateral agreement with Canada on social affairs that ensures the rights of everyone regardless of whether they live in Canada or Estonia. Estonian retirement homes are becoming better and better every year and Estonians living in Canada could give serious consideration to returning to Estonia," said Pevkur.  

Pevkur also met with administrators of one of Canada's biggest hospitals, Sunnybrook, regarding possible exchange of workforce. 

Sunnybrook is already working with the Tallinn Children's Hospital, and this visit generated ideas for offering patients at smaller hospitals better care through the use of telemedicine.

 

Discussions also pertained to developments in specific medical care, such as oncology, and exchange of medical know-how. "It is gratifying to see that Estonia has provided a bit of a role model here as to how to arrange post-natal care for newborns," said Pevkur.

Port of Tallinn : Ust-Luga will snatch just a part of transit

The cargo turnover of Estonian ports has increased, but it is too early to rest in laurels since the Ust-Luga port in Russia is developing fast and snatching a part of cargo flows, LETA/Äripäev writes.

The cargo turnover of ports managed by Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn) has grown a lot this year. In September it was 27.2 mln tonnes, by 16.8% more than last year. And growth was noted in all cargo types.

Sillamäe port terminal TankChem director Vyacheslav Spirin said that in his company the cargo flows have stayed unchanged, and like in 2008 are at minimum level. “Transit problem has to be solved at a political level. The main market, Russia, is closed for us,” Spirin claimed.

Transit specialist Raivo Vare said that the growth of cargo turnover in the region has been affected by a number of factors, mainly enlivenment of the world economy.

“The volume of cargo moving between Russia and the European Union grows. This benefits all: all ports of the region develop,” said Sillamäe port co-owner Tiit Vähi. "With the expansion of the Ust-Luga port, a part of cargo goes to Russia. But there will not be a 100% loss,” he said.

Russian industrialists and large companies association deputy president Aleksandr Murychev told Delovye Vedomosti that the volumes of cargo are growing and Russia must disperse risks. Spirin thinks that lunching the Ust-Luga port project takes main cargo flows away from Estonia and it is possible that Estonian ports will suffer from shortage of work.

Juhan Tere

Estonia's corruption rating slightly worse

Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index, which was released on Tuesday, gave Estonia 6.5 points out of ten, marking a 0.1 point drop from last year's score.

The annual index measures the perceived degree of corruption in around 180 countries, ranking them from least corrupt to most corrupt. Despite scoring slightly lower than last year, Estonia rose by one place in the rankings to 26th.

The most corruption-free countries were found to be Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore which tied for first place with 9.3 points, followed closely by Finland and Sweden, at 9.2 points each.

Estonia's 26th place ranking puts it one position worse than France for corruption and just ahead of Slovenia. By comparison, Germany came in 15th, and the UK and US came in 20th and 22nd respectively. Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Somalia bottomed out the list.

Q&A : Joe Mimran talks about the first Joe Fresh flagship

Hanging out with Irina Lazareanu is what I call a Saturday night well spent. And this is how last weekend played out, when Joe Mimran rolled into town to celebrate the opening of the country’s first freestanding Joe Fresh Style flagship (540 Granville St., 604-681-4200, joe.ca). With him? A handful of Toronto media, Loblaws executives, musicians from Marianas Trench, Divine Brown, The Stereos and Sweet Thing (who gave a free, afternoon street concert to screaming fans), DJ Mia Moretti and electro-violinist Caitlin Moe, and of course, the models—Irina, Arlenis Sosa and Tiiu Kiuk. Here’s what he had to say about the store.

How long have you been talking about opening this flagship?
“We’ve been talking about this for 12 months now.”

What makes this store different from the studio stores in Toronto and Montreal?
“This is a true flagship—it’s in an urban location, right in the heart of a shopping district. Also, the finish and the look of the store are quite different from what we would normally find in our studio store.”

Why Vancouver?

More here

A taste for Estonian lamb in Europe grows

Saaremaa sheepherders have seen a growing craving for Estonian lamb in Europe, to the point that demand has surpassed supply.

With around 15,000 sheep, the island of Saaremaa has one of the densest populations in the country. The whole of Estonia has 80,000 sheep, ETV reported.

Sheepherders have a long tradition in Estonia, although the occupation fell dormant for a number of years.

"Raising sheep is relatively easy. Sheep grow by themselves like a man’s beard. But when we reach the question, where to sell, then it gets complicated," said sheepherder Aivar Kallas.

Indeed, there are few local markets with fresh lamb. It is not a daily food for most Estonians. For that reason, the largest producers have turned to the European market. Demand in Europe is so large that 40 percent of orders cannot be satisfied.

“When our German agent contacts us, then he wants 3,000 to 4,000 lambs," said CEO of Saaremaa Eco-village, Koit Kull.

Demand for lamb comes largely from the Muslim communities in Europe.

Latvian man shortage leaves women lost for love !

Two decades after Latvia shook off Soviet communist rule, the country's women have survived the transition to capitalism better than men - they are better educated and are less likely to die young. But a high male mortality rate means for many women, it is hard to find a partner.

Dania and Zane are both single and have come to a cafe in the centre of Riga to chat about one of their favourite topics - the lack of decent men.

The two women are both 29, beautiful, stylish and well-educated, but it seems that in Latvia there are simply not enough eligible men to go round.

Dania has been working at a film festival where 98% of her colleagues are women.

"There's nothing wrong with that... but just for the good balance you would want to have some more men to flirt or chat with. It's just more interesting," she laughs.

"That's why all my friends have gone abroad and found boyfriends there," agrees Zane.

Gender imbalance

While more boys are born in Latvia than girls, the balance shifts dramatically in adulthood.

A high early male mortality rate means that there are 8% more women than men in the country.

In the busy entry hall of the University of Latvia, Riga, the gender imbalance is visible.

Teachers forced to take unpaid leave

ERR has learned of cases where public schools in Tallinn have forced teachers to take unpaid leave during the autumn school break.

Forcing the teachers to take unpaid leave is illegal, but the teachers are pressured by school administrators to sign documents stating that they are taking the leave voluntarily, rus.err.ee reported.

“I have heard about it. As far as I know, this is the situation in schools where the payroll budget is used up. How many of these there are in the country, I don't know,” said Igor Kalakauskas, a teacher at the Tallinn Tõnismäe school.

Evi Veesaar, head of the Estonian Education Personnel Union, confirmed that similar cases have occurred in the past, but said that her organization was able to put a stop to them. She said that information about new cases hadn't reached her.

Veesaar said that each school has a staff member appointed to help teachers in such situations.

Teachers, however, are often not ready to refuse to take the leave or speak out against the practice for fear of reprisals.

Though current teachers would confirm anonymously that they had been forced to take unpaid leave, a former teacher, Diana Smirnova, claimed that she and another teacher at the Arte high school found themselves out of a job for refusing to do so. The school's director denies the claim.

Euro could bring major retailers to the Baltics

The introduction of the euro to Estonia in January may help lure international retailers such as IKEA and H&M to the Baltics, according to participants in an international real estate conference that took place in Riga last week.

The main discussion topic of the "Retail Real Estate in the Baltic Countries" conference, which was organized by the International Council of Shopping Centers, was the prospect of having large international retail brands set up shop in the region, reported Biznes & Baltia.

Despite having an abundance of retail space, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are still characterized by a limited range of consumer goods in comparison with their Scandinavian neighbors. A number of international chains found elsewhere in Europe have been as yet reluctant to stake their claim in the Baltics.

Though part of the reason is the small size of the markets, a major factor is also the attitude of investors towards the region, which could be helped by Estonia's entry into the Eurozone, conference participants said.

"I regularly meet with investors from the Scandinavian countries and every time, with great difficulty, I have to explain to them what we were doing here," said Petri Olkinuora, CEO of Citycon, a property investment company that specializes in retail space in Finland, Sweden and the Baltics. "They don't understand what's happening in the Baltics and why we're here to invest. All they read about in the newspapers is the high unemployment and low consumer confidence. The information on the high rates of return on investments doesn't make an impression."

Estonia’s exports stalled due to poor sales skills : Marje Josing

Estonian companies lack sales work skills to develop exports while they don’t pay that much attention to the problem, LETA/National Broadcasting cites a fresh poll by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Estonian Market Research Institute (EMRI).

EMRI director Marje Josing said that the biggest obstacle for developing exports is skills and knowledge about sales work. “This is the biggest and most important obstacle,” she said.

At the same time the poll indicated that companies have not paid a lot of attention to improving their sale skills. “More attention has been paid to how to improve production and invest in equipment, but less has been worked on how to improve the sales work of entrepreneurs,” she said.

According to the poll, companies think that their competitive advantages are high-quality production, good price, flexibility and fast reaction to market changes.

“This is all very positive but when we look at the world, there are millions of companies that produce high quality and are flexible. But they compete with each other and a hundred of a million can sell their product,” she said.

She estimated that important competitive advantages are existence of contact network abroad, knowing foreign clients and market and skills of selling products and making ad campaigns.

Juhan Tere

Estonians angered by business practices of Finnish online business catalogue

Hundreds of customers in Estonia are angry at the business practices of the Estonian arm of Directa, a Finnish-owned online business portal that manages Emateab business portal. Namely, customers who have been contacted by Direct Eesti's telephone sales person with an offer have later received an invoice for registration of company data although they have not agreed to the service, writes today's Äripäev.

One of such customers is Natalja Freiberg, owner and chairman of YTIC Ltd. that handles solid fuels, says that after such a phone call the company received an invoice to 474 kroons for being registered as the portal's customer although she had no interest for the service.

Freiberg said that Directa's telephone sales person had called her and presented her the service. "We had quite a long talk. Since we have many Russian-speaking customers and they said that they don't mediate Russian-language business infromation, I was not intrested in the offer," says Freiberg who agreed to receive an offer by e-mail.

When she did not respond to the offer, she got an invoice for 474 kroons payable in 14 days. After Äripäev contacted Directa and told the company about Freiberg's problem, Directa agreed to terminate the contract without a penalty fee.

Toomas Tarm, CEO of Direct Eesti, told Äripäev that the company had 3,500 contractual customers in Estonia, of whom only 5 to 10% dispute the contract. He said that since such oral contracts made by phone are a natural business practice in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe, the company saw no need to change its approach in Estonia. "It is not easy to be a pioneer in some field," he said.

Estonia should seek ECB opinion on debt bill : Eesti Pank

Estonia should seek the European Central Bank’s opinion before approving a bill designed to protect people who are behind on debt payments to their creditors, Estonia's central bank Eesti Pank said, reported Bloomberg.

European Union rules require Estonia to consult with the ECB on any legislation in its competency, including rules governing financial institutions, according to an Oct. 19 letter from the central bank posted on parliament’s website. Estonia’s banks and employers have opposed the debt-restructuring bill, saying it will increase borrowing costs and reduce lending.

“Considering that the implementation of the present draft could have a serious effect on the financial institutions and financial stability, it would be proper, in Eesti Pank’s assessment, to carry out consultation,” the central bank said.

Estonia’s two ruling parties reached an agreement on the principles of the legislation that would allow courts to override creditors in restructuring debts of people who have temporary payment difficulties, Ken-Marti Vaher, a co-author of the draft, said in a phone interview yesterday.

The bill, mainly directed at those who are behind on mortgage payments, may be passed within a month and take effect in March or April, Vaher said. The measure, which applies to current as well as future loans, would limit borrowers’ liability to the value of their collateral.

The Hippies and the House

Estonia’s New World Society brings a community - and the world - a little bit closer together.

They never saw it as taking back the neighborhood. They certainly never saw it as gentrification. They just wanted to make their community better. 

“Wouldn’t it be awesome,” reads the New World neighborhood association's website, “if New World were a quieter, greener neighborhood…where people talked to each other and did good things together for everyone’s benefit…?” 

The New World, or Uus Maailm in Estonian, bordered by Tehnika street, Pärnu maantee, Suur-Ameerika, and Endla, is one of the city’s more popular neighborhoods for young people. Its location (five minutes from the city center) and the availability of smaller flats here make it especially attractive to those on tight budgets. Ober-Haus real estate broker Kati Lips said that while in other neighborhoods apartments of 60 square meters might be more common, apartments in the 30- to 40-square meter range can be found in Uus Maailm. With today's rapidly-rising maintenance costs and utility prices, such a neighborhood is a magnet to the young. 

Two of those young people are Madle Lippus and Merit Kask, both founding members of the New World Society, which has become one of Estonia’s most well-known community organizations. The pair are often sought out by European journalists visiting in connection with the Tallinn 2011 European Capital of Culture project. When this journalist visited the house one evening, a German television crew was present, and French journalists were on the way. 

How Stalin and Hitler enabled each other’s crimes

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. By Timothy Snyder. Basic Books; 524 pages; $29.95. Bodley Head; £20. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk 

IN THE middle of the 20th century Europe’s two totalitarian empires, Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union, killed 14m non-combatants, in peacetime and in war. The who, why, when, where and how of these mass murders is the subject of a gripping and comprehensive new book by Timothy Snyder of Yale University.

The term coined in the book’s title encapsulates the thesis. The “bloodlands” are the stretch of territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea where Europe’s most murderous regimes did their most murderous work. The bloodlands were caught between two fiendish projects: Adolf Hitler’s ideas of racial supremacy and eastern expansion, and the Soviet Union’s desire to remake society according to the communist template. That meant shooting, starving and gassing those who didn’t fit in.

Just as Stalin blamed the peasants for the failure of collectivisation, Hitler blamed the Jews for his military failures in the east. As Mr Snyder argues, “Hitler and Stalin thus shared a certain politics of tyranny: they brought about catastrophes, blamed the enemy of their choice, and then used the death of millions to make the case that their policies were necessary or desirable. Each of them had a transformative Utopia, a group to be blamed when its realisation proved impossible, and then a policy of mass murder that could be proclaimed as a kind of ersatz victory.”