BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Von Uberblingen pulls in the uber-chic

By Joel Alas

TALLINN - A year ago I attended a party in an old factory in the suburbs. It was a grungy experimental rock concert populated by art student-types sipping warm beer.
The floor was pockmarked, beams of metal hung precariously overhead, and the whole place smelled like petrol.
A year later, I attended a party in the same place, though in very different circumstances. The factory had been transformed into a massive two level nightclub, the bohemians replaced with Tallinn’s A-list partyhoppers, beer cans banished in favor of cocktail glasses.

The transformation of the old factory reflects much about changes in Tallinn itself. Is it progress or gentrification? I guess that depends on whether you’re in the club or out on the street.
The venue is called Club Von Uberblingen, and it’s arguably Tallinn’s first metro-style superclub. It aims to emulate the superclubs of London and other European capitals.
The club’s owners have taken a huge gamble by choosing a massive location outside of the city center. The factory is in the suburb of Kristiine, which isn’t very far from the Old Town according to the map, but in the minds of club-hoppers it seems a great distance. It’s too far to walk, meaning guests will have to take a cab or trolleybus.

Company briefs

* -Tele2, one of Latvia’s three mobile operators in the GSM standard, posted the largest profit in Latvia in 2006. According to the Latvian Business Register, Tele2 Holdings earned 68.6 million lats (97.7 million euros) in profit last yer, surpassing the 2005 leader, Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT), which in 2006 posted earnings of 60.7 million lats.

-EasyJet announced it may raise the frequency of flights to and from Tallinn next year. Indrek Raudjalg told the Baltic News Service that the frequency of flights could be raised this coming winter, though commercial director John A. Kohlsaat told the Baltic News Service that plans were still unclear. “We’re now working out the timetables for next summer. Balance is important for us in terms of Tallinn-based flights. On the Berlin route the load factor from Germany to Estonia is 70 percent, while on the flight from Tallinn the load factor is 40 percent, and this is a good balance,” Kohlsaat said.

Gas breaking up

* Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom has set into motion the usual negotiating campaign to hike gas prices for CIS and the Baltic nations starting from 2008. Lithuania was told it would pay 40 percent more than today, the talks with Latvia and Estonia will begin in September, then it will be the turn of Belarus and Ukraine. In case of success, Gazprom will be able to generate from 15 percent to 40 percent more on those markets. But in the recent two years, the gas monopoly was unable to hike prices for those nations without serious conflicts threatening to break gas supplies to Europe.

Gazprom has notified Lithuania about hiking gas prices by 40 percent in 2008, Lietuvos rytas reported yesterday with reference to gas importers Lietuvos dujos and Dujotekana. The prices could be roughly $280/ths cu meters, the newspaper said. Today’s price is between $190/ths cu meters and $200/ths cu meters.

Imbattable : Vos plans de travail de cuisine en granite chez DIAPOL Granite OÜ

DIAPOL Granite OÜ : Une révolution en France !

DIAPOL fournit des plans de travail en granite aux particuliers. Leur site Internet vous donne, non seulement les informations sur les services qu'ils offrent, mais il vous permet également de calculer le montant de votre devis et aussi de commander.

En cliquant sur « Auto Calcul », vous choisirez entre les diverses teintes de granite proposées et vous calculerez, vous-mêmes, le montant de votre devis en ligne.

Leurs techniciens vous montreront toute la gamme des échantillons de granite lors du rendez-vous que vous conviendrez ensemble afin que vous puissiez prendre votre décision finale pour votre choix de couleur.

DIAPOL Granite OÜ : Plans de travail de cuisine en granite à prix d'usine - Jusqu'à 60% de remise sur nos concurrents - Le granite finalement à portée de toutes les bourses -N'attendez plus et renseignez-vous dès aujourd'hui !

Huge oil spill off Estonian coast

By Mike Collier

TALLINN – There will be a major oil spill off the coast of Estonia next week when a supertanker carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil runs aground creating a potential environmental disaster in the Baltic Sea. Clean-up vessels from all over the Baltic Sea region will scramble to contain it and the damage to the environment will be… some soggy popcorn.

Sadly, this isn’t a case of The Baltic Times developing the power of second sight.

The Helsinki Commission will conduct its annual Balex Delta exercise Sep. 6, to test the Baltic Sea countries’ readiness to respond to major oil accidents.

This exercise is one of the largest of its kind worldwide and will involve the release of simulated oil, the deployment of pollution response vessels, the establishment of a unified command structure and communication system, and a full-scale oil recovery operation at the site of the accident, including deployment of oil containment booms.

It is expected that 19 oil-pollution-combating ships and smaller vessels from eight HELCOM Member States - Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden, as well as surveillance aircraft and helicopters will take part in the exercise. The European Union will be represented by one response vessel chartered by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

Construction output in Estonia decelerates in the second quarter

* Estonian construction production slowed to an annual growth of 7% in the second quarter, the Statistics Estonia said, Wednesday. This compares with the annual growth of 24% in the first quarter, revised up from 23% in the initial estimates. Construction output soared 34% on an annual basis in the same period of the previous year. Construction output had averaged 20% growth in the previous years, the Statistics Estonia said.

In the second quarter, 6% of overall growth came from the domestic market, pushed by strong growth in the building construction sector. The slow down in construction output was attributed to increases in construction prices and interest rates. Yet, overall expenditure on construction activity gained 15.2% annually. In comparison, the 33.33% annual surge in construction production in foreign countries was bolstered by increases in production of both building construction and civil engineering.

The total production value of construction enterprises was 9.9 billion kroons in the second quarter. The production value of building construction climbed 14% annually to 7.0 billion kroons, while the production value of civil engineering slipped 6%, to 2.9 billion kroons. Building construction soared 29% annually in the previous quarter to 5.6 billion kroons, while civil engineering production gained 3% to 1.4 billion kroons.

Kanter ends Alekna's reign as discus king

By Nick Mulvenney

OSAKA - Estonia's Gerd Kanter grabbed world championship discus gold on Tuesday to hand Lithuania's double defending champion Virgilijus Alekna his first taste of defeat in two years.

A Baltic battle had been expected between the only to finalists to go over 70 metres this year but Alekna was carrying an injury Kanter proved a comfortable winner with his third throw of 68.94m.

"There will be a big party today, it is my day," the 28-year-old Kanter told reporters.

"Virgilijus is the best discus thrower ever and inspired me a lot in recent years. I think he will be back, you cannot count him out. It will be tough to beat him again at the Olympics."

Alekna, who also won gold at the last two Olympics and had not lost for 37 consecutive competitions going back to August 2005, finished fourth with a best throw of 65.24m.

It was the first time the 35-year-old had finished outside the top three since the Seville championships of 1999 when he also finished fourth.

Vaira Vike-Freibergais is selling her garde-robe via E-Bay !

Vaira Vike-Freiberga, l'ancienne présidente de Lettonie, aujourd'hui loin du protocole, veut vendre ses tenues sur eBay.

Durant ses deux mandats successifs à la tête de l'Etat, Madame Vike-Freiberga avait acheté sur ses deniers propres, malgré un maigre salaire de présidente (3.450 euro par mois), une garde-robe digne de sa fonction. Aujourd'hui, cette ancienne professeure de psychologie envisage de la mettre aux enchères, histoire de rentrer dans ses frais.

Dans une interview à la radio publique donnée mercredi, Mme Vike-Freiberga a déclaré qu'elle avait dépensé son salaire présidentiel essentiellement pour avoir l'air respectable et pour bien représenter son pays : "J'ai littéralement dépensé tout mon salaire pour prendre soin de mon  image", en accueillant notamment des têtes couronnées comme l'empereur du Japon Akihito et l'impératrice Michiko, la reine Elizabeth II d'Angleterre ou la reine  Beatrix des Pays-Bas, a-t-elle lancé. "J'ai considéré qu'en représentant la Lettonie, j'avais le devoir de me présenter moi-même de façon attractive et correcte", a-t-elle ajouté. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, qui a cessé ses fonctions en juillet, a dit qu'elle ne porterait plus les vêtements qui ont coûté une fortune et qui remplissaient  toujours ses armoires. "Je pourrais les mettre aux enchères sur eBay et récupérer de l'argent",  a-t-elle précisé.

A breath of fresh air

From bog-walking to fine dining, kayaking to sun-worshipping, Estonia offers a range of activities to suit every vacationer.

By Sergey Chernov

TALLINN — While a lot of fuss was raised by the Kremlin over the Bronze Soldier, a Stalin-era monument that was relocated from the center of Tallinn to a military cemetery, there is another monument which might give a bigger, more detailed picture of the country’s history of the last 100 years.

Located in Kuressaare on Saaremaa island, the Monument of the War of Independence is a statue of a wounded soldier with a saber leaning on the rock with bronze plaques with 160 names of the fallen in the Estonian War of Independence on its back side. During this war that lasted from 1918 through 1920 the Estonians fought both communist Russian and German troops after Estonia proclaimed its independence amid the ruins of the Russian Empire in February 1918 (since the reestablishment of independence in August 1991, February 24 is Estonia’s main state holiday).

New plan to tackle corruption

TALLINN - The Estonian Justice Ministry has proposed the establishment of a national anti-corruption strategy to run 2008-2012.

The goal of the strategy is to fight corruption in the private sector as well as the public sector in order to increase the public’s trust in business and international organizations, the Justice Ministry said.

Since prevention of corruption in the private sector will be one of the goals of the strategy, a representative from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be included in the work group drafting the strategy.

Other members will come from the Ministry of Economy and Communications, Ministry of Finance, State Chancellery, Public Prosecutor's Office, Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Social Affairs, along with experts from Tartu University and the association Corruption-Free Estonia.

The anti-corruption strategy effective now, titled Honest State, was devised for the years 2004-2007 and is due for renewal.

Estonia’s reputation is already among the best in Europe as far as the extent of corruption is concerned. According to the annual survey by the Berlin-based organization Transparency International, Estonia ranks joint 24th worldwide in its list of the least corrupt countries. Neighboring Finland is deemed the least corrupt country of all, with Lithuania joint 46th, Latvia joint 49th and Russia joint 121st. TI believes that the world’s most corrupt country is Haiti.

Baltic neighbours face alcohol crisis

The Estonian government plans to raise taxes on alcohol by 30% next year as the small Baltic nation of 1.3 million is struggling with a drink problem.

The BBC's Baltic correspondent Laura Sheeter examines the effects of heavy drinking in Estonia and neighbouring Finland, where Baltic booze cruises remain popular.

Many Finnish day-trippers stock up on cheaper Estonian drinks

Grey-faced patients barely respond to the doctors and nurses treating them in intensive care at the North Estonian regional hospital.

Dr Katrin Sikk, a neurologist, says many of her patients are here because of alcohol.

"They have seizures or are suffering severe withdrawal symptoms, or they've suffered a trauma," she says.

The long-term problems include paralysis and brain damage, people injured in drunken accidents and car crashes, or those who have simply drunk themselves into a coma.

Nine-man Estonia earn first points

TALLINN - Indrek Zelinksi snatched a last-minute goal to earn 9-man Estonia a 2-1 over Andorra in their bad-natured Euro 2008 qualifying match on Wednesday.

Both sides were looking for their first points of the qualifying campaign in Group E and their frustration showed in a match which produced two red cards and seven yellows.

Estonia opened the scoring in the 34th minute with a header from Raio Piiroja but their celebrations were short-lived when Ragnar Klavan was shown a red card just before halftime for holding a player on the ground.

Andorra took until the 87th minute to take advantage of their extra man, Fernando Silva heading in the equaliser.

Any notion of Andorra picking up a point was dismissed in the last minute of injury time when Zelinski tapped in a pass from substitute Tarmo Kink. Zelinski was then shown a red card for taking his shirt off in celebration.

Andorra remain bottom of the group, with Estonia one place above them. Croatia and Israel are level on points at the top of the group, which also features Russia, England and Macedonia.

Estonia’s economic future

TALLINN - It seems each month brings news of factory closure or company relocation as the Estonian economy changes gears.

At the same time, statistics have begun to indicate a slowdown in the real estate market. The worrying indicators will be the topic of discussion at a business seminar hosted by the British- Estonian Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 24.

The conference will bring together government ministers, bankers and business operators to discuss the topic “Is Estonia still a good bet.”

Amateurs take over the arts factory

TALLINN - Those who follow the Tallinn party scene know there’s one event that shouldn’t be missed – Diletantide Avangard. No matter where it is held, this roving party attracts a crowd of the city’s most dedicated bohemians and indie rockers. The music can be amazing or atrocious – there’s simply no guarantee what you’re going to get. But regardless of what’s on stage, the event always rages until the early morning and beyond. Diletant means “amateur” in Estonian, while avangard means the same thing it does everywhere else in the world (though spelled differently).

By name, it’s an event for fresh artists who like to push boundaries. The event is the brainchild of Risto Piibe, a 21- year-old musician who started the parties as a way of giving his own band somewhere to play – an oftheard tale in the music industry. “The idea was to give young bands a chance to perform along with some more experienced bands. At first it was just for indie music, now we have all kinds – electronic, punk, rock, lots of different styles,” says Piide. “And if you make something, then you want to play there as well. Our band has always played at every event, although we change the name sometimes.” It has been held in several locations, such as the Kinomaja movie theater and Von Krahl bar. But on Aug. 24 it will return to its original location, an arts factory known as Polymer Kultuuritehas.

Talking tax : Estonian tax board targets self-employed

Paul Kunnap

Tax officials in Estonia recently turned their attention to various a r r a n g e m e n t s designed to avoid paying social taxes. In particular, the Tax Board has been focusing on self-employed persons and proprietorships offering services to a single client.

The board is seeking to reclassify these arrangements as employment relations and requiring the client to pay a social tax on the service fees.

Last October the board issued a warning against the increasing trend of replacing employees with self-employed persons.

Sania to open vs Kanepi

New York : Indian No. 1 Sania Mirza will open her US Open campaign against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi. The 26th seed — placed in the lower half of the draw — will meet the winner of the match between American Laura Granville and a qualifier if she crosses the first hurdle.

Merger to create new Baltic carrier ?

By Mike Collier

TALLINN - Scandinavian airline giant SAS is hatching plans merge the Estonian and Latvian aviation companies, Estonian Air and AirBaltic, the German paper Hansdelsblatt reports.

SAS managing director Mats Jansson told the paper that the company is holding talks with the Estonian and Latvian governments with the purpose of becoming majority owner of the two companies.

The Estonian state owns 34 percent of Estonian Air, 49 percent belongs to SAS and 17 percent to the Cresco investment company. AirBaltic’s major shareholders are the Latvian State with 53 percent and SAS with 47 percent. In order to facilitate a merger, SAS would like to take a majority shareholding in both companies.

Recently, SAS said that it would sell its existing holdings in Spanair, bmi and Air Greenland in order to focus on its northern European operations, and the sell-off would mean that SAS would have plenty of cash available to tip it over the 50 percent mark.

Given AirBaltic’s non-national name and its increasing influence in the Lithuanian market as well as the rapid development of Riga as a regional hub, it should be fairly straightforward to roll Estonian Air’s operations under the AirBaltic umbrella.

Estonia to expel wives of former Russian servicemen

TALLINN - Estonian authorities are readying to expel from the country discharged Russian servicemen and even their wives, both ex- and current. A report on Tuesday said that under a decision by the citizenship and migration department, Lyubov Mikolenko, the ex-wife of retired ensign Nikolai Mikolenko was brought to a center for displaced persons on June 29

On July 25, Lyubov Galitskaya, the wife of another retired Russian serviceman, a permanent resident of Estonia, was taken to the same center.

Authorities regard as illegal the staying of the former Russian servicemen turned civilians Nikolai Mikolenko and Anatoly Galitsky, since refusing to extend their residence permits back in 2000.

At that time, Estonia recommended them to leave “for their historic Motherland,” i.e. Russia.

In the 1990s, Mikolenko and Galitsky received vouchers to purchase housing in Russia, within the framework of a Russian-U.S. project, which Estonian authorities used as a pretext for the refusal.

President Ilves on the Independence Restoration Day, 20 August 2007, at Kadriorg

Dear friends !

First let me – by way of introduction – welcome you to Kadriorg and also wish you all a lovely Estonian Independence Restoration Day. For it is the restoration of independence that we are talking about today, isn’t it ?

Unfortunately, our calendars call it „the day when Estonian independence was regained”. What is the difference, we might ask ? Estonia’s national independence, confirmed by the Supreme Council on 20 August 1991, is a historical fact.

Usage of language and grammar mirrors our way of thinking. But do we really consider the recovery of our freedom, after half a century’s yearning, to be something impersonal, something passive? The expression „independence was regained” carries exactly that meaning. Whereas „restoration of independence” denotes positive action, purposeful activity from our side. Which, in fact, it was.

Today 16 years ago, a new path opened for the people of Estonia. At the same time, that day signified the end of a long half-century full of misery.

We have got used to saying that not a drop of blood was shed when restoring Estonia’s independence. But this is not true. Estonia restored her freedom, but paid for it for more than 50 years, paid with tens and tens of thousands of lives and broken destinies.

In Estonia, the communist regime took several hundred thousands of victims – murdered, imprisoned, deported, escaped and persecuted. Let us ask ourselves: were not the forest brothers part of the process of the restoration of independence? Were not the schoolchildren, who defied the occupying powers in 1980, restorers of our independence? Probably to a greater extent than some of those who bear decorations today.

Today, we tend to forget. And furthermore, we are indeed advised to forget, as we read a couple of years ago in a review of the film „Memories Denied”, where a critic asked: why should the deported, the victimised remember ? Why should they be hostages to their memories? It is better to forget, not to tell.

The reason why we must never forget can be read in the weekly Sirp, in the issue published in the week of the anniversary of Estonia’s incorporation to the Soviet Union. It sounded as a distant and sovietised response to Marie Under's „Christmas Greetings” from 1941.

In Sirp we read that of the 53,000 deported, 40,000, which is as much as 75 per cent, returned alive. And many of them were even able to go on with their creative work and – lo and behold! – were even rewarded by the Soviet state.

Indeed, Jaan Kross and Artur Alliksaar managed to return from the camps. Regrettably, Heiti Talvik was among the unfortunate 25 per cent. And under which percentage are we advised to categorise Jüri Parijõgi, who was murdered in July 1941 ?

President Ilves presented a commemorative stone for the restoration of independence to artist Heinz Valk

On August 20th, at a reception for cultural figures in Kadriorg, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves presented a commemorative stone for the restoration of Estonian independence to Heinz Valk, who coined one of the most famous sentences from the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, “One day, we will win in any case!”

Speaking to those invited to the reception, the Estonian Head of State emphasized that August 20th should be called the Anniversary of the Restoration of Independence, not Re-Independence Day.

“Do we really regard the return of the freedom that was desired for half a century as something impersonally achieved by others ? The word “re-independence” says just that. The “restoration of independence” on the other hand is active, and the result of our own purposeful activity. As it actually was,” said President Ilves.

According to the Estonian Head of State, people are used to saying that not a single of drop of blood was spilled to restore independence in Estonia. “But this is not true. Estonia regained its independence by paying for it with tens of thousands of lives and destroyed destines,” said the Estonian Head of State. “In Estonia alone, the Communist regime claimed thousands of victims, including people killed, imprisoned, deported, forced into exile, and persecuted.”

“The example of those who stood up to the evils of totalitarianism and the remembrance of their suffering helped the Estonian people to remain true to themselves and to restore their national independence. Therefore, I think that the victims of Communism deserve a dignified memorial. Not only in the capital of United States, but also in that of Estonia,” emphasized the Estonian Head of State.