BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

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.

Estonians with cars in Finland targeted in tax blitz

Finnish police and customs are cracking down on people who have moved to Finland with vehicles but are not paying the country's steep taxes on car ownership - something that is foreign to Estonians.

On May 30, an extensive blitz took place near Helsinki. Fifty out of 100 drivers stopped on the basis of having a foreign registration plate were issued citations, and cars were confiscated in two cases, ETV reported.

The Customs Board says there are 50,000 cars in Finland registered in another country, most of them in Estonia.

As of May 1, 35,000 Estonians lived in Finland, according to the Finnish Population Register. Many if not most presumably drive their own vehicles, ETV reported.

Although re-registration is considered expensive, it is possible to get an exemption. However that only applies if Finnish customs is notified on the day of the move to Finland.

Soviet collapse or Germanic reform ?

The latest issue of Diplomaatia, the Estonian foreign-affairs journal, published to coincide with the annual Lennart Meri conference in Tallinn earlier this month, is filled with great insight on the European crisis. My contribution on the euro's turmoil appears in the next post. But I want to draw readers' attention to other articles that offer some good perspective.

Ivan Krastev, head of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, a Bulgarian think-tank, compares and contrasts the collapse of the Soviet Union with the woes of the European Union.

He warns European leaders:

The Soviet collapse teaches us that just because the economic costs of disintegration would be very high, this is not a reason for it not to happen. To believe that the EU cannot disintegrate simply because it would be too costly offers only weak reassurance that the Union will continue to be stable.

Paradoxically, the belief that the Union cannot disintegrate, backed by the economists and shared by Europe's political class, is one of the risks of disintegration. The last years of the Soviet Union are a classical manifestation of this dynamic. The perception that disintegration is 'unthinkable' could encourage policy makers to try to push dangerous policies under the assumption that 'nothing really bad can happen' in the long term, and foster the idea that anti-EU policies or rhetoric might even be helpful in the short term.

The Soviet collapse is the most powerful demonstration that the disintegration of the EU need not be the result of a victory of anti-EU forces over pro-EU forces. More likely, it will be the unintended consequence of the growing dysfunction of the system and the elites' misreading of the political dynamics in their own societies. Reflecting on the Soviet collapse, the eminent historian Stephen Kotkin is convinced that the real question to be asked is, "why the Soviet elite destroyed its own system?" The Soviet collapse is the best demonstration that the rise of anti-integration forces can be the outcome, rather than the cause of collapse.

Ukraine suppliers claim millions from Estonian businessman

Estonian real estate developer Hillar Teder is finding himself target of claims that his business in Ukraine has not been above board, writes Äripäev.

The claims against Teder who is one of the businessmen who built up the O’KEY retail chain in Ukraine and Russia originate from the Ukraine Suppliers’ Association that a week ago published an article in proximanews.net under the headline “Adventures of an Estonian fraud in Ukraine.”

In the article, the association claims that the failed business of O’KEY hypermarkets in Ukraine may create a scandal in Europe, says that Teder is a fraud and responsible for bankrupting hundreds of Ukraine companies.

According to the article, Teder was responsible for the fact that when O’KEY closed its hypermarkets in Ukraine in 2009 because of the economic crisis and huge losses, the company still owes money to hundreds of suppliers, employees and the local tax authority.

Nunavut ranks below Estonia on human development index

Nunavut ranks below Estonia and Cyprus when it comes to socio-economic well-being, according to a study by the Ottawa-based Centre for the Study of Living Standards.

The study compared provinces and territories with the rest of the world using the Human Development Index developed for the United Nations.

The index is based on life expectancy, education and income and is often used to compare countries.

According to the new study, Nunavut's score is significantly lower than other Canadian provinces and territories.

And if Nunavut were a country, its Human Development Index would put it 38th in the world, just below Qatar, and above Hungary.

"I don't think that's a surprise, because Nunavut is developing; it has a number of issues in terms of health and education," said Andrew Sharpe, one of the report's authors.

"It wasn't too surprising, but I think it's useful to have actual estimates for the gaps between Nunavut and other provinces. This shows the need for resources in Nunavut to reduce those gaps."

Kasparov wants Putin put in check

CHESS legend Garry Kasparov has branded Russian President Vladimir Putin "an oligarch who wants to rule like Stalin".

"My plea to the Western world is, please stop calling Putin a democratic leader. Putin is an oligarch who wants to rule the country like Stalin but to live like a modern oligarch," he told the Lennart Meri conference in Tallinn, Estonia.

The West should also "admit that the regime of Putin is the regime of oligarchs whose common slogan can be (summarised) as 'let’s steal together'," charged the Soviet-era chess world champion turned opposition figure.

"Western leaders should also understand that the way Russia is ruled is so different from democratic order. When in the US the president has to humbly ask Congress for every dollar he wants to spend, in Russia Putin can move billions by his own choice without asking anyone else," Kasparov said.

Kasparov has been a vocal critic of the Kremlin.

Medvedev receives congrats on his new job

The Prime Ministers of Estonia and Poland, and the President of Azerbaijan congratulated Dmitry Medvedev on his new position of the head of Russian government.

Estonian premier Andrus Ansip wished Mr. Medvedev ‘luck and success’ and said that he hoped the relations between the two countries to keep on developing.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expects the Medvedev cabinet to ensure ‘productive cooperation between Moscow and Warsaw’.

Azeri President Ilkham Aliev wished Dmitry Medvedev ‘health and happiness’.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier contacted Medvedev to congratulate him on his new position.

Le sommet de Yalta divise l’UE une fois de plus

Certains dirigeants européens participeront au sommet des pays d’Europe centrale prévu à Yalta, en Ukraine, les 11 et 12 mai prochains, mais d’autres non, a appris EurActiv. Comble de l’ironie, Yalta est le symbole de la division de l’Europe pendant la Guerre froide, depuis que MM. Roosevelt, Churchill et Staline s’y sont réunis en février 1945.

Au moins quatre pays européens devraient boycotter la réunion prévue sur les rives de la mer Noire. Les médias allemands ont annoncé le 26 avril que le nouveau président, Joachim Gauck, avait annulé sa visite en Ukraine ce mois-ci. M. Gauck s'est dit préoccupé par l'état de santé de la chef de l'opposition incarcérée, Ioulia Timochenko.

Les médias tchèques ont également fait savoir, le 30 avril, que le président, Vaclav Klaus, avait annulé sa visite pour les mêmes raisons. Les présidents slovène et autrichien, Danilo Turk et Heinz Fischer, auraient décidé de suivre cet exemple.

En février dernier, les autorités ukrainiennes auraient lancé des invitations aux chefs d'État des 20 pays suivants : l’Albanie, l'Autriche, le Bélarus, la Bosnie-Herzégovine, la Bulgarie, la Croatie, l'Estonie, la Hongrie, l'Italie, la Lettonie, la Lituanie, la Macédoine, la Moldavie, le Montenegro, la Pologne, la République tchèque, la Roumanie, la Serbie, la Slovaquie et la Slovénie.

Protect yourself from computer virus

You may be reading this on our newspaper's website — one of the modern advantages that come along with modern technology.

But the FBI is warning that your computer may be infected with a piece of malware that could shut down your ability to go on the Internet as of July 9. The problem is the DNSChanger Trojan, a nasty piece of surreptitious computer code that has been working its way into PCs and Macs around the country for more than a year. The FBI says the malware was put into play by a gang of criminals in Estonia.

DNSChanger Trojan changes the settings on your computer so that you gain access to the Internet using a set of computer servers operated by the Estonian gang. They made money by exposing you to a specific set of ads or websites.

The FBI arrested the crooks and shut down their servers last fall. But if your computer is infected, it will still be set to reach the Internet via the defunct servers. The FBI has been operating servers that allow infected computers to go online as a temporary measure. But those workaround servers will be shut down, and infected computers will be cut off from the Internet July 9.

You can check to see if your computer is infected by going to http://dns-ok.us/. If the background is green, your computer is clean. If not, you can follow the directions to remove DNSChanger Trojan from your computer.

“Stalinobus” kills the mood ahead of WWII Victory Day festivities

For many in the former USSR, May 9 - or Victory Day - marks the day that the Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany’s forces during World War II. Typically feted with fireworks and parades, this year’s Victory Day may also feature a number of commuter buses decorated with portraits of ex-Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

The concept of the “Stalinobus” ruffled feathers even before it first appeared two years ago. Human rights activists and democracy groups kicked up a fuss in the run-up to the 2010 Victory Day festivities after hearing news of the bus and did everything they could to block it. Only one “Stalinobus” got through. The vehicle made a brief debut in the city of Saint Petersburg, before it was sprayed with white paint. The whole stunt lasted barely a day.

Despite its cold reception, “Stalinobus’” organisers were not to be discouraged. The following year, the vehicle was again spotted at Victory Day celebrations, and multiple buses were seen rolling through a number of Russian cities on November 7, a date that marks both the beginning of the country’s 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and a major show of military force at Moscow’s Red Square in 1941. Although the “Stalinobus” was welcomed by a number of towns in Siberia, Russia's capital Moscow refused to allow the vehicle onto its streets.

Eco-banker to Estonians : set up more banks

Lars Pehron, head of Danish socially responsible and environmentally friendly bank Merkur, believes that Estonia should set up more banks that would be based on local capital because they think otherwise than the large Scandinavian banks that dominate the Estonian banking market today, writes Äripäev.

Speaking at the Pärnu Financial Conference, Pehrson said: “Our bank is a cooperative bank that is a combination of regular banking and socially sustainable vision. I believe that sustainability and added value must be a basis of all activities, not some by-products or by-services.”

According to Pehrson, banks and other enterprises could be successful when local, but should participate in some larger global initiative or movement to bring in new ideas and increase productivity.

Merkur Cooperative Bank that was founded in 1982 by its current managers and has been growing 25 percent a year.
By now, Merkur has 80 employees and is a full-service banking institution.

It has become famous for its strong links to the local community and responsibility  for the social development and environmental friendliness.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Is Georgia's homemade drone actually Estonian?

Georgia made a splash last week when it rolled out what it said was its first domestically produced drone aircraft. “No one will share this [pointing to the Georgian-made drone] with others; it’s ours," said President Mikheil Saakashvili, at its unveiling. "We no longer depend on others.”

But now it's emerged that the drone may not be quite as homegrown as was originally presented. A variety of observers have noticed a strong similarity between the Georgian drone and the Swan, a UAV produced by Estonian company ELI. (See here for some more photos of both.) Even the digital camouflage pattern on the ground control system (visible at about 0:41 of the video in the original post) seems to be the same pattern used by Estonian armed forces.

Irakli Aladashvili, the editor of a Georgian military magazine, says the drone does in fact appear to be a close relative of the Estonian. Writing in the newspaper Kviris Palitra (below translation from BBC Monitoring), he says:

Swiss reintroduce quotas on 8 European nations

GENEVA - The Swiss government has decided to reimpose quotas on immigrants from Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and five other central and eastern European nations, officials said Wednesday.

The Swiss Cabinet announced that residents from these countries -- which also include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia -- will be subject to quotas starting in May when they apply for residency permits needed to work more a year in Switzerland.

The decision reflects a longstanding uneasiness about immigration and rising concerns about integrating workers and employers' compliance with wage and labor requirements, along with a desire to hold unemployment to 3 percent even during a time of economic turmoil.

"In weighing its interests, the Federal Council took into account the fact that the free movement of persons provides a good number of advantages to the Swiss economy," the government said.

"Over the past months, however, the Federal Council has noticed that the complexity of the immigration theme necessitates a debate on measures in the domains of the job market (including accompanying measures) and integration, and that such a discussion must unfold taking into full account the considerations of economic policy," it said in a statement.

Russia deploys S-400 missiles in region bordering Poland and Lithuania

MOSCOW — A Russian newspaper has reported that the military has begun deploying S-400 mobile surface-to-air missiles in Kaliningrad, the Baltic exclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania.

Izvestia cited unnamed military officials as saying the missiles arrived Friday, but did not say how many. The Defense Ministry declined comment on the report.

S-400s, Russia’s most advanced surface-to-air missiles, have a range of 120-400 kilometers (75-250 miles).

The report comes amid rising tension between the U.S. and Russia over Washington’s plans for a missile-shield system in Europe, which Russia contends threatens its own defenses.

S-400s are already deployed around Moscow and are planned to be placed in the Pacific Far East this year.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press

Titanic treasures being sold !

Le Titanic n'a jamais été renfloué. Mais 5 500 objets et autres morceaux du paquebot ont été récupérés sur l'épave mythique et remontés à la surface. Cap sur ces trésors du Titanic, que la maison Guernsey's met aux enchères pour les 100 ans du naufrage.

Un bracelet incrusté de diamants qui a sans doute appartenu à une passagère riche, voyageant en première classe. Au moins deux femmes nommées Amy avaient embarqué sur le Titanic, ainsi qu'une Amanda et une Amelia, qui pouvaient être surnommées "Amy" et à qui ce bracelet aurait donc pu également appartenir.

Ces 5 500 objets sont mis aux enchères le 15 avril 2012 à New-York. Tous ces effets personnels et autres objets historiques seront vendus en un seul lot et le nom de l'acheteur sera connu à la mi-avril. Plusieurs villes seraient en compétition pour décrocher cette fabuleuse collection.

Pendant le naufrage, les chefs de cabine ont essayé de sauver des sacs remplis de bijoux et d'argent que les passagers leur avaient confié.

Siberian crash plane had been registered in Estonia

The ATR-72 airliner involved in today's fatal crash near the Siberian city of Tyumen had previously belonged to an Estonian company.

Quoting data from Airfleets.net, the Finnish daily Ilta-Sanomat said that Estonia's reagional airline, Aero Airlines acquired the plane from Finnair in 2003 and registered it in the country in 2005. It then sold the aircraft to the Russian operator UTair in 2008. The plane had been in service since October 1992.

Aero Airlines operated flights between Tallinn and Helsinki from 2002 to 2008 and was dissolved in 2008, selling off its fleet.

At least 32 people were killed when the UTair passenger flight, bound for the oil town of Surgut, crashed while trying to make an emergency landing shortly after take-off on April 2.

Twelve survivors were taken to hospital, all in a serious condition, RIA Novosti reported. President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has expressed his condolences to President Dmitri Medvedev and the families and friends of the victims.

Steve Roman

Russia dismayed by U.S. statement on 1944 Tallinn air raid

Moscow has condemned a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Estonia that called the Soviet air attack on Nazi-held Tallinn in 1944 an act of "foreign occupation," the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

“It is regrettable that American diplomats in Tallinn are once again conniving in the attempts by certain powers in the Baltic States to distort the historic truth and set the Russian and Estonian people at loggerheads,” the ministry said in a statement.

Russia's reaction came after the U.S. Embassy in Estonia issued a statement on March 9 announcing a ceremony commemorating the 1944 Soviet bombing of Tallinn that called the attack “tragic both in its devastating loss of life and its military inefficacy.”

Over 300 Soviet bombers raided Tallinn on March 9, 1944 in an attempt to destroy the Nazi forces occupying the city. However, the bombing mainly claimed the lives of civilians, killing over 500 people and injuring almost 700.

The attack, seen by many Estonians as an act of Russian aggression, remains one of the most controversial issues in the history of the World War II.

The U.S. statement also said the bombing failed to “break the spirit of the Estonian people,” a phrase that Moscow views with “condemnation and outrage.”

It argues the attack has been “taken out of the historical context” and that the bombing was part of Soviet military actions to liberate the Baltic States from Nazi troops, the Foreign Ministry said.

Dina Danilova

Reitan Servicehandel acquires R-kioski in Finland, Estonia and Lithuania

TRONDHEIM - Yesterday Reitan Servicehandel (RSH) acquired more than 1.000 kiosks from the Finnish media company Sanoma OY in Finland, Estonia and Lithuania. The purchase price is approx. 130 million Euros. As a result of the latest acquisition, Magnus Reitan will manage more than 2.500 stores with close to NOK 14 billion in revenue and 18.000 employees in seven countries.

This acquisition makes us Europe's second largest convenience store operator, an achievement of which we are very proud. All of the chains have a leading position in their respective markets, and it is with great humility we are going to further develop these brands in Finland, Estonia and Lithuania, Reitan Servicehandel CEO Magnus Reitan says.

New product categories

The revenue in Finland, Estonia and Lithuania is to a great extent based on traditional newsstand products such as tobacco, magazines and lottery, while Narvesen and Pressbyran to a larger degree have developed new and profitable product groups such as meals to go, drinks and electronic services.

Our competence will contribute to accelerate the development of more profitable products. However, there is no guarantee that the demand in Finland, Estonia and Lithuania will be the same as in Scandinavia and Latvia. We will therefore rely on the competence and the local know-how that exists in today's organization, Magnus Reitan says.

Putin takes 86% of Russian votes in Estonia

During the Russian presidential elections over the weekend, 86 percent of the nation’s citizens who cast their ballots in Estonia supported Vladimir Putin.

According to the Russian Embassy in Estonia, a total of 31,500 people, or 26.7 percent of voting-age Russian citizens visiting or residing in the country, took part in the elections.

Out of the nine polling stations set up across Estonia (four in both Tallinn and Narva, one in Tartu), the busiest ones were in Tallinn, receiving slightly below 15,000 voters. In Narva the number of voters reached 13,200, while in Tartu the figure remained more modest – 1,500.

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, Putin’s closest rival, received 6.82 percent of votes given by Russian citizens in Estonia.

The rest of the ballots were divided between Mikhail Prokhorov (3.88 percent), Vladímir Zhirinovsky (2.26 percent) and Sergei Mironov (0.93 percent).

Russia's electoral committee has already declared Putin winner of the elections. He had received 63.7 percent of the votes when nearly 100 percent of the ballots had been counted.

Ingrid Teesalu

Estonia is a good place to live : Mikhail Kasyanov

Mikhail Kasyanov, former prime minister of Russia and current opposition leader, says that, because of Putin, many businessmen are moving their business from Russia to Estonia or are setting up companies in Estonia because they find Estonia's business climate favourable.

In an interview to Delovõje Vedomosti, Kasyanov said that, according to statistics, 2.5 times more people are relocating from Russia to Estonia than vice versa.

"Many Russian companies have an affiliate office in Estonia. Are businessmen escaping from Russia? Massive exodus is also a personal issue as citizens.

There are also other reasons: Estonia has a relatively liberal policy towards issuing residential permits, supports freedom of movement and many Russians use Estonia to solve their issues.

Many people that I know have moved to live in Estonia. Some who have money in some Moscow bank send their parents to live in Estonia.

There is nothing strange in such migration since Estonia is the most successful of the three Baltic countries. You have everything that integration to Europe can give: NATO, EU. Estonia is recovering from the crisis ahead of others. Estonia is simply a good place to live."

Toomas Hõbemägi