BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

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.

Tallinn city government, Estonia’s own 50% party

It seems that Estonia has its own version of China’s 50 Cent Party, with the difference that in Estonia these party-loyal Internet commentators are employed by the City of Tallinn, ie Centre Party and its chairman Edgar Savisaar, writes Eesti Ekspress.

Only about a month ago Eesti Ekspress wrote about Tallinn City Government officials who, as members of Centre Party, have to pay 5% of their salary to the party. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg as city officials who have got cushy jobs thanks to Centre Party have other duties as well.

Namely, about ten city officials, all of them young Center Party members, are working in 3-hour shifts monitoring newsflow from Delfi and Postimees to detect news articles that are critical of City of Tallinn or Centre Party. Once they find the news, they send a link to a mailing list of young Centre Party members whose duty is to write positive web comments in the attempt of improving the party's image and influence people's opinion.

So Centre Party and its chairman Edgar Savisaar are following in the footsteps of the government of China, ie the Chinese Communist Party, that hires Internet commentators to post comments favorable towards party policies in an attempt to shape and sway public opinion on various Internet message boards and pays them fifty cent of RMB for every post that either steers a discussion away from anti-party or sensitive content on domestic websites, bulletin board systems, and chatrooms, or that advances the Communist party line.

Russia expels Estonian diplomat in "mirror" move

TALLINN – Estonian consul in St. Petersburg Franek Persidski has been declared by Russian authorities persona non grata in response to a similar action previously taken by Estonia, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said.

"Persidski has returned from St. Petersburg consulate to Estonia," the ministry’s press service of the told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"This was a reciprocal move by the Russian side in response to a similar decision of Estonian authorities taken earlier," the press service said without providing details of the Estonian action.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the decision to expel the Estonian diplomat.

Some Russian-language media sources in Estonia earlier speculated that it could have been done in retaliation for Estonia’s denial to issue entry visas to five members of a Russian delegation traveling to Tallinn to take part in the Baltic Dialogue 2013 roundtable in March.

Germany and Estonia praise austerity as France signals turbulence

The leaders of Estonia and Germany traded praise for each other's austerity policies Wednesday, even as they aired concerns about continuing budget woes in other European nations, particularly France.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip hours after Paris admitted it would miss its deficit-cutting targets, with French debt to reach 94.3 per cent of GDP next year, well up from the previous 90.5-per-cent target.

Merkel was circumspect when asked to comment on the French budget blowout, saying: "We wish France success, because France is simply important for the stability of the eurozone as a whole.
"We'll be watching these reform efforts that have begun in France very amicably."

The chancellor, who faces a general election in September, has faced fierce criticism in southern Europe for prescribing government austerity as the antidote to the eurozone debt crisis, but is popular at home for attaching tough austerity terms to bailouts. "Europe has 8 per cent of the world's population, 25 per cent of its GDP and 50 per cent of its social welfare spending. That money has to be earned," she said, repeating one of her mantras.

Ansip hit a similar note. "Debts are easy to run up, but hard to repay," he said. "It's not right to spend at the expense of future generations."

Ansip criticized over ‘one lady’ comment

TALLINN - Chairman of the Riigikogu Committee on Foreign Affairs Marko Mihkelson estimated that Prime Minister Andrus Ansip’s statement last week regarding the administration of justice in Ukraine, and “one lady,” was thoughtless and would not help Ukraine’s integration with Europe, reports Postimees Online.

“Estonia has full support for Ukraine’s aspirations to enhance cooperation with the European Union. The success of an independent Ukraine with respect of the principle of rule of law largely determines the future developments in our close neighborhood,” said the MP, adding that this has a direct link to Estonia’s security dimension.

“For example, Ukraine has had a much more difficult starting position than Estonia, and hence the internal developments after the Orange Revolution have probably not been as hoped for in the free world. In such a large country with great internal controversies as Ukraine, reforms simply take longer,” noted Mihkelson.

Estonia to cut individual income tax rate to 20% in 2015

Estonian MP and former Minister of Finance Aivar Sõerd who is also member of the parliamentary finance committee says that the Estonian taxation system needs to be  changed in order to remain in competition, Äripäev wrote last week.

Speaking in the taxation conference organized by Vaba Mõtte Koda, Sõerd said that the key area where Estonia’s taxation is about to change include cutting individual income tax rate, increasing non-taxable minimum and reduction of social tax burden.

Sõerd said that these are also the areas that most businessmen who operate in Estonia regard important.

"A country that wants to remain in global competition must work hard all the time. Our economic environment is constantly changing as countries are competing with each other for jobs and investments by changing taxation policies and regulations. This is exactly what we must do as well,” said Sõerd.

The President of Estonia uses social networking site as a weapon of revenge : Le Monde

Social networking sites have been turned into a means of revenge for small and lowly people.

So says French Newspaper – Le Monde – in reference to the Toomas Hendrik Ilves’ address to the economist Paul Krugman on Twitter.

“The President has once again left a message on Twitter. Not our president – who is occupied with much more pressing affairs but Toomas Hendrik Ilves who was elected President of Estonia in 2006. This little post-Soviet Baltic state is located in the far north of Europe.  The country, which became independent in 1991 is a real bag of curiosities. It has the most advanced electronics of all Europe and yet, being the poorest place in Europe, takes last place in the Eurozone,” – writes the newspaper, stressing that Estonia is “the only place in Europe whose president airs his impressions of the opera on Twitter.”

According to DELFI, the French newspaper also argues that the Estonian president, a staunch opponent of all things Soviet who fought against the regime from New York and Munich, cannot bear to be corrected.  For him there are no authorities – neither Russians nor eminent Americans from Princeton University (although he himself studied at Colombia).  The head of the Estonian state newspaper describes him as a rebel with the mannerisms of a dandy, a lover of punk music, who can be found in the trendy bars of Tallinn dressed in a leather jacket and with a beer in his hand.

Estonia army chief sorry over knights templar photos

Estonian army chief Riho Terras apologized Thursday after photos surfaced of him performing a Knights Templar ritual in a white cape and army gear at a medieval monastery.

"There are rules about wearing the military uniform and nobody, including the commander of the defense forces, can violate the rules," the 45-year-old said on the army website.

The Baltic nation's military forbids its officers from wearing the uniform off duty, but that did not stop several of the sword-clutching men in the shots leaked by local media this week.

Terras said he had quit his chair position in the OSMTH, Estonia's branch of the secretive medieval order, but remains a member of the group.

Local media has outed several other high-profile figures from the political, economic and church spheres as belonging to such male-only organisations.

Some have admitted membership publicly, including the head of Tallinn's Lutheran church, Jaan Tammsalu, who is a Free Mason.

Source : AFP

Ansip raps Eesti Energia for poor investments, lack of communication

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip says that executives Eesti Energia should have thought twice before agreeing to invest millions of euros in doing business with supervisory board member, businessman Rein Kilk, writes Äripäev.

Answering a question from MP Tarmo Tamm, Ansip said that it is now clear that Eesti Energia made a mistake by agreeing to build a co-generation plant in Painküla that was expected to supply heat and power to Werol, a rape seed oil producer that belonged to Kilk.

Ansip also criticized Eesti Energia’s executives for agreeing to pay a high price for some rundown buildings that belonged to Kilk whose several businesses have already gone bankrupt.
Ansip also expressed disapproval of Eesti Energia executives for being poor in responding to criticism, and for putting off an information request from Parliament.

Chinese companies want to invest in Estonia's renewable energy sphere

An official Chinese delegation will arrive n Estonia on Sunday, accompanied by a business delegation that will study investment possibilities in renewable energy, Public Broadcasting reports.

The official delegation will be headed by Zhu Yanfeng, deputy governor of the Jilin province that has 27 million inhabitants. The Chinese delegation visits Estonia at the invitation of Enterprise Estonia.

Companies of the Jilin province want to invest 130 million euros in Estonia's renewable energy sector. Last September, a corresponding cooperation agreement was signed with Enterprise Estonia.

The delegation meets with economy minister Juhan Parts and environment minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus. The official delegation is in Estonia till Tuesday, business delegation longer.

Tallinn Mayor denies any connection with Swiss banking accounts

The Swiss bank account of a fund allegedly connected to Tallinn Mayor and Center Party leader Edgar Savisaar, had its entire 470,000 euro balance withdrawn in cash in 2011, documents from Switzerland have revealed; the money are suspected to be connected with illegal operations of the Tallinn mayor, the Estonian national broadcasting corporation ERR reported, writes Postimees/LETA.

Savisaar denies any connection to the secret Swiss bank accounts, Postimees reported on Friday. The withdrawal information was discovered by Eesti Ekspress when examining Swiss court documents concerning Savisaar's failed attempt to prevent the Estonian Prosecutor's Office from obtaining documents about said bank account.

The Swiss-based deposit in amount of 470,000 euros which was paid out in cash in 2011 to an unidentified person. The court papers go on further to say that the money was to be used for campaign contributions to a political party and for paying publisher's bills.

Interior minister chooses Elmar Vaher as new police chief in Estonia

Estonian interior minister Ken-Marti Vaher has proposed current North Estonian Police Prefect Elmar Vaher as the new chief of the Estonian Police and Border Guard board and after months of uncertainty, he is likely to find government support, LETA/Delfi reports.

The candidacy of Elmar Vaher was discussed on Monday by the coalition council. Next, the Riigikogu legal committee has to voice its opinion about the suitability of the candidate. Delfi said that its information shows Vaher's candidacy suits the committee and the government can then appoint Vaher.

The previous director general of the Police and Border Guard Board Raivo Küüt announced of his resignation last autumn over the scandal involving use of non-calibrated traffic speed radars. His last day of work was February 28.

Interior ministry held a public contest for his replacement but that failed since the three final candidates were all rejected by the selection committee. Then interior minister Vaher proposed justice ministry deputy chancellor Priit Kama as the police chief but Kama's candidacy draw a lot of criticism and Reform Party opposition failed his candidacy too.

Elmar Vaher (born 1975) has worked in the police system for many years; he was the head of central criminal police in 2005-2008 and the North Estonian police prefect since 2008.

Most Estonian residents would like economy minister to resign

TALLINN – A poll, which was held by the Turu-uuringute AS indicated that the majority of Estonian people would like to see Economy and Communications Minister Juhan Parts to resign due to the recent scandals in his governance sphere, Public Broadcasting reports.

56 percent of respondents said that Parts should resign over the problems concerning the state-owned energy giant Eesti Energia, state entrepreneurship development fund Enterprise Estonia and national carrier Estonian Air.

30 percent of the polled fully agreed that the minister should resign, 26 percent said they rather think he should resign. 8 percent didn’t consider his resignation necessary and 18 percent thought that he rather shouldn’t resign.

The poll among 1,000 Estonian residents in the age of 15-74 was carried out on March 6-18 and the company did it at its own initiative, i.e. it wasn’t commissioned by anyone.

Neighbours worried about expansion plans of Tallinn Airport

Residents living in the vicinity of Tallinn Airport are worried about the airport’s expansion plans and are complaining about water problems, reports ERR.

The plans could be derailed one of the neighbours who owns several land properties in Kanali tee in the vicinity of the airport said that he would allow the airport to expand only if it buys it land or exchanges them with other properties.

Tallinn Airport is currently preparing plans to expand the airport infrastructure in the east and south direction. The project includes extending the current runway and taxiways.

The final shape of the project depends on the level of co-funding from the European Cohesion Fund.The airport has hired Ramboll Eesti to conduct environmental impact assessment.

At a meeting held yesterday to discuss the plans with local residents, several owners of properties near the airport complained that they borewell. Some said that they would like the airport to instal water filters to ensure that chemicals used for aircraft maintenance do not pollute nearby wells.

Helsinki Airport, for instance, recently discovered that de-icing chemicals that are used to de-ice plans in the winter have polluted the soil much more extensively than what was previously believed.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Savisaar hiding a Swiss bank account

Estonian prosecutor’s office and the national security agency KAPO suspect that Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar is hiding bribery money in a Swiss bank account.

A court document obtained by Äripäev from the Swiss court register that is accessible for public, shows that in early 2011 the Estonian prosecutor’s office started criminal procedure to investigate whether Savisaar was guilty of bribery and money-laundering and was hiding ill-gotten funds in Switzerland.

Prosecutors were suspecting that the money in Savisaar’s bank account may have been a bribe from Estonian hotel and catering businessman Alexander Kofkin who mainly lives in Switzerland and who may have received various illegal favours from the City of Tallinn that is controlled by Savisaar.

To investigate the suspicion, the prosecutor’s office asked Swiss authorities for legal assistance in determining the origin of money transfers and the original Swiss account that was used.

Document also show that Savisaar lawyers asked a Swiss court not to allow disclosure of information about Savisaar’s bank account to the Estonian authorities, but the Swiss court rejected the complaint.

According to the court documents, a Swiss bank account that is linked to Savisaar was used to repay Savisaar’s dent to Bravotex Ltd that belonged to Siim and Sulev Seppik, sons of Ain Seppik, former prominent Centre Party member.

ECHR holds the Estonia violated rights during WWII monument riots of 2007

STRASBOURG - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held Thursday that Estonia violated its obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights (Convention) in connection with arrests and detentions that followed April 2007 riots over the relocation of a World War II monument celebrating the Red Army.

On September 22, 1944, the Red Army wrested control of Tallinn from the Nazi war machine. Three years later, a monument presently referred to as the Bronze Soldier, but originally named the “Monument to the Liberators of Tallinn” was unveiled in the city. It was built above a burial site where Soviet soldiers had been laid to rest. The monument, pictured above, featured of a bronze-cast Red Army soldier set against a plain stone backdrop.

In 2004, a growing number of local residents began to vocally demand the statue’s removal. From 2006 onward, clashes began to occur with increasing frequency between groups advocating for and against the statue’s presence.

In 2007, the Estonian parliament enacted a law providing for the exhumation and reburial of remains buried in inappropriately located grave sites. The law further provided for the relocation of war monuments.

In April of that year, Estonian police cordoned off the area surrounding the monument in preparation for the exhumation process. The following evening, crowds of angry protesters chanting such slogans as “shame!” and “fascists!” closed in on the sight. Some members of the crowd attempted to break through police barricades.

Tallinn adviser quits office and party after scandal

One of the four Tallinn city officials shamed in a letter to Mayor Edgar Savisaar for not paying part of their salaries back to the party in the form of patronage has said he is leaving his post and the Center Party.

“It is my own decision, my moral position. Nobody forced me to quit. The situation had become uncomfortable for me,” Johannes Merilai, adviser to Deputy Mayor Taavi Aas, told uudised.err.ee on Wednesday.

He said the letter and the ensuing scandal drove him to leave the party and his post.

Merilai said he had paid the Party fees from his salary, but lately irregularly and a debt to the party had grown, but added that as a Tallinn city official, he has served residents of the city, not the party.

The scandal broke two weeks ago when Savisaar, the head of the Center Party, asked for the resignation of four city officials for failing to tithe a 5 percent fee to the Center Party, on top of membership dues. Two of the four officials, both members of the party, resigned a day later.

Priit Toobal, Center Party's secretary general, said in a press release that all Center Party members holding positions in the Tallinn municipal government had agreed in 2005 to pay 5 percent of their gross earnings to the party.

Eesti Ekspress published a list of positions that are required to pay the 5 percent levy. The list has 69 names, including the positions of the mayor and his five deputies, their advisers, heads of the city's districts, department heads, board members of Tallinn's foundations and business undertakings.

All children in Estonia should have citizenship : EU commissioner

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muižnieks says that there are 1,200 children without citizenship in Estonia but all children should be guaranteed citizenship automatically when they are born, even if their parents lack citizenship, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

Commissioner Muižnieks ended his three-day visit to Estonia on Wednesday, saying that it is in the best interests of the child to get citizenship at birth since it is a key to enjoying all human rights.

Muižnieks welcomed Estonia child protection law reform but called the government to clearly ban physical punishment of children in all regulations.

The Commissioner said he was worried about long-term unemployment and the danger of social ostracizing and called the government to focus more on how to ease the situation of handicapped people.

Muižnieks said there is a major need to improve awareness of national discrimination and about submitting complaints concerning discrimination among employers and employees.

Second Auvere unit unlikely : Ansip

A planned, second boiler unit at Eesti Energia's oil shale-fired power plant in Auvere will probably not be built, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said Wednesday during question time in Parliament.

The decision largely depends on how the state-owned energy company's financial results will be affected by the opening of the electricity market in January, ETV reported.

Other deciding factors will be how well the first unit, currently under construction, performs, and whether environmental policies will permit the sale of oil and diesel derived from oil shale on the EU market.

Eesti Energia's contract with the builder has the option of building a second unit, and a decision must be made by next year.

"At the moment it cannot be argumentatively asserted that we definitely won't need the second unit in Auvere, but looking at market developments the indication is indeed that Estonia will probably limit itself to one new circulating fluidized-bed boiler unit in Auvere. But the earliest a decision will be made is at the end of this year, and more likely at the beginning of next year," Ansip said.

Eesti Energia won't be listed at stock market during my term as PM : Ansip

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said when answering questions of MPs in the Riigikogu on Wednesday that the state-owned energy giant Eesti Energia won't be listed at stock market during his term as the Prime Minister, Äripäev.ee/LETA reports.

"I am convinced that current time is certainly not ripe for that since there is too much uncertainty in the energy sphere," said Ansip. "And when there is a lot of such uncertainty, I think that it is not reasonable for the state to list a part of Eesti Energia shares at the stock exchange."

Ansip added that it is not clear at what the economic results of Eesti Energia would be in the conditions of full opening of the electricity market to competition. "And if we cannot forecast that very clearly, then we apparently cannot forecast the right and just price that we want to get for these shares from the market someday," said Ansip.

Ansip added that it isn’t known either what the productivity of the shale oil plant that hasn’t yet been launched would be.

"Thus, yes, since I have declared that this period of elections will be the last one for me in the job of the prime minister, I dare say that in the time that has been left, it isn't possible to reach clarity in these unclear issues enough to list the shares at the bourse," said Ansip.