BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Why Britain's no place to be a mum ..

We fail to rank among the best 20 nations to give birth in... lagging behind Greece, Slovenia and Estonia.

Mother's Index rated Finland as best place to have baby

Democratic Republic of the Congo was found to be the world's toughest place to be a mother

UK women are at a higher risk of death in childbirth than women in Slovakia, Montenegro and Lithuania.

The UK is now a worse place to give birth than even Slovenia and Estonia, according to research. Britain has failed to rank among the top 20 places to be a mother – coming in at a meagre number 23.

Researchers say the UK’s poor rating is partially down to higher infant and mother mortality rates than in other parts of Europe. It means this country is now a worse place to have a baby than former Soviet and Balkan countries, which have seen rapid improvements in living standards. Britain is also four places below Greece, despite the country’s economic turmoil.

Southern Europe’s recession threatens to spread north

FRANKFURT — No company symbolizes German industrial might like Daimler, the giant maker of Mercedes-Benz autos and trucks. So when the company said this week that it, too, had finally been caught in the downdraft of the European economic crisis, it was an ominous sign for all of the Continent, if not the whole world.

German exporters like Daimler have been bastions of stability on a continent burdened with shaky banks, dysfunctional governments and legions of unemployed youth — not to mention the worst auto industry slump in two decades. But Daimler’s glum forecast for 2013 was the latest evidence that Germany, and other relatively healthy countries like Austria and Finland, risk falling into the recession that has long afflicted their southern neighbors.

The slowdown in Germany was foreshadowed by months of declining industrial output, said Carl B. Weinberg, chief economist of High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y. “The E.U. has made Europe a much more cohesive economy, which is good when things are going up,” he said. “But when things are going down the multiplier is very strong. An outgoing tide lowers all ships.”

It would be nice if British hotels had British receptionists : Labour party

• Chris Bryant says employers are forced to hire Estonians and Latvians
• Says he is 'angry' about the lack of jobs in tourism for young Brits
• Row comes amid fears of an influx of Bulgarians and Romanians next year

Labour was today accused of peddling 'xenophobic rhetoric' after a senior frontbencher complained about receptionists in hotels being foreign. In controversial remarks, Labour’s shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant said it ‘would be nice’ to go into a hotel in this country which had a British receptionist. He said he was ‘angry’ at employers for failing to train and employ Brits, relying instead on people from Latvia and Estonia.

But the Tories said the comments were proof that Ed Miliband's party was 'confused' on the issue of immigration and was 'cynically' trying to grab headlines. Mr Bryant, the MP for Rhondda in south Wales, said local businesses had been unable to fill jobs with local people. ‘I have very high levels of youth unemployment in my constituency; it has risen by some 200 per cent in the last year,’ he told BBC2’s Newsnight.

‘I do get quite angry with some British employers, who’ve decided not to bother train British youngsters to work in the hospitality industry or the construction industry. ‘It would be nice sometimes when you go into a British hotel if the receptionist was British. ‘We need to give our young people to have the skills and the opportunities to get those jobs.

Russian opposition activist Yashin to speak in Tallinn

Ilya Yashin, a prominent figure in Russia's opposition movement, is to deliver a presentation in Tallinn this afternoon covering the latest political developments and the state of human rights in his country.

The lecture, entitled "Russia 2012: A Crushed Constitution and a Police State," is part of the "Voices of Russia" discussion series organized by the Open Estonia Foundation.

In an interview given to ETV on Wednesday, the 29-year-old co-founder of the Solidarnost movement said that he wanted to highlight for Europe the situation of political prisoners in his country, and spoke about the plight of Alexei Navalny, a high-profile opposition leader currently on trial for embezzlement in Kirov in what is widely seen as a political attempt to shut down his activities, including his bid for the presidency.

"Objectively, [Vladimir] Putin has named Alexei Navalby as his main opponent because practically the entire weight of the state apparatus has been thrown against him - there are four criminal cases against him. Now, one criminal trial has started and others are not far off," he said. "

"In this way the power is clearly demonstrating that it fears Navalny most of all, and it means that he has the greatest political prospects. Remember the late 1980s, when the persecution of Boris Yeltsin ended with him becoming president," he said.

The Open Estonia Foundation, in its statement, noted that Yashin's lecture is to come just prior to the May 6, one-year anniversary of the Bolotnaya Square demonstrations in Moscow, which has led to a political crackdown involving criminal charges being brought against numerous activists.

Russian environmental activist seeks asylum in Estonia

TALLINN - Environmental activist Suren Gazaryan, who fears criminal prosecution in Russia, has asked for political asylum in Estonia, Eesti Television (ETV) reported on Thursday.

Gazaryan told ETV that he filed an asylum request two weeks ago with the migration service. However, the Estonian authorities refused to discuss the request with RIA Novosti, citing a law that prohibits the disclosure of the personal information of asylum seekers in the country.

It was previously reported that a criminal case was initiated against Gazaryan, a well known environmental activist in the Krasnodar Territory. He faces punishment for allegedly issuing murder threats while pleading innocent.

Gazaryan said that on August 2 he had an argument with the security guards of a private facility. After this, according to Gazaryan, one of the guards reported him to the police on threatening to murder him.

Gazaryan already has one three-year suspended sentence for defacing the fence around the country house of Krasnodar Territory Governor Alexander Tkachyov. Along with another environmental activist Gazaryan said that the forest plot had been illegally taken possession of and that pines on the Red Data List had been cut down in order to construct the house.

The press service of the region's administration said that the house and the plot of land do not belong to the governor.

Estonia hopes Ukraine will sign association agreement with EU in 2013

Estonia hopes that Ukraine will sign the association agreement with the European Union in 2013, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet has said in an interview with the Ukrainian Week magazine.

"Estonia's position is to determine a concrete date and an event during which it would be possible to sign the agreement on association and the free trade area. We hope to sign it next year, and then we are also planning to liberalize our visa regime with Ukraine," he said.

Paet said supporting countries that are not yet members of the EU is of moral significance to the Estonian side.

"Such countries as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia also want to get closer to the EU, and we believe that the provision of support to them is our moral duty, in the same way as other countries once helped us move toward achieving this goal," the Estonian diplomat said.

Ukraine’s integration with EU is good for whole Europe : Urmas Paet

At a meeting with Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Sergei Tigipko in Kiev, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet confirmed Estonia’s support for Ukraine’s integration with the European Union and its readiness to continue sharing its reform experiences, assuming that Ukraine is still interested, Foreign Ministry press department reports.

According to Paet, Ukraine’s movement towards the European Union, including the signing of an Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, is in the interest of both sides. “To achieve this, it is essential to adhere to common values and principles, like honouring human rights and rule of law, while moving forward with reform processes and improving Ukraine’s business climate,” said Foreign Minister Paet. “It would be necessary to move towards free trade and a visa waiver between the European Union and Ukraine as well,” he added.

Estonia is prepared to contribute to the development of Ukraine through development co-operation and Estonia’s Centre of Eastern Partnership. Paet called on Ukraine to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Centre of Eastern Partnership, writes LETA.

Paet and Tigipko also discussed Estonia-Ukraine bilateral relations. Paet stated that the Estonia-Ukraine Intergovernmental Commission is an important form of co-operation and its next meeting will be at the end of February.

Estonia is also prepared to conclude an agreement on diplomatic property with Ukraine. Paet and Tigipko also addressed Estonia and Ukraine’s co-operation in international organisations, including the UN and OSCE. Ukraine will be the chairman of the Organisation

Finland ranked first in the Baltic Sea report

Finland is an especially attractive and competitive country for IT research and development, according to Swedbank’s report.

Finland is ranked first in the latest Baltic Sea Report which is Swedbank’s analysis of the economic conditions and structure of the countries around the Baltic Sea from a corporate perspective. According to the report, Finland’s biggest strengths are in education and governance, as well as the country’s innovation climate and infrastructure.

The report also states that access to a well-educated workforce, especially in IT technology, makes Finland an attractive and competitive country for IT research and development. Finland’s investments in research and development amount to 3.5% of GDP, which is among the highest in the EU.

Strong finances

The Baltic Sea Report Finland commends Finland for its public finances which are among the strongest in the European Monetary Union. According to the report, Finland has made progress in its tax policy during the last year, with simplified tax rules improving the country’s rating in Swedbank’s Baltic Sea Index.

Swedbank predicts GDP growth of 0.5% for Finland this year, followed by 1.2% next year and 2% in 2014 when the global economy gradually improves. The inflation rate is forecast to be 2.9% in 2012 and 2.6% in 2013.

The purpose of the Swedbank Baltic Sea Index is to compile and present information in a useful way for companies that are considering expanding abroad.

Eleven euro states back financial transaction tax

Eleven euro zone countries agreed on Tuesday to press ahead with a disputed tax on financial transactions designed to help pay for the cost of fixing a crisis that has rocked the single currency area.

The initiative, pushed hard by Germany and France but strongly opposed by Britain, Sweden and other free-marketers, gained critical mass at a European Union finance ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, when more than the required nine states agreed to use a treaty provision to launch the tax. The so-called Tobin tax , first proposed by Nobel-prize winning U.S. economist James Tobin in the 1972 as a way of reducing financial market volatility, has become a political symbol of a widespread desire to make banks, hedge funds and high-frequency traders pay a price for the crisis.

This is a small step for 11 countries but a giant leap for Europe, Austria Deputy Finance Minister Andreas Schieder said. The way is now clear for a just contribution from the banking and financial sector for financing the burdens of the crisis.

The agreement raised the prospect of a pioneer group of European states for the first time launching a joint tax without the unanimous backing of the 27-nation bloc, a move that may fragment the single market for financial services. EU Tax Commissioner Algirdas Semeta told the meeting the number of states backing the initiative had passed the quorum for so-called enhanced cooperation , provided some countries turn their oral backing into written commitment.

Puzzling questions from a Baltic tour

My wife and I recently returned from a Baltic expedition arranged through the Smithsonian Institution in co-operation with the National Geographic Society. The trip began in St. Petersburg, Russia, where our group spent two fascinating hours with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose negotiations with former U.S. president Ronald Reagan ended what he termed the “insane Cold war nuclear weapons race” and whose glasnost policy for democratic reforms unleashed the pent-up yearnings for freedom that ultimately led to the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Mr. Gorbachev chillingly described how close the world came to nuclear Armageddon: “Less than 10 per cent of our nuclear arsenal could have ended all life on Earth at the push of a button.” He also recounted that the American penchant for always needing to be seen as the “winner” almost killed support among his Kremlin colleagues for a nuclear weapons reduction treaty with Washington. This reminded me of the business principle that, in any negotiation, you need to give your counterpart some wins.

Tellingly, Mr. Gorbachev avoided venturing an opinion of life under the current Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Other Russians we spoke with weren’t so reticent. Struggling shopkeepers and restaurant owners complained about being forced to pay police for “security,” and Russian workers painted a depressing picture of corruption and crony capitalism that has fostered cynicism and shattered hopes of Western-style prosperity.

After Russia, we were bound for the former Soviet-controlled Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. After declaring independence in 1918 and fighting off invading Bolsheviks, they enjoyed a rare 20 years of freedom, ended by the Red Army occupation of 1940, followed by Hitler’s forces a year later. Hopes of a return to independence after the Second World War were crushed as the Iron Curtain fell across Europe.

Swedish police link Internet attacks to WikiLeaks founder Assange's case

STOCKHOLM - Internet attacks blocked access to several popular Swedish websites for part of Monday, local police said, linking the outage to the controversy surrounding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

"Every time something happens in the Assange affair there are more attacks on the Internet in Sweden," a national police computer expert, Anders Ahlqvist, told AFP.

The Australian activist, 41, has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since claiming asylum on June 19 in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over alleged sex crimes.

Assange denies the allegations and says he fears Sweden would extradite him to the United States, which was deeply embarrassed by WikiLeaks' release in 2010 of huge caches of US diplomatic cables and confidential documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange supporters claim he could receive harsh treatment if sent to the US and possibly even face the death penalty.

Uh-Oh! Diaper shortage possible after plant explosion

As so often happens, moms are left to deal with the mess.

An explosion at a Japanese chemical plant this weekend has the spectre of a global diaper shortage.

The plant in the coastal city of Himeji, operated by Nippon Shokubai Co., is one of the world’s largest producers of acrylic acid, a primary ingredient used in disposable diapers.

Powerful blasts rocked the facility Saturday, as firefighters were trying to control a blaze at one of the tanks containing the chemical. One firefighter died and 34 employees and first responders were injured in the blast.

Acrylic acid is a key component of superabsorbent polymers or SAP, which absorb large amounts of liquid. Nippon Shokubai makes roughly 20 percent of the world’s SAP and maintains a 10 percent global market share of acrylic acid. The plant had been ramping up production to meet increasing global demand, especially from China, according to Japanese media reports.

Estonia sees decade of Greek woes

LONDON — Greece needs to undergo austerity on the scale that some of the euro zone's newest and poorest members have adopted, and stands to remain a burden on its partners in the bloc for years to come, Estonian Finance Minister Juergen Ligi said on Friday.

The economy of the first euro area nation to request an international financial rescue will pose a problem for the other 16 nations in the currency union "for years—a decade for sure," Mr. Ligi said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. "It will take time before they return to the [debt] market. Of course structural reforms and political processes take time."

Mr. Ligi, speaking to economics students in London, said Greeks have yet to experience true austerity by Estonian standards, despite a string of spending cuts and tax increases that have sparked widespread public unrest, most recently, in a strike by public-sector unions this week.

"Greece hasn't seen real austerity," Mr. Ligi said. "They are consuming five times more than we did [in Estonia] 20 years ago, or maybe four [times], maybe three. Have they adjusted now? No they haven't. They are living clearly above their means at the expense of borrowed money."

Estonia is the euro zone's poorest country in terms of per-capita economic output, according to official data.

Baltic states fearful of the single currency

Talk of adopting the euro is thin on the ground before Lithuanian elections next month as politicians align with popular opposition to the switch.

The Baltic nation will abandon the litas “when the euro zone is ready,” Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said August 28, putting into question a 2014 target to follow Estonia into the currency. While Latvian officials retain plans to join the euro area that year, support among the population is at a record low.

Latvia and Lithuania, the only remaining eastern EU members to have planned fast-track euro adoption, are among the fastest- growing economies in the European Union after record budget cuts in 2009-2010. They are losing their appetite for the euro, once considered a tool to spur growth and increase confidence across eastern Europe, as the 17-nation currency union grapples for a third year with a deepening debt crisis.

“It’s clear that the attractiveness of the euro area has suffered from the euro crisis,” said Christian Schulz, senior economist at Berenberg Bank in London. “These rescue packages, if you have to contribute to them, look expensive. For politicians, there’s relatively little to gain from advocating euro entry.”

Latvia’s economy is outpacing that of Estonia, which adopted the euro in 2011, surging 5 per cent from a year earlier in the second quarter, the EU’s fastest clip. Lithuanian gross domestic product matched Estonia’s 2.2 per cent growth rate.

EU Gazprom probe a threat to Putin's power : Kasparov

TALLINN - A European Union probe of alleged market manipulation by energy giant Gazprom is a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's powerbase, world chess champion turned Kremlin foe Garry Kasparov said Tuesday.

"The EU's investigation of Gazprom, which has the potential to weaken Gazprom, has the potential to weaken Putin's regime," Kasparov told a democracy conference in Estonia.

"Both Russia's gas giant Gazprom and petroleum giant Rosneft are like a council in the Russian state, led by Putin oligarchs. Any weakening of Gazprom or Rosneft is a serious threat for Putin as it weakens his political and economical interests and that is why he takes it so seriously," Kasparov said.

"Putin recognises he has to been seen by people around him as someone who protects interests of all his gang," he added.

Putin has blasted Brussels for its challenge to Gazprom, a key supplier of gas to EU members, notably those that were under Soviet control until 1991.

Former satellites take on Europe

Year by year, the current nine countries of Eastern and Central Europe that were controlled by the Soviets — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia — become relatively more prosperous in comparison to the richer nations of Western Europe. As a result of the European debt crisis, this trend is likely to accelerate.

It has been more than two decades since these countries acquired their freedom. All have become multiparty, largely free-market democracies. What seems normal now was far from a foregone conclusion at the time of the dissolution of the old Soviet Union. In fact, most bets would have wagered that not all these nations would have made it. I was one of the economists who advised the reformers in Hungary and Estonia — then later Russia and Ukraine — and served as co-chairman of the transition team in Bulgaria. To say that at the time we were not all confident that the democratic and economic reforms would be successful would be an understatement.

Per capita incomes still lag somewhat behind those of the richer Western European countries. But economic growth rates on average in the nine new countries, with plenty of ups and downs, have been much higher than the average of the European Union (EU). The improvement has been much greater than the official numbers indicate because the real level of well-being in the nine countries at the end of the Soviet period was greatly overstated. The Soviets exaggerated their success for obvious reasons, but many in Western intelligence agencies also accepted those phony higher numbers because it made the communist threat seem greater than it was, which led to higher defence and intelligence budgets. Many who leaned to the left in the media and academic establishments wanted to inflate socialism’s success beyond actuality.

Russian ferry operators to launch new routes to Estonia

Starting from summer 2013, Russian ferry operators will launch a new ferry route between Kroonlinn, a town near St. Petersburg in Russia, and the Estonian town of Kunda, writes Eesti Päevaleht.

Kunda that will be visited by a passenger ferry twice a week has agreed to build a new quay for the vessels. The quay will be built by Kunda Nordic Tsement that owns the port. According to plans, the ferry that can also take on board cars will bring about 700 Russian tourists a week to Kunda to see the sights in Northern Estonia.

“We will make the first trip next May. Kunda has little to see, but 40 kilometres from Kunda is Rakvere with its castle and excellent spa hotel,” says Aleksei Varssavski, CEO of Biskon that consults St. Petersburg ferry operators.

The construction of a new quay that could accommodate 150-metre-long ferry ships will cost between 5 and 10 million euros. Another plan is to launch a ferry line between Sillamäe, Kotka and Kroonlinn. The three cities have already signed a protocol of intentions.

In addition, the Sillamäe – Ust-Luga cargo line will be opened in September 2012. In spring 2011 Russian ferry operator St. Peterline launched a ferry line St. Petersburg-Stockholm-Tallinn-St Petersburg.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Pro-Pussy Riot banner planned for Narva Castle

Outspoken MP Juku-Kalle Raid is planning to redecorate the wall of the Narva Castle on August 24, adding an 8 meter by 24 meter banner in support of jailed members of the Russian punk-rock group Pussy Riot.

The banner, which will face the Russian side of the Narva River border and be clearly visible from Ivangorod, will bear the slogan, "You can't stop freedom!" in English, Russian and Estonian, rus.err.ee reported.

Raid, whose actions are being supported by Russian journalist and writer Artemy Troitsky, also plans to send a letter to the Russian courts, the Russian State Duma and the Russian embassy in Tallinn in which he refers to the jailed Pussy Riot members as "prisoners of conscience" and calls for "dialog with Russian organizations and citizens who value freedom of thought and speech."

On August 17, a Moscow court sentenced three members of the band to two years in prison for an anti-Putin stunt they performed in a cathedral in February. Both the trial and the sentence have drawn fire from international human rights groups, politicians and artists as being heavy-handed and politically motivated.

Members of the Narva City Council contacted by ERR had mixed reactions to the planned banner, some opposing it on the grounds that the Pussy Riot sentencing was Russia's internal affair and others expressing indifference.

Steve Roman

Russian blogger applies for political asylum in Estonia

Russian blogger Maksim Jefimov who is facing a two-year sentence for his blog posts in which he criticized the Russian Orthodox Church has applied for a political asylum I Estonia, writes Delfi with reference to Russian news agency Interfax.

According to human rights organization Agora, Russian prosecutors are preparing charges for Jefimov’s writings targeted against the Russian Church and he has contact the Estonian police and border guard service for temporary political asylum.

Agora reported that Estonian authorities have already registered Jefimov as an asylum seeker. This spring Russian prosecutors initiated a criminal investigation about blogs posted by Jefimov. If found guilty for disseminating hatred and disparaging religious minorities, he could be sentenced to prison for up to two years.

Estonian authorities have so far refused to comment the news about Jefimov’s asylum request. The Estonian police and border guard authority said that international treaties prohibit  it to disclose sensitive information about individual asylum applicants in public.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Latvia could join eurozone in 2014

Lithuania and Latvia are the two countries most likely to meet the Maastricht criteria for joining the European Union over the coming two years, according to the latest report from leading Swedish bank Swedbank.

This could have tangible benefits for those investing in the countries, according to the bank, which is one of the largest retail operators in the Baltic region.

However, Latvia continues to be in a stronger position than many of its counterparts and is the most likely to join the common currency, Swedbank added. "It has more room for manoeuvre in terms of the price stability and budget deficit criteria, as well as stronger political resolve," the bank claimed.

Whether either country will be able to fulfil the interest rate conditions remains to be seen, according to the report. The Latvian economy enjoyed a further increase in retail trade over June 2012, underlining that it remains in a relatively strong position.