BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

How about that : Grey passport puzzles Latvian border guards

* A married couple bought a trip to Dubai from a Latvian company but they did not make it further than the airport, because the border guards did not recognise their grey passports as Estonian travel documents. Inga and Aleksander Nedaskovski bought their EEK 40,000 trip from Latvian travel agency Royal Tour ; the company has its office in Estonia.

Inga and Aleksander flew from Riga to Dubai and were stuck in the airport because of their grey passports. They had to leave their luggage and documents and go to a place where suspicious tourists were being kept.

The couple could not contact Royal Tour for three days, so they called the Estonian Citizenship and Migration Board, which certified that such grey passports are an official form of passport. The manager of Royal Tour has informed the couple that the price of their trip will be compensated.

Ministry of the Interior signs Border Guard helicopter procurement contract

Press release no. 178

Today, 29 November, Interior Ministry Secretary-General Märt Kraft, Bell/Agusta Aerospace Company representative Ugo Rossini and Border Guard representative Riho Breivel will be signing a contract for the acquisition of a Border Guard helicopter. Procurement of the helicopter is one of the biggest projects to be realised using Schengen Facility programme funds.

Journalists please note :

You are cordially invited to the signing of the Border Guard helicopter procurement contract at 4.00 pm at the Ministry of the Interior, Pikk 61, Tallinn. At the signing ceremony the company will give the Ministry and the Border Guard scale models of the helicopter, which is due to arrive in Estonia at the end of 2006.

The Ministry of the Interior launched the state tender competition for the acquisition of a helicopter for the Border Guard on 28 June 2005. The Bell/Agusta Aerospace Company’s offer was accepted as its AB 139 helicopter was the one that best met the conditions set out in the tender.

The total cost of the helicopter is 147 million kroons before VAT.

Estonians dissatisfied with airBaltic

* Estonian entrepreneurs, who use the Latvian national airline airBaltic regularly, are complaining about the quality of received services. The entrepreneurs point out that the airline does not comply with the flight schedule.

The Estonian businessman Urmas Soorumaa has announced that the company is irresponsible. The businessman had to use a private plane to get to Riga on November 25 because airBaltic changed the time of departure at the last moment.

Another Estonian entrepreneur, Mauno Leppik, claims he has also had problems with airBaltic, however, the company informed him about the changes a week before the departure. The Estonian Football Federation, the former Prime Minister, Juhan Parts, and football fans were also dissatisfied with the quality of services offered by airBaltic. At the beginning of October airBaltic cancelled the flight to Slovakia where the fans were planning to travel.

Vija Dzerve, vice president of airBaltic in corporate communications, says that the company is short of planes. The winter timetable was designed with the assumption that at the beginning of November airBaltic will receive two new planes, however, the delivery of the two Fokker 50 planes has been delayed. Therefore the winter timetable will come into force on November 28, not on November 14 as it was previously announced.

Tallinn : in Brief 30-11-2005

* Supreme Court judge Julia Laffranque has been elected vice president of the Council of Europe’s Consultative Council of European Judges.
Representatives from 46 member countries of the CE elected Laffranque, 31, at a session in Strasbourg last week. The Estonian’s mandate as vice president runs for two years, spokespeople for the Supreme Court said.

* Disgusted with EU sugar policy, the Union of Tartumaa Farmers has announced it would send 5,000 jars of homemade jam to Brussels to prove that it’s not only companies who bought sugar prior to EU accession.

*  The Port of Tallinn, the largest in the Baltics, announced last week that it has approved an average 7 – 9 percent increase in port dues starting Jan. 1, 2006.
Spokesman Sven Ratassepp told the Baltic News Service that the average rise would be 4 percent for cruise ships, 1 – 2 percent for passenger ships and 2 – 3 percent for other cargo ships.

* COURTNEY PINE
Thu 15 – 21:00 – The British jazz saxophonist, Courtney Pine, will present his latest album “Resistance” live in concert at Tallinn’s Rock Cafe. Touching on Pine’s favorite bases : African music, jazz funk, dub, soul and drum ‘n base, the music carries an unfaltering sense of fun. As a critic from the British magazine Jazzwise said, “This could well be the best Courtney Pine album in the story so far.” There’s no better way to enjoy live jazz than in a neighborhood cafe, and Tallinn’s Rock Cafe will provide the perfect setting.

Tickets : 300 kroons (19 euros)
More info :  www.rockcafe.ee

Source : Baltic Times

Curd snack advertisement deemed political

* TALLINN - More than a month after municipal elections, the National Electoral Committee has adopted a resolution that the green curd snack advertisement that had been plastered across the country did resemble the logo of the ruling Center Party and should therefore be regarded as an outdoor political advertisement.
However, the committee stopped short of abrogating the election results on the basis that outdoor political advertising had been banned during the duration of the elections. Committee members said it was impossible to know if the campaign significantly affected the voting results.

“The national electoral committee discussed this for a long time and found that it was not possible to measure its influence on election results. It is difficult to measure how [the curd snack ads] might have influenced the results and whether it was significant,” said Mihkel Pilving, head of elections department at the Chancellery of Riigikogu (Estonia’s parliament).

The dairy posters were everywhere in Estonia. Kalle Tull, a representative of the Narva city election party Linnakodanik, submitted a complaint and appealed to the Supreme Court against the committee’s resolution.

Tull still insisted that Narva’s election results should be cancelled.

“There was a big election fraud in Narva that influenced the election results,” he told The Baltic Times.

“It was not only the curd snack advertisement. There was an ........

Deck the halls with jazzy spirit

TALLINN - It’s unavoidable. The Christmas lights are out, the gingerbread huts are up, the Old Town’s tree is glowing, and the shopping centers are bustling with holiday spirit. It’s unavoidable, the Christmas season has come. And whether you wrap the holiday spirit around you like a warm winter quilt or bah-humbug it away, Christmas will be Christmas in Tallinn.

This year’s Jazzkaar Christmas program has already lived up to its holiday reputation, providing tourists and residents alike with a month-long play list of jazz. With November behind, the three-week festival is adopting a more festive sound with concerts like “The Echo of Silence” and “La Folia.”

On Dec. 1, at the Niguliste Museum-Concert Hall, Estonian virtuosos Hedvig Hanson, Andre Maaker and Oleg Pissarenko will perform a chilling concert to welcome the long winter. “The Echo of Silence” is, as close as jazz music can achieve, just that. As the press release exults, “Chilling, colorful, unconventional… this is how you would portray the ..........

Parliament lays ground for tourist boom in Estonia

TALLINN - Lawmakers on Nov. 23 approved legislation that provides for issuing single-entry tourist visas for up to five days without the need for an invitation.
The move is being seen as a boom for the tourist industry, especially from the East, since in the past the invitation was required for Russian travelers to enter Estonia.
Foreign tourists will, however, be required to prove they have the means necessary to pay for their stay.

Estonia disagrees with Blair

TALLINN – British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s proposal to cut the upcoming EU budget is disadvantageous to Estonia, vice chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Toomas Hendrik Ilves told the Eesti Paevaleht daily.

“It is clearly disadvantageous to us, the main part of those cuts will simply be at our expense. Our agricultural subsidies are anyway three times smaller than those of old member states, there are anyway restrictions on the free movement of labor, and old member states won't anyway allow the free movement of services. In this light, attempts to salvage the budget at our expense are especially cynical,” Ilves said.

Information that is currently known about the British budget proposal is based on media reports, he added, as the proposal has not been officially unveiled yet.

British "Staggers"

But much of the behavior of visiting Brits is far more raucous. And as thousands careen around East European capitals each weekend, locals are starting to grumble about a distinct lack of appreciation for local sensitivities. The impression of the British as a genteel people is rapidly waning. In Prague, for example, locals have complained about being overrun with bawdy Brits drinking cheap lager and scoping out prostitutes.

In Tallinn, where "staggers" make up a small but awkward proportion of visitors, there are similar concerns. "They cause inconveniences, particularly for the private sector," says Kersti Uus, who works at the tourism authority. "Already, there are several hotels, bars, and clubs where entrance for participants of stag parties is forbidden."

Come on Lads, once upon a time you were "Gentlemen" ! Pissing oneself off is one thing, mucking locals is another.

What the papers say : BBN 30-11-2005

ÄRIPÄEV

Tallink executives earn millions in dividends from related companies
Although Tallink itself does not pay dividends, top executives of Tallink Enn Pant and Kalev Järvelill earn millions in dividends through their companies that provide services to Tallink. Among others, the Tallink hotel is operated by a company owned by Pant and Järvelill which has paid out millions to their shareholders in dividends. Pant and Järvelill are also making handsome income from the company that provides currency exchange services on board of Tallink ferries.

Prime Minister did not rule out possible delay in euro switch
Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said to Bloomberg news agency yesterday that Estonia could postpone adoption of the euro because of high inflation. The PM did not rule out that Estonia will back off from the current plan to adopt the euro on 1 January 2007 if it fails to keep inflation under control.

Gazprom to increase price of gas sold to Baltic states by 50 pct in 2006
Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom said today that it will increase the price of gas sold to Baltic states by 50 pct from the next year. The group's executive Gazprom Aleksander Rjazanov said yesterday Moscow that the price of 1,000 cubic metres of gas to the Baltic states will go up from USD 85 to 125.

Board of Enteprise Estonia fails to pick a candidate to become new chairman
Board of Enterprise Estonia failed to agree yesterday on the suitable candidate for the post of new chairman of the agency. The board chairman Olev Raju said that after interviews with nine candidates, it was clear that no consensus would be reached. “At least seven candidates had more or less equal support in the board,” said Raju.

Estonian construction boom continued in the third quarter
In the 3rd quarter total production of Estonian construction enterprises in Estonia and in foreign countries grew 28 pct year-on-year. In the third quarter the production value of construction amounted to EEK 7.2 bln. During the quarter, 715 dwellings were completed and 2,435 building permits for dwellings were issued.

Dr. Barry Worthington about Estonia

* Unfortunately, Estonia is always used as an 'example' of successful economic transition by transitologists, free market airheads, and assorted antlanticist neo-liberals. It was ever thus. The trail of hagiography of this kind goes back to Mart Laar (remember him ?) who made a kind of cottage industry out of this kind of propaganda.

The truth is much more complex, however. The real transition catalyst was the rapid growth of of an independent and entrepreneurial service sector. This would have happened anyway, irrespective of the policies of the administration at the time. Why ? Because of Estonia's strategic position - its closeness to Finland and its function as a transit economy, serving Russia and the CIS.

There was no real free-market transition strategy. Decisions, such as the introduction of the kroon and several privatisations, were taken in response to events, not as part of some master plan.

This is not to disparage what has been achieved. Far from it ! But one must look at areas of the economy where there is still no coherent development strategy, and realise that one cannot persist in quoting these free-market myths for ever....

Estonia forces Finns to reassess social model

* A busy flight from Tallinn to Helsinki on a weekday evening reflects the pulling power of Estonia, Europe’s hottest destination for foreign direct investment.

On board the Helsinki-bound aircraft, the day’s events are being recounted in Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian, as business people from across the Nordic region return home from the tiny Baltic country, whose radical tax system is helping fuel an economic boom that rivals growth in Asia’s tiger economies.

Estonia now the best to set up business

"Peter Woolsey is a British entrepreneur who has set up businesses all over Europe. He says the best location is Estonia, where he now runs a software business, returning to his home near Oxford on weekends.

The Estonian tax regime - along with its infrastructure, efficiency and "can do" spirit - helps explain his preference for Estonia over Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, the UK and Finland, where he also owns or has owned businesses."

Good things come in small packages

* Estonia is a tiny, new country but that's given it an impetus to find online government solutions, reports Mel Poluck .

Estonia took an unusual route to democracy. In the country's bloodless Singing Revolution, which began in 1988, Estonians gathered en masse in its capital city Tallinn's main square to sing banned national and rock songs.

Having sung its way to democracy, this tiny country of less than 1.5 million wedged between Russia, Latvia and the Gulf of Finland then showed it could master technology: with less than 1% of its state budget spent on IT, it has become one of the world leaders in e-government.

According to the European Commission's statistics body, Eurostat, all Estonia's basic public services to businesses can be handled entirely online. Nearly all Estonian companies with an internet connection (87%) have accessed a public authority website compared with just 36% in the UK.

As a new democracy, Estonia could set up its government from scratch using the most recent technologies. There were no unwieldy legacy systems to hold back e-government progress and no decisions to make about redundancies, because the former Soviet governors had left.

"We actually had a lot of disadvantages that we turned into advantages," says Mart Laar, ex-prime minister of Estonia and chief architect of the country's e-government policies. "Most disadvantageous was that we did not have large resources to build up e-government, and this was very good because then we had to build public-private partnerships."

In a relatively short time, Estonia has developed an impressive array of electronic public services. Last month, it used e-voting in its local elections for the first time, allowing voters to post their ballot forms online. "Estonia is the only country to have had whole-country e-elections," says Laar. "The government session room is .........

Hungary, Estonia agree on status of cultural institutes

Budapest  (MTI) - Hungary and Estonia concluded an inter-governmental agreement on the legal status of their cultural institutes operating in one another's country in Budapest on Tuesday.

The agreement signed by Minister for Cultural Heritage Andras Bozoki and Estonian Ambassador Toivo Tasa declares that the Hungarian cultural institute in Tallinn and the Estonian one in Budapest are non-profit institutions promoting cultural ties between the two countries.

    The Hungarian institute was opened in 1992 and the Estonian one six years later, Bozoki told reporters.

    Previously, the minister and the ambassador discussed cultural exchange and scientific co-operation.

The Chairwoman of the Parliament of Estonia to visit Georgia

Tbilisi (Prime-News) – The Chairwoman of the parliament of Estonia Ene Ergma pays a four-day visit to Georgia on December 06.

As Prime-News was reported by the officials of the press service of the parliament of Georgia, Ene Ergma would meet her Georgian counterpart and deliver a speech at the plenary session.

She also plans to meet the opposition MPs and visit to the historical parts of Tbilisi and a new Saint Trinity Cathedral.

The visit by Ene Ergma to Georgia lasts through December 10.

Saku launches beer offensive in Sweden

* Estonian brewer Saku Olletehas is pinning its hopes on its flagship brand as it looks to expand into Sweden.

The brewer launched Saku Original in Sweden in September and CEO Jakk Uus said the brand had been “well-received” in the Scandinavian country.

“This is indicated by the fact that over the recent months we’ve received a large number of repeat orders, whose number has surpassed our initial estimates,” he told Baltic Business Weekly yesterday (28 November).

Exports of the brand to Finland began last spring and have risen fourfold in one year. The brewer expects to sell around 80,000 litres of beer in the country this year.

Saku controls 45% of the Estonian beer market, according to figures from the Estonian Breweries Association for the first half of this year.

EU rebate stays without CAP reform, says Blair

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair, charged with negotiating a deal on a new European Union budget, said on Tuesday Britain would not relinquish its rebate from EU coffers without serious reform of the bloc's farm subsidies.

"If people want a budget deal which means we end up giving up the rebate on the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) there has got to be fundamental reform of that policy and it's as simple as that," Blair told a business conference.

Britain came under renewed pressure on Tuesday to secure a deal on the bloc's long-term budget in December but diplomats were increasingly pessimistic about a possible compromise.

France again urged Britain to agree to a cut in its rebate to pave the way for a budget deal at an EU summit next month.

And Hungary protested at a floated plan from London to slash spending on the poorest regions.

"I ... totally understand the needs of eastern Europe and accession countries because they want a budget," Blair told the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) employers group.

Negotiations on the budget collapsed in acrimony at a June summit after Britain refused to accept any curb on its annual rebate unless it won a pledge of future cuts in farm subsidies, which Paris refuses to accept.

Britain has said a budget deal is still possible and Blair plans a charm offensive in east European capitals this week.

He is to meet leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in Tallinn on Thursday and then he is to see his counterparts from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in Budapest.

Blair said further farm subsidy reform was also needed across the developed world if talks at the World Trade Organisation in December, aimed at giving a better deal to the world's poorest countries, were to succeed.

"We must go further if this WTO round is to succeed," he said.

Kas jõuluvana on olemas ?

* Kül te väiksed lapsed ka kunagi seda päris jõuluvana näete sest tegelikult on see kes teil iga jõul käib üks päka pikk kes on ennast suureks muutunud.Päkapikkud käivad jõuluvana asemel sest maailm on ju nii suur et jõuluvana üksi ei jõua igale poole!!!Häid Jõule ja Head Uut aastat kõigile lastele !!! Kül

* Muidugi on jõuluvana olemas! teile võibolla ei too jah jõuluvana kinke aga minul käib iga aasta jõuluvana ja ma tean et on olemas!!! päkapikud on ka olemas aga minul paneb vahel ema sussi sisse asju aga vahel ka päkapikk ja meil pole emaga saladusi nii et ma usun teda ja ta ei peaks mulle sellessuhtes valetama kuna ma saan selle k´unai ikka teada! igastahes jõuluvanad ja päkapikud on olemas !!! Anni

* No kuulge.isegi mina usun et on olemas ja ma olen juba 17 aastane. järelikult võite teie ka julgelt uskuda.
iseasi on see, kes sussi sisse või kuuse alla kinke toob. arusaadav ju, et jõuluvana ei jõua asju igale ühele tuua, siis emad-isad aitavad teda, aga jõuluvana toob kõigile neile, kes temasse usuvad muid asju, mis polegi asjad-näiteks headust ja rahulikkust. neile, kes temasse ei usu, ei too ta midagi, kingitusi nad saavad jah, sest oma ema-isa ikka teevad aga need lapsed on selle võrra palju õnnetumad, et jõuluvanasse ei usu ( sest siis jõuluvana ei too neile rõõmu näiteks ja mis neil siis üle jääb kui mitte õnnetu olla ?) kahju ainult, et nad teisigi õnetuteks tahavad teha.
mis päkapikkudesse puutub, siis neid näevad ka ainult need lapsed, kes nendesse usuvad, neil on selline võluvõime, et kui laps neisse ei usu, siis muutuvad nad tema jaoks nähtamatuteks. tehke siit omad järeldused !
Häid Jõule ! On olemas

* Mina arvan nii,et kes tahab võib ju nendesse uskuda kes ei ei pia.Isegi kui arvad või tead ,et neid on olemas siis võid ju ikka teisiti mõelda siis on ikka jõulu tunne ka.Ja kui jõuluvana ei olekski olemas siis sa ei pea seada ju väiksematele ja nendele seda ytlema ,sest nendel on ju tore kui jõuluvana ikka oleks olemas loodan et olete minuga nõus ! Häid Jõule !
NB:Mina arvan et te piaks ikka jõuluvanasse uskuma olgu teda päriselt olemas või mitte ! Ellyke

* jõuluvana on olemas sest ma olin köökis ja emme vannis ja kui ma köökist tagasi tulin siis oli minu armas beebi boonike (ja ema ei saanud see olaa sest ta ütles mulle et ta ei osta mulle ühtegi beebibooni) vot
ja mu sõber (noh ta on juba suur) ütles kui sa ei usu siis sinu jaoks ei ole jõuluvanat olemas ei ole ja su vanemad proovivad seda osa täita aga kui sa usud jõuluvanasse siis sinu jaoks on jõuluvana olemas ja toob iga jõulud mulle kingituse
vot
mu sõber on emakeele õpetaja Katry

The American Scandinavian Association of the National Capital Area, Inc.

Directions are here