BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Carmen Kass and the fall Michael Kors campaign

Centre Party of Estonia requested Board of Riigikogu to replace Heiki Sibul

On Sunday, June 28, the Centre Party in Estonia turned to the Board of Riigikogu with a request to call back from his office the chairman of the National Electoral Committee Heiki Sibul as the party estimated that the committee has not been able to lawfully organise the European Parliament elections, writes Postimees Online/LETA.

"As is known, the Supreme Court decided to agree with the Centre Party's complaint and abrogate three decisions of the Electoral Committee which unlawfully decided that more than two hundred ballots with only one stamp on them were valid," said the Secretary General of the Centre Party Priit Toobal.

"Therefore, in my opinion, it is clear that Heiki Sibul who has violated the law and has repeatedly justified this in the media should be replaced," he added.

Toobal claimed that Sibul has failed in his office and should resign. "However, taking into account the fact that Sibul will not resign from the position of the chairman of the Electoral Committee, the Centre Party decided to turn to the Board of Riigikogu in this issue," he explained.

Toobal stated that the National Electoral Committee has not done everything in its power to correctly and successfully carry out the European Parliament elections and dozens of unanswered questions on advance polls, e-voting and about what happened during the night of the elections have remained.

Estonian Air’s financial result for 2008

Annual General Meeting of Estonian Air was held monday June 29th 2009 in the Estonian Ministry of Economy and Communications, approved the last year Annual Accounts of Estonian Air.

The consolidated sales revenue of Estonian Air in 2008 was 1,456.3m EEK, y-o-y growth by 6%. The financial result of Estonian Air for 2008 was a loss of 170.5m EEK. As a comparison, in 2007 the result was a loss of 52m EEK.

- The year 2008 was an extremely complicated one for commercial aviation both globally as well as in Estonia. The general negative trends affected greatly the activities of Estonian Air during the entire financial year,“ says Andrus Aljas, President and CEO of Estonian Air.

- Result of the first half-year was strongly influenced by the fuel price hike pushing up the operating cost; in the second half-year a significant factor was the sudden drop in demand, triggered by problems in the economic environment – a trend that will continue in 2009 and even in 2010,“continues Aljas.

- The last year economic result does not make the shareholders glad but in spite of the tough economic environment and fast changes at the market the Supervisory Council is expecting better results from Estonian Air, which are to be achieved by realising a cost-cutting plan and widening the revenue basis. The company is going to reopen direct flights to Amstersdam and Berlin, in addition opening flights between Tallinn and St. Petersburg and regular route between Tartu and Stockholm are on the pipeline,“ said Olev Schults, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Estonian Air.

The activities of the Management Board of Estonian Air have mainly been directed to minimising the effects from aforementioned negative trends and restructuring the company with the goal of securing the sustainability even in the fast-decreasing revenue market conditions.

Despite the capacity optimisation and reduction of direct routes, Estonian Air has maintained its clear leading position at Tallinn Airport with the market share above 40%, and offered direct air service to 22 destinations.

The industrial enterprises have made technology investments of 122 million kroons with the help of the support

The industrial enterprises have invested the total of 122 million kroons with the help of the technology investment programme of Enterprise Estonia opened in autumn last year. The grant co-financed from the European Regional Development Fund makes approximately 50 million kroons of it, i.e. one fifth of the total volume of the financed applications has been paid out.

"The entrepreneurs carry out the  planned investments regardless of the difficult economic situation," Pille-Liis Kello, the director of the Enterprise Capability Division, said. The investments have been fully carried out by Sunorek AS, Leab Eesti AS, Metre OÜ, Balti Spoon OÜ, E-Profiil AS, Temper OÜ, Maru Metall AS, B-plast AS and Norcar-BSB Eesti AS.

For example Norcar-BSB Eesti As, the main activity of which is the production and distribution of small loaders, tractors and industrial lines, acquired the welding robot with the help of the grant. The company exports almost the whole production to the countries of the European Union. "Our objective was to achieve the automated, stable high quality work. We have also started the creating of own planned and designed products," Jaak Ojandu, the Manager of Norcar-BSB Eesti AS explained the use of the grant. The purpose of the technology investment support for the industrial enterprises is to favour the investments which contribute to the increase of productivity and export potential of the industrial enterprises, search new distribution opportunities and create the workplaces with higher added value.

The decisions of the first round of the technology investment support for industrial enterprise were confirmed by the management board of Enterprise Estonia at the end of the last year. 49 companies received the support in total amount of 259 million kroons, approximately 50 million kroons of which have been currently paid out.

War criminal Martic jailed in Estonia

TALLINN - Former Croatian Serb leader Milan Martic arrived in Estonia on Friday (June 26th) to serve his 35-year sentence for war crimes committed in Croatia between 1991 and 1994, local authorities said.

His transfer was arranged under an agreement between the Estonian government and the UN. He is to serve his sentence in a prison in the eastern town of Tartu.

Ethnic differences of cancer incidence in Estonia

Two cross-sectional unlinked census based cancer incidence analyses ....

Estonian and Russian ethnic groups in Estonia differ from one another in several aspects such as historic and socio-economic background, language and culture. The aim of the current study was to examine ethnic differences in cancer incidence in Estonia, and to compare the situation before and after the profound political and economical changes in early 1990s.

Methods: Two cross-sectional unlinked census based cancer incidence analyses were performed.

Cancer incidence data were obtained from the Estonian Cancer Registry. Population denominators came from the population censuses of 1989 and 2000.

Standardised cancer incidence rates were calculated for men and women for the aggregate periods 1988-1990 and 1999-2000. The absolute differences in standardised cancer incidence rates for Estonians and Russians together with standard errors and p-values for SE-s in 1989 and 2000 were evaluated for both sexes.

Differences in cancer incidence between Estonians and Russians in 1989 and 2000 were estimated for both sexes, using standardised rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals.

Estonian Air carried 219 889 passengers in the first five months

In the first five months Estonian Air carried altogether 219 889 passengers, 196 633 of these on regular flights. The total number of passengers decreased 27.4% y-o-y, on regular flights 27.4%.

In May Estonian Air carried 51 263 passengers, 48 025 of these on regular flights. The total number of passengers decreased 29.7%, on regular flights 27.6%.

In the first five months the market share of Estonian Air in the regular flights segment at Tallinn Airport was 44.4% which is 0.6 percentage points lower y-o-y. The total market share (regular and charter flights) was 41.1%, which is 0.4 percentage points lower y-o-y.

In May the market share of Estonian Air in the regular flights segment at Tallinn Airport was 48.5%, which is 1.8 percentage points higher y-o-y. The total market share (regular and charter flights) was 44%, which is 0.3 percentage points higher y-o-y.  

In the first five months Estonian Air operated 4102 flights, which is 21.5% less flights y-o-y. In May Estonian Air operated 908 flights, which is 20.1% less flights y-o-y.

Estonian Air belongs to the most punctual air carriers in Europe. In the first five months the regularity of Estonian Air was 98.3% and the 15-minute punctuality was 91%. In May the regularity and punctuality were 99.6% and 90.3% respectively.

A fifth of the residents of Estonia live in relative poverty

According to Statistics Estonia, in 2007 19.5% of the Estonian population lived in relative poverty, a similar amount to the previous year. The difference in income between the poorest and richest fifth of the population was fivefold, leaving Estonia persistently in the top ten of the poorest countries in Europe.

In 2007, a person was considered to be at-risk-of-poverty if his/her monthly equalised disposable income was below 4,340 kroons. The at-risk-of-poverty threshold rose by 860 kroons compared to 2006. The share of persons living in relative poverty did not change significantly compared to the previous year, but the difference in income between the poorest and richest fifth of the population decreased by 0.5 percentage points. The difference in income between the poorest and richest fifth of the population was fivefold. In Europe the income distribution was more unequal than in Estonia in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, United Kingdom, Portugal and Greece. The inequality level was similar to Estonia’s in Italy, Spain and Germany.

In 2007, incomes grew for the entire population. Incomes increased most in the smallest and medium income quintiles — in the first, second and third — by about a quarter. In the fifth income quintile that comprises of richer people income increased by 13%. The distribution of income in society remained at about the same level as in previous years — there was no significant mobility between the quintiles irrespective of occupation, age and gender. The richest households in Estonia are households without children where all members are working (their at-risk-of-poverty rate is 4%) and the poorest are households with children where nobody works. In the latter the at-risk-of-poverty rate increased by three percentage points during the year and rose to 87% in 2007.

NATO expels two Russians over Estonia spy scandal

David Brunnstrom

BRUSSELS - NATO has ordered the expulsion of two Russian diplomats over a spy scandal in which an Estonian official was jailed for passing secrets to Moscow, a NATO diplomat said on Thursday.

"Two Russian diplomats have been told they are not welcome here," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The pair were attached to the mission Russia has at NATO headquarters although it is not a member of the alliance.

The diplomat said they were expelled over the case of Herman Simm, an Estonian jailed for more than 12 years for treason in February for handing more than 2,000 pages of information to handlers in Russia’s SVR Foreign Intelligence Service.

NATO ordered the diplomats out on Wednesday, the same day the alliance resumed formal talks with Russia at ambassadorial level, eight months after contacts were suspended over Russia’s five-day war with Georgia last August.

Russia regards improving relations with NATO as part of a broader effort to improve relations with the West, and in particular with the United States. Ties with Washington sank to a post-Cold War low under U.S. President George W. Bush.

It was not immediately clear what impact, if any, the expulsions would have on attempts to improve relations.

Estonia slams Russia over 'Nazi' monument claims

TALLINN - Estonia on Friday hit back at Russian media claims that a new monument in the Baltic state's capital was an homage to soldiers who fought on Nazi Germany's side in the Second World War.

Defence ministry spokesman Martin Jashko told AFP the Russian reaction to the unveiling of the War of Independence Victory Monument in Tallinn was "regrettable and very clearly malevolent."

Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million people, broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991. Tallinn regularly spars with Moscow over conflicting versions of history.

The monument, inaugurated Tuesday, is based on a cross-shaped medal for Estonians who fought in the 1918-1920 war of independence as the Russian empire collapsed at the end of the First World War.

Russian media, however, have highlighted its subsequent adoption as the insignia of Estonian units that fought on the German side against the Soviets, and have claimed the monument "glorifies" the Nazis.

"The cross and the symbol in the middle of (the) cross used on the monument were designed already in 1919, long before the Nazi era," Jashko insisted.

The Soviets took over Estonia under a 1939 pact with the Nazis, and deported 10,000 Estonians to Siberia. The Red Army was driven out in 1941 when Germany turned on its ally.

Serb war criminal serving sentence in Estonia

TALLINN - Convicted Serb war criminal Milan Martic arrived in Estonia on Friday to serve his 35-year sentence there in an agreement between the government and the United Nations.

Martic, 55, is being jailed in the town of Tartu, 120 miles (190 kilometers) southeast of Tallinn, said Estonian Justice Minister Rein Lang.

The arrangement is in line with an agreement between the Estonian government and the U.N., which deals with the implementation of the verdicts by the Netherlands-based International Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, officials said.

No further details about the deal were released.

The former Croatian Serb leader was convicted for his role in a deadly campaign of ethnic cleansing in Croatia by the U.N. Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in 2007. He was held responsible for murder, torture, deportation and other crimes carried out by Serb forces.

Martic was the last president of the unrecognized republic of Krajina until 1995, when Croatian troops took control of the area.

Russian fuel oil exports via Estonia 'to stop'

The export of Russian fuel oil by rail through Estonia could be stopped completely within a year, according to Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Ivanov said the new heavy fuel terminal at the Russian port of Ust-Luga would replace the Estonian transshipment route.

"So far Russia had no ports to handle heavy fuel oil and the first tankers with this product will go via Ust-Luga," he told reporters during a visit to the port, which is in the Leningrad region south-west of St. Petersburg.

"It means that we will start to reduce railway transportation of our heavy fuel oil to Estonia.  In a year we will completely stop its delivery to Estonian ports," Ivanov was quoted saying.             

Ivanov said the first phase of the heavy fuel terminal at Ust-Luga was due to begin operations by the end of 2009.

Russia has been keen to ensure that more of the country's exports are handled via its own ports.  According to Ivanov, foreign ports transhipped 75% of Russian export cargo in the late 1990s. He said that figure had fallen to 13%.

The Estonia port of Tallinn is the most vulnerable to the change in fuel oil export routes. Russian oil products, chiefly fuel oil, are said to account for a large share of Tallinn's cargo throughput.

Two New Orleans area teens quarantined in Estonia for swine flu

Sandra Barbier

Two New Orleans area teen-agers were quarantined this week in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, in eastern Europe, with swine flu.

Both recovered quickly and were scheduled to be released from a hospital Saturday morning, said Russ Wise, a St. John the Baptist Parish School Board member and the father of one of the teens.

T.J. Wise, 17, of LaPlace, and Corinne Heath, 16, of Mandeville, are the only local students participating in a three-week tour of eastern Europe, organized the People to People Student Ambassador Program.

The group of 36 high school students left the United States on June 19.

Wise said several students began suffering flu-like symptoms Wednesday, after they arrived in Tallinn, located on Gulf of Finland coast.

Wise said he got the news at 1 a.m. Thursday, because of the eight-hour time difference. T.J. Wise called home and said, "Guess what!,'¤" Wise said.

"He sounded a little hoarse," and had a fever and some coughing, Wise said.

Initially, 18 students were quarantined at the hospital, where they were kept while tests were run, Wise said.

He said his son told him tests on the first day indicated two students had swine flu, then three were confirmed with the virus on the second day, including T.J. Wise and Heath.

The other students were released, but the five who were confirmed to have the H1N1 virus were being kept another night in the hospital, Wise said Friday.

EU executives tackles 25 states over energy reform

BRUSSELS - The European Union's executive said on Thursday 25 of the bloc's 27 countries were not doing enough to boost energy market competition for the benefit of consumers, taking the first step towards possible court action.

It launched so-called infringement procedures for failure to implement the EU's second package of internal energy market laws -- reforms phased in between 2004 and 2007 to open gas and electricity markets to more competition.

"This major infringement exercise focuses on three broad areas of concern: lack of transparent, simple and inexpensive procedures for dealing with consumer complaints; lack of transparent access to cross-border electricity and gas network infrastructure, and market distortions caused by regulated energy prices," the European Commission said in a statement.

Every EU member state with an electricity connection to a neighbour is facing possible action, with only the islands of Malta and Cyprus escaping unscolded because they are physically detached from the rest of the bloc.

The 25 will receive letters of formal notice for not complying with gas and electricity regulations, the EC said. Many of those states had received warnings on similar issues in 2006.

Commission refers Estonia to European Court of Justice on gender equality legislation

The Commission has today referred Estonia to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for non-transposition of EU rules prohibiting gender discrimination in access to and supply of goods and services (Directive 2004/113/EC). Estonia has not yet adopted all the necessary measures to give effect to the legislation in national law, despite a 'reasoned opinion' (second stage warning) sent by the Commission in February 2009.

Vladimír Špidla, EU Commissioner for Equal Opportunities, said: Discrimination on the basis of gender is unacceptable. We have effective EU legislation which all members of the Union need to transpose into national law. I urge Estonia to proceed as quickly as possible with the adoption of the necessary measures.

The Commission sent the Estonian authorities a reasoned opinion – the second stage of infringement proceedings – in February 2009, giving them two months to reply. They informed the Commission that amendments to the Gender Equality Act, the Equal Treatment Act and Employments Contract Act were expected to be adopted in the first half of 2009. Thus, they responded to the Commission that they were in the process of adopting the necessary measures to transpose the Directive fully, but have not yet communicated the adoption of these measures. Consequently, the Commission has decided to refer the case to the ECJ.

The deadline to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive expired in 21 December 2007, and two years later, in 2009, for the provisions on insurance costs related to pregnancy and maternity.

Estonian producer prices fall

Estonian producer price indices fell in May as the economy continued to weaken, new figures show. Data released by Statistics Estonia has revealed that overall prices fell by 2.1 per cent last month when compared to May 2008.

Although prices in the energy and mining sectors increased over the period, the index for manufacturing fell by 3.8 per cent.

Export prices also decreased by 4.1 per cent over the same 12 month period, something which was influenced by a decline in the cost of forestry-related products, building materials and metals.

By comparison, import costs were down by 7.6 per cent year-on-year.

Last week, figures released by Statistics Estonia revealed that forestry workers in the country saw their average monthly wage increase by 24.2 per cent in 2008 when compared to the pervious year.

Across all sectors, monthly pay went up by 13.9 per cent, although the increase in take-home wages was only 3.2 per cent.

Estonia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare report Q3 2009 - New company and market analysis

Estonia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2009 - a new market research report on companiesandmarkets.com

www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Market-Report/estonia-pharma ..

In the Business Environment Ranking matrix for Q309, Estonia remains seventh out of the 20 major markets surveyed in the Emerging Europe region. The country’s overall pharmaceutical rating figure continued to fall over the past few quarters, in line with worsening economic conditions and their impact on the small market, which is based on a population of just 1.34mn and of modest relative annual incomes. Therefore, over the coming months, we expect Estonia to continue losing its attractiveness for drugmakers, as the financial crisis forces the authorities to limit availability of funding for the largely reimbursement-based public healthcare system.

In fact, following the February 2009 announcement that the system of sick leave compensation would be the target of a scheme to save EUR29mn, the authorities indicated that the country’s Health Insurance Fund (HIF) should experience further budget cuts. More specifically, in April 2009, the government stated that lower tax collection revenues required an additional EUR25mn reduction in public healthcare sector budgets. Estonia is also cutting second-tier pensions in line with similar developments in Latvia and Lithuania. In the meantime, we expect real GDP growth to contract by 10.3% in Estonia during 2009, while disinflationary trends remain firmly in place.

Consequently, we forecast that the country’s pharmaceutical market, valued at EEK2.99bn (US$280mn) in 2008 at consumer prices, will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.14% in local currency terms. Its US dollar value will suffer, due to the weakening of local currency, posting a negative CAGR of -3.46% in the same period.

Europe aims to reduce cancer deaths by 15 pct by 2012

BRUSSELS - Europe is aiming to reduce its cancer deaths by 15 percent by 2020 and needs to double screenings to prevent mortality rates climbing as the population ages, the EU's health chief said on Wednesday.

Every year, 3.2 million Europeans are diagnosed with cancer, the second most common cause of death in Europe.

Breast cancer accounts for 30 percent of deaths from the disease in women, far more than cervical cancer with three percent. Colorectal cancers account for about 13 percent of cancer deaths in both men and women.

"We want to have a reduction in deaths by 15 percent by 2020," European Union Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said. "We also want to double the number of people screened because ... we have had a lot of progress since we started in 2003 but only 50 percent of our target has been reached."

Vassiliou, speaking at a news conference to promote sharing of information and research on cancer across the EU's 27 member countries, said her aim was also to reduce the vast inequalities across the bloc in terms of cancer deaths.

New designs revealed for Tallinn City Hall

Jessica Rowson

Consultant Adams Kara Taylor has won the design competition for Tallinn’s new City Hall in Estonia alongside Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) architects.

The new administrative building of the city government that will be situated on a 35,000 m2 plot near the Linnahall building.

The various public departments will be visible above the public service market place via the light wells and courtyards and panoramic windows.

The City Council will be located in the town hall tower, which features a reflective sloping ceiling.

“The structural concept reflects the simplicity of the architectural intent; a grouping of “easily assembled individual Frames”  that through vierendeel frames free the connection of the city at ground level whilst simultaneously act as a “group” to resist lateral loads,” said Adams Kara Taylor founding partner Hanif Kara. “The result is an economic ,fast build adaptable solution.”

Dr. Endel Sepp, 1921-2009 ; longtime general practitioner made house calls

Head of medical staff at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital

By Joan Giangrasse Kates

Dr. Endel Sepp, a retired physician and past president of the medical staff at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, left his homeland of Estonia and came to America in the early 1950s.

The longtime general practitioner cared for thousands of patients, from babies to great-grandparents.

"He treated three generations of patients, all within the same family," said his wife of 63 years, Ina.

Dr. Sepp, 88, formerly of Elmhurst, died of congestive heart failure Monday, June 22, at Windsor Park Manor in Carol Stream.

"Endel was one of the most caring and conscientious doctors on our staff," said retired surgeon and former colleague Dr. Arthur LeBeau, an emeritus member of the board of governors at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital. "He had the respect and admiration of his patients and of all of us who had the great pleasure of working with him."