BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Only five or six large car dealers in Estonia can survive

Juhan Tere

There may be only five or six large car dealers in Estonia that are likely to survive the current economic decline, writes Postimees/LETA.

According to the car dealers, the rapidly decreasing numbers of sold cars means that this could put smaller players out of business and make them attractive takeover targets.

Among others, there is a new dealer for Peugeot after Auto Forte Baltic, belonging to Hillar Teder, took over the dealership rights from Kommest Auto, whose owner Toomas Ruutmann became insolvent.

A few weeks ago Amserv Auto, one of Estonia's largest car dealers that sells Toyota and Lexus models, announced that it had taken over Korea Auto that represents Hyundai in Estonia.

In November alone, the sale of new cars in Estonia was 53% lower than it was a year ago. In 11 months, Estonians have bought 20% less vehicles than in 2007.

Even the most optimistic car dealers say that new growth could come only in 2010.

"It will be the year when we will reach rock bottom and start growing, but business will return to normal a year later," said Jaanus Simson, CEO of Inchcape Motors Estonia, adding that sales of Mazda were down 10% in a year, and sales of Land Rover had declined 54%.

What about NATO ?

How the alliance should move forward ...

BETWEEN the new American administration getting going and the NATO summit in Strasbourg in April lie a few short perilous months. The story since the war in Georgia has been that NATO proved reluctant to identify Russia as a military threat, but under the authority of the supreme allied commander, a brainy American called General John Craddock, is engaged in “prudent planning”, which allows for quite a lot without requiring the authority of the North Atlantic Council.

The worry for Poles, Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians is that pushing too hard for formal contingency-planning might be vetoed by the Russia-friendly countries in NATO. That would be a disaster. So far the situation is not bad, but neither is it stable. Faced with a revisionist, and perhaps increasingly desperate regime in Russia, NATO’s credibility could do with a boost.

Now the new American administration must decide how much it wants to try to calm Russia (something that will please Germany and other key European allies), and how much it wants to publicly bolster the security of the twitchy, strongly Atlanticist countries in Europe’s east. These are valued allies in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan—small in numbers, but strong in symbolism.

Cyber Insecurity

By Joseph S. Nye

In August, Russian troops moved into Georgia. Observers dispute who fired first, but there was a little-noticed dimension to the conflict that will have major repercussions for the future.

Computer hackers attacked Georgian government web sites in the weeks preceding the outbreak of armed conflict. The Russia-Georgia conflict represents the first significant cyber-attacks accompanying armed conflict. Welcome to the 21st century.

Cyberthreats and potential cyberwarfare illustrate the increased vulnerabilities and loss of control in modern societies. Governments have mainly been concerned about hacker attacks on their own bureaucracy's information technology infrastructure, but there are social vulnerabilities well beyond government computers.

In an open letter to the U.S. president in September 2007, U.S. professionals in cyberdefense warned: "The critical infrastructure of the United States, including electrical power, finance, telecommunications, health care, transportation, water, defense and the Internet, is highly vulnerable to cyberattack. Fast and resolute mitigating action is needed to avoid national disaster." In the murky world of the Internet, attackers are difficult to identify.

In today's interconnected society, an unidentified cyberattack on nongovernmental infrastructure might be severely damaging. For example, some experts believe that a nation's electric power grid may be particularly susceptible. The control systems that electric power companies use are thought vulnerable to attack, which could shut down cities and regions for days or weeks. Cyberattacks may also interfere with financial markets and cause immense economic loss by closing down commercial web sites.

Baltics look on the bright side of life for 2009

Riga/Tallinn/Vilnius  - Economists are predicting doom and gloom for the Baltic states throughout 2009 and beyond. with jobless figures rising in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and swingeing public spending cuts already starting to bite.

According to Neil Shearing, a Baltic expert with London-based Capital Economics, the recession in the Baltics looks set to deepen. "We now expect output to contract by 5 per cent next year and by up to 1.5 per cent in 2010," he said.

However, after surviving 50 years of Soviet occupation, which they only threw off in 1991, Balts have a longstanding reputation for stoicism in difficult circumstances.

That stoicism is certainly in evidence at the traditional Christmas market in the Latvian capital, Riga. It may be smaller than in previous years and the number of foreign tourists sampling the potent local liqueur "Rigas balzams" and traditional Latvian "piparkukas" or gingerbread has been reduced by the effects of the global credit crunch, but stallholders remain optimistic.

Bookseller Andris told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: "We are not so affected by the smaller number of tourists because we sell mainly to locals. We've kept our prices about level with last year even though we have had twelve months of high inflation. But the price of our Russian-language editions has risen because of increases from our suppliers in Russia."

Reduces prices on the Tallinn-Kuressaare route

Estonian Air offers lower fares on Tallinn-Kuressaare route. The new price range for adults is 16-31EUR (248 – 484EEK), for children 14-24EUR (209 – 367EEK) one-way, including all taxes ; price depends on the ticket class.

- We would like to make flights between Tallinn and Kuressaare affordable for wider number of people, including price sensitive travellers. We are sure that these favourable prices and the possibility to check in via Estonian Air home page will make flying to Kuressaare even more attractive“ said Andrus Aljas, Estonian Air CEO and President.

Estonian Air operates between Tallinn and Kuressaare from 2 October 2008. Estonian Air serves the route on the basis of Public Service Obligation signed with Saare County Government. The route is operated by 33-seat SAAB 340 aircraft.

Flights to Kuressaare are operated eight times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays : 7 of the flights are operated with state subsidy and one flight (on Sundays) is operated on purely commercial basis without subsidy.

Now is the time for all of us to be accountable - Ilves

“Many local governments are already, or will soon be, facing an inevitable reduction in their revenues, and this will mean that they have an obligation to govern even more wisely,” President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said at the Local Government and Regional Development Roundtable that convened last week.

“This will require greater cooperation between local governments, more deliberation in making investment decisions, and placing the needs of the region ahead of the needs of a single local government,” Ilves said.

Ilves also called on local governments to make carefully weighed decisions, the consequences of which beyond the boundaries of a single rural municipality or city must be considered. “This is related, for instance, to the merger of local governments and the organization of the school network,” he said.

“When the budgets of local governments decrease and state support also declines, the pace of investments must be slowed and great prudence exercised in taking additional loans,” he stressed.
"When unemployment increases it is important that local governments help those who have lost their jobs to find new opportunities, which means a need for training assistance as well as both moral and financial support.

Estonian women make much better wives than American women

An American woman has several fundamental problems that will never go away and that will get much worse a few years after she is married :

1. Her inherent anti-male bias and pre-occupation with fairness that was drilled into her at high school, college, and through the media. Her constant confrontations and trying to prove herself and to make a point.
2. Her self-centeredness, her ridiculously high expectations, her sense of entitlement, her high-maintenance, superficial, and stuck up attitude, her snootiness and her sense of superiority. This "princess" syndrome means that she will always think that she is better than you, and that she deserves and she is entitled to whatever she wants from you.
3. Her general mental instability and psychological disorders.
4. Her using sex as a weapon and reward to get things.

Estonian women generally don't have any of these problems. Marrying an American woman simply does not make sense. The ONLY reason men stay with American women is because they did not have enough exposure to Estonian women. Any man who spent a few months in Estonia or Eastern Europe will not even look at American women again.

Beer sales of A. Le Coq grew by more than 300,000 litres in 2008

Juhan Tere

Sales of beer in Estonia has fallen by 6% this year while A. Le Coq has been able to boost sales, writes Äripäev.ee

In the first 11 months of 2008, the sales of beer by A. Le Coq has grown by more than 300,000 litres, despite the general decline trend on the beer market. The Tartu-based beer producing enterprise predicts that premium-quality sales will achieve greater stability in sales and strong beers will fall even faster.

Tarmo Noop, the CEO of A. Le Coq, noted that the decline trend on the beer market could be predicted in the beginning of the year already. “I assessed that the market will fall by approximately 5% and the revenue on excise taxes and different indicators will demonstrate a similar amount,” he added.

Noop stated that an increase in beer sales volume after a significant price increase is a great result, particularly in the context of the general decline trend on the market. He added that ciders and low-alcohol beverages are also in the middle of a decline trend. One of the reasons for this is the 30% surge in excise taxes implemented this year. “In terms of beer prices, Tallinn ranks fourth in Europe, which will force tourists as well as local residents consume less beer,” he explained.

Estonian air travellers too modest in using online services

Recent news : Estonian-air will lay off more than 60 of her staff in January, as these already will need to take some "forced" holidays in between the 24th of December and 5th of January.

Estonian Air customers have had the possibility to check in online on Estonian Air homepage for one month now. In addition to check-in desks also check-in kiosks are available at Tallinn airport. During the first weeks in November approximately 2% of all passengers were using online check-in ;  during December the figure has slightly risen.

 

Customers with e-ticket can check in online on Estonian Air homepage to all Estonian Air regular flights departing from Tallinn, Kuressaare or Brussels.

Online check-in is fast, simple and convenient, allowing to check in, choose a seat, quote an EuroBonus card and print out the boarding card.

 

"Taking into account that 70% of the Estonian population is using internet, the potential number of online service users is very high. However, the majority of the travellers still prefer traditional services with direct communication with the ground staff," explained Ilona Eskelinen, Estonian Air PR Director. "Customers need to be encouraged to use new services".

Esto skiers : March 12-15, 2009

This year we have selected Smugglers’ Notch, as our Esto Ski Trip location. Compared to other ski resorts… Smugglers’ Notch offers the best overall group value for both kids and adults ! To learn more about the resort log on to www.smuggs.com

The resort has provided us with great 3-night and 2-night packages. “Double” rates apply under normal situations when you are under the maximum people per condo. If you fill your condo to maximum capacity and utilize every bed, you can qualify for the lower “Value” rates.

Lodging package includes :

• 2- Night or 3- Night fully-Equipped Slopeside Condominium Lodging
• 2- Day or 3-Day, 3-Mountain Lift Tickets, X-Country & Snowshoe Trail Passes
• Non-Skier Package (Comp X-country, Snowshoe or Ice Skate Rentals)
• Use of Indoor Pool, Hot Tubs, Tube Sledding Hill, Ice Skating
• Access to FunZone Indoor Activity Area & SmuggsCentral
• Resort Village Daily Activities & Nightly Entertainment

The USA will defend the Baltics against Russia

The US Air Force Commander in Europe Roger A. Brady stated that Americans would keep protecting the Baltic countries from air.

It will be remembered that after the August events in Georgia Estonia has become very nervous. Crowds of Russians on the Eastern borders became a nightmare for Tallinn. Local politicians initiated a foretelling contest : when the adversaries will occupy the country and where they will stop afterwards. Most of them agreed that the Russians would occupy the Baltic region within a year or two and will stop somewhere in Lisbon area. The newspapers got to drawing directions of Russian tank blows over the native land. Americans were quick to calm down the alarmed Estonians. From September 30 the country’s airspace has been guarded by four American F15C Eagle jets. It goes without saying they are not capable of checking the Russian invasion. General Brady’s visit was to inspect Estonian air forces and give instructions how to act in case of an enemy attack. The commander was shown Emary summer base.

There was a lot of sighing over the equipment of the Estonian air tops. It comprises two Czech training airplanes and three AN-2 carriers of the Caribbean crisis time. In addition to that the general was told that only one plane was fit for flying which naturally did not arouse much enthusiasm. Brady was resolute saying that the Emary base needed urgent reconstruction. Then it would at least be able to receive fighter jets and cargo aircrafts of the NATO allies. His estimation of work to be done amounts to 64 mln dollars.

Estonia might be small but it can teach us a lesson !

Hamish McRae

The scene is Tallinn airport. On Thursday evening I was changing a few Estonian crowns back into either euros or sterling – whatever, I said to the woman in the currency bureau, was easier.

"Oh, have euros," she said with a grin. "Much better."

But this is not a bleat about the collapse of sterling, dire though it has become. Rather it is a celebration of the competence and delight of Estonians. There is something wonderful about small states, and Estonia with its 1.4 million population has had to make being small an advantage. The former prime minister, Mart Laar, told us that one key factor enabling the country to make its successful transition from a centrally planned economy to a market one was that the government had no money. So it had to figure out ways of doing things on the cheap.

I asked the head of one of its best schools, the Tallinn English College, what was the single greatest advantage they'd had. (Estonia scores very near the top of the OECD study of the ability of 16-year-olds, and quite a bit ahead of us.) His reply : "Limited resources."

Estonia PM urges change of euro inflation criterion

By Darren Ennis - (Writing by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Christian Lowe)

BRUSSELS - Euro zone hopeful Estonia called on Friday for a change in the inflation criterion countries have to meet to adopt the single currency, saying the European Central Bank's target for price stability was better.

"Maybe it is time to re-evaluate, change the interpretation of the Maastricht inflation criteria," Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told Reuters in an interview, referring to the Maastricht treaty that sets out the conditions for euro entry.

A candidate for the euro zone cannot have inflation higher than the average of the three best performers in the 27-nation bloc plus 1.5 percentage point.

The best performers are interpreted as the countries with the lowest average annual inflation, rather than ones that have inflation below, but close to 2 percent -- the definition of price stability used by the ECB.

Price growth in Estonia was 8.0 percent year-on-year in November, down from 9.8 percent in October.

"We all have paid too high price for that interpretation of Maastricht inflation criteria," Ansip said, speaking in English. "We are building barriers to euro entry."

"The ECB target of price stability -- of inflation rate of below but near 2 percent, is better. The Maastricht criteria suggest that zero inflation is best," he said.

Jewish organization not please with Estonia

TALLINN - The Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has once again ranked Estonia among the countries that have completely failed in bringing Nazi criminals to justice.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center's report on the worldwide investigation and prosecution of Nazi war criminals covering the period from April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, published lately, again gives Estonia the low rating of F2, as Australia, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine.

F-2 is described as "failure in practice" and it is given to countries in which "there are no legal obstacles to the investigation and prosecution of suspected Nazi war criminals, but whose efforts, or lack thereof, have resulted in complete failure during the period under review, primarily due to the absence of political will to proceed and/or a lack of the requisite resources and/or expertise."

Ranked in cetegory F-1, or "failure in principle," were Norway, Sweden and Syria. The Simon Wiesenthal Center says these are countries which refuse in principle to investigate suspected Nazi war criminals because of legal (statute of limitation) or ideological restrictions.

When asked by BNS for comment, superintendent of the Estonian security police Andres Kahar said that crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide are the most grave crimes.

Estonia also to support Latvia

Juhan Tere

Estonia has also decided to help Latvia get over its financial crisis and issue the country a loan, the Estonian newspaper Postimees/LETA writes.

"Latvia has prepared a very serious program for getting over its financial crisis. It is also very positive that other Nordic and Baltic countries, together with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union (EU), have also expressed commitments to help Latvia. It is Estonia's duty to also participate in the financing of Latvia's program," said Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who participated in a Latvia support meeting in Brussels today.

Estonia plans to help Latvia by issuing the country a loan. Estonia has enough reserves, and some of these reserves will be allocated to Latvia.

It is not yet clear how large of a loan Estonia will issue to Latvia, talks are continuing. However, compared to the financial support of the Nordic countries, Estonia's loan will be much smaller.

According to Estonia's former Finance Minister Aivar Soerd, Estonia's participation in helping Latvia is very important symbolically.

Two days ago, Estonian Finance Minister Ivari Padar told Bloomberg that Estonia might also be needing a loan in the near future.

Estonian automotive market set for a slowdown in 2008

Consumers become more cautious about making high value purchases amid tougher lending conditions and the market reaches saturation point.

In 2007, automotive sales grew 26.0% y-o-y to 38,725 units, with passenger car sales up 25.8% and commercial vehicle sales up 27.0%. However, there were signs of a downturn in sales in Q407, with December seeing the first monthly year-on-year decline in sales in 2004. This coincided with a slowdown throughout the economy, with retail sales growth in decline. Car dealerships indicated that they expected the decline to continue into 2008, while others were more optimistic and predicted a soft landing in the car market. The consensus is that car sales growth is likely to be in the region of 10%. BMI is more pessimistic, forecasting sales growth of just 9.0% in 2008 with 34,782 sold. We expect the economic cycle to pick up in 2010, with a concurrent rise in car sales growth. By 2012, we expect car sales to reach just under 51,800 units, a still impressive 62.3% rise in sales over 2007 levels.

Aljand sets Estonian record

RIJEKA — Texas A&M senior Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia) set the Estonian national record in the 50-meter butterfly three times on Friday at the 2008 European Short Course Swimming Championships.

Competing in her first-ever European Championship final on Friday night, Aljand hit the wall fourth in a career-best and Estonian national record time of 25.57.

Aljand started the day as the top qualifier in the preliminary heats, setting a national record of 25.88. She ranked third during the semifinals, improving her record to 25.79 before eventually taking fourth place in 25.57.

The six-time individual Big 12 champion and current collegiate leader in the 100-yard freestyle will swim the 100-meter butterfly on Saturday and the 50-meter freestyle on Sunday.

VANA TALLINN COFFEE

Similar to Irish Coffee, but with Vana Tallinn instead of Irish Whiskey

Vana Tallinn 4 cl
Kuum kohv
Vahukoor

Valmistamine : vala eelnevalt kuumutatud klaasi kuuma kohvi, jättes ruumi Vana Tallinnale ja vahukoorele. Lisa likööri ja sega, pinnale kihita lusika pealt pooleldi vahustatud koorekiht. Vahukoorele võid riputada lahustuvat kohvi, riivida shokolaadi või kaneelikoort. Naudi suurepärast kohvijooki pärast sööki.  
Klaas : kuuma joogi klaas 
Kaunistus : lahustuva kohvi pulber, riivitud shokolaad või kaneelikoor

Applications for funding from Estonia’s “Rahvuskaaslaste” program due February 1st

The goal of the Rahvuskaaslaste (Estonians Abroad) Program is to support the continuation and preservation of Estonian language and culture outside of Estonia. A new program has been developed for the years 2008-2013. For 2009, over 18 million Estonian crowns (about $1.5 million) has been set aside, divided among several governmental departments and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church. Individuals and organizations in both Estonia and the abroad may submit applications for support.

In 2009, the money will be given primarily in two parts. Applications for funding in the first round are due February 1, 2009.Decisions will be made during February. The second round deadline is August 1, 2009.

Please submit the application form together with required supplementary material and send to Aho Rebas, either by email or regular mail.  The mailing information is below.

Email : [email protected]

Mail : Rahvastikuministri büroo, Stenbocki maja, Rahukohtu 3, 15161 Tallinn, Estonia. Telephone : 00372-6935265

Estonia passes next years budget

TALLINN - The Estonian parliament has passed the 2009 state budget with a multi-billion kroon deficit.

The budget, which passed with a vote of 60-29 in the 101-member chamber, projects revenues at 97.838 billion kroons (6.25 billion euros) and expenditure at 98.474 billion kroons.

Taking into account also the additional cuts introduced through the text of the budget, the expenditures work out at 96.7 billion kroons, the Finance Ministry said.