BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Tallinn music week

It’s the early hours of Saturday morning in downtown Tallinn and having been summoned over to sample the exotic delights of Estonian music we’re now well into our second hour of Depeche Mode songs, in front of a large Depeche Mode poster, in the Depeche Mode bar.

This curious monument to Essex’ foremost industrial electro-rock outfit may be as empty as Dave Gahan’s soul (late-eighties vintage) but is also nicely indicative of this city’s uniquely quirky charms. Capital of a former Soviet republic, it’s one of the most technologically-advanced locations in the world – pretty much the whole town is a wi-fi hotspot – while also teeming with majestic old medieval buildings, many of which have had gig venues carved into them.

These musical hotspots are now awash with wristbanded folk as it’s the second annual Tallinn Music Week, a beautifully-managed showcase featuring the best, most promising and just downright wonkiest talents in Estonia (and a few neighbours). Even the country’s president, in his opening address, suggests that “what is considered alternative music elsewhere, here is definitely part of the mainstream.” Nice bowtie, too.

Friday

We begin at Mustpeade Maja with Maria Minerva, a chirpy young singer accompanied by a surly-looking bloke who could well be her sulky younger brother, forced to join in by their parents. He provides a varied array of beats but also a great surge of feedback halfway through which puts Minerva off her stroke. She’s shaky but ploughs on regardless.

"PIG" out on Adam Mason's new film

While BROKEN and THE DEVIL’S CHAIR director Adam Mason has been working on LUSTER, he and frequent collaborator Andrew Howard have completed another film on the sly, PIG.

Twitch reports that the film is a savage satire on American genre roles with a lunatic starring performance by Howard. What’s most interesting about this low-budget experiment is that the movie’s 70-plus-minute running time is a single take.

Take that, RUSSIAN ARK! The film will have its world premiere at the Haapsalu Õudus-ja Fantaasiafilmide Festival—a weekend-long genre festival in Estonia. We hear PIG’s not for weak stomachs or vegetarians; look for a Fango exclusive on the movie soon!

Estonian firms use the crisis to exploit workers

Whereas in the former boom workers were in short supply in Estonia, the opposite is the case in these times of economic crisis.

This situation is being unfairly exploited by some employers, writes the daily Postimees, and Postimees is right as it has been known for almost 2 years now when it already was the case:

“Lay-offs should always be the last step, taken only when there’s no other way for a company to survive. In such circumstances it’s certainly better to let part of the personnel go than to risk running the company aground and putting all its employees on the dole.

Nevertheless it must be said that in these hard times some employers are exploiting their position of power to the detriment of their workforce. No end of horrific stories are circulating about how bosses are reaping advantages from these difficult times and literally terrorising their employees.

Lay-offs and pay cuts are already the sad reality for many, but some companies are resorting to far more drastic measures.

But unhappily, Estonia will not help her much endangered citizens.

Crashed gas truck may explode

MUSTVEE — A gas truck that went off the road on Wednesday morning around 6 a.m. near the small town of Mustvee in eastern Estonia could cause an 800 m blast if the tank explodes.

The Southern Estonian Rescue Service Center announced that the gas tank of the truck, which went off-road on the Jõhvi-Tartu-Valga highway. People are told to keep 800 m away, yet the nearest houses are only 200 m away.

Marek Kiik, press spokesman of Southern Estonian Rescue Service Center said that the police were sent to notify the people living nearby about a possible evacuation when rescue workers begin to drain the gas from the tanks.

“The police was sent out to notify the people to be ready and take a few items with them in case of evacuation,” Kiik told Baltic Reports. “Also local municipalities have agreed to help out with the accommodation.”

The emergency call center was alerted of the accident at 6:12 a.m. The truck, which is hauling 19 metric tons of natural gas is of Polish origin. Emergency management teams were sent out from Jõgeva, Mustvee and Palamuse and Tartu.

Estonian police and border guard board

The responsibilities of the Police Board, the Citizenship and Migration Board, and the Border Guard have been interconnected for a long time. The merger of the three institutions was legally executed on 1 January 2010 with the launch of a single Police and Border Guard Board (PPA).

The merger is without doubt a necessary development that will help us to achieve a new quality of internal security services and to further improve the cooperation between different functions. Until now, the three institutions all had separate accounting, human resources and administrative functions, whereas now they have a shared support system. The savings on the reorganisation of the support functions will help us provide additional forces for our main activities. It will allow us to allocate more resources for improved everyday security.

The Police and Border Guard Board is a new institution, but the objective of our operation was and always will be the same - a safer Estonia.

Death threats disrupt school

TALLINN — Four unidentified men threatened a female student with her life at the Estonian Business School in central Tallinn.

Four men entered the school, located on Lauteri Street at approximately 2 p.m. and approached a 22 -year old female Estonian student, with one threatening to kill her.

Estonia tax revenue drops In 2009

Estonia's revenues from the taxes and social security contributions decreased by 3 billion kroons to 77.4 billion kroons in 2009, the Statistics Estonia said on Wednesday.

The overall tax ratio was 36% of the Gross Domestic Product in 2009, which was 4% higher than the previous year. This rise was mainly due to increase of excise duties.

The share of indirect taxes received by general government increased 42% to 32 billion kroons in 2009. The percentage of indirect taxes of the GDP increased to 15%. At the same time, the revenues from direct taxes amounted to 16 billion kroons, its share in tax revenue was 22%.

The revenue from the compulsory social security contributions amounted to 29 billion kroons in 2009 and its ratio of the GDP increased 13% from the previous year.

Eesti Pank to open exhibition about gold received with Tartu Peace Treaty

On Wednesday, March 31, at 11.00, the museum of Eesti Pank opens a new exhibition about the transportation of 15 million gold roubles from Jamburg to Narva promised to the Republic of Estonia by Russia with the Tartu Peace Treaty.

In order to celebrate the 90th anniversary of signing the Tartu Peace Treaty, the Museum of Eesti Pank and Pärnu Museum have prepared the exhibition "Gold Loads of Freedom". The anniversary exhibition provides an overview of how the 15 million gold roubles promised to Estonia by Russia reached from Jamburg to Narva, where they were loaded on a train to Tallinn and transported to Eesti Pank.

On 15 March 1920, the gold, packed in cartridge boxes, was brought from the Jamburg railway terminal in Soviet Russia to the eastern terminal of Estonia in the village of Komarovka by men from the 9th regiment formed in Pärnumaa under the leadership of Lieutenant Jüri Kibbar. On the Estonian territory, the gold was escorted by the members of the people's army of the 9th regiment's drill company under Lieutenant Mühlbach.

Ühtne Eesti Suurkogu : 7th of May

Ürituse kellaajad: Uksed avatakse ja kogunemine algab kell 18.00. ürituse algus kell 19:00.

Piletiinfo: Tutvu piletiinfoga ja osta Sebrapilet Piletilevi internetipoest.
Piletid müügil Piletilevi ja Piletimaailma müügiesindustes üle Eesti.
Pileti hindadega tutvu Piletilevi koduleheküljel.
Ratastooli piletite info ja tellimine [email protected] aadressilt.

Lisainfo: Ühtne Eesti Suurkogu saaliplaan

Korraldaja: NO99
www.eestieest.ee [email protected]

Suurkogu on formaat, kus kogunevad erakondade osakondade ja piirkondade poolt saadetud delegaadid. Tavaliselt on tegemist meelelahutusliku sündmusega, kus mh arutatakse ka programmilisi põhimõtteid, valitakse juhtkond, kinnitatakse valimisnimekiri jne.

Chills, thrills and world premieres at the Haapsalu Horror & Fantasy Film Festival

The fifth Haapsalu Horror & Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF), to be held from 23-25 April at the Haapsalu Cultural Centre, will feature a total of 30 films from 15 countries, of which 19 are full-length features. This year’s festival will focus on new French horror.

Estoniaʼs only festival devoted to the fantasy, horror, science fiction and trash film genres will run from 23-25 April at Haapsalu, Estonia (www.haapsalu.ee) – once a renown summer retreat of the Russian Czars, now a picturesque spa town infamous for healing mud treatments.

Renowned British horror film director Adam Mason’s latest, “Pig” will make its world premiere at Haapsalu. Mason’s 2006 film “Broken”, which enjoyed success on the international festival circuit, was in Haapsalu’s programme in 2007.

The French documentary „Viande d’origine Francaise“ will be shown for the first time outside its homeland. Stephen Manuel’s and Axel Wedenkind’s “Iron Doors” – a mystery thriller that debuted in this year’s European Film Market will also have a special preview at HOFF. Two Estonian shorts will also be making their official debut – Tanel Rand’s vampire film „Transfusion“ and one of the openers at Haapsalu, Robi Uppin’s ghost tale „Wanderer“.

Port of Tallinn takes a lead over Southern neighbours in cargo volumes in 2009

Port of Tallinn regained the third position after Primorsk and St Petersburg ports among larger Baltic Sea Eastern coast ports in 2009, being ahead of Riga, Ventspils and Klaipeda ports, LETA/National Broadcasting reports.

The cargo volume was last year 31.6 mln tonnes, a growth of nearly 9% or 2.5 mln tonnes.

The number of passengers was at a record level, 7.26 million.

The port operator company said that the audited 2009 reports kept the economic indicators for 2009 that were first revealed in February unchanged. The net profit was 408 mln kroons, by 2% more than in 2008. Turnover grew by 8% to 1.27 bln kroons.

The loan burden of the company was 2.6 bln kroons at the end of the year, a growth of 273 mln kroons in a year.

Juhan Tere

Brandner PCB welcomes Estonia student satellite team

The aim of the Estonia Student satellite project is to design, manufacture, test and implement a working Earth-orbit satellite. Estonia's first satellite ESTCube-1 will be completed by early 2012 and will be used for scientific experiments in orbit. The development of the satellite is based on the Cubesat standard (www.cubesat.org), which is developed by California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University.

The tough space environment sets very strict requirements for materials used and also the materials in the actual satellite electronics. Currently, the project is working on creating subsystems for the project. Breadboards and prototypes will also be created.

Student satellite Program Manager, Silver Lätt, requested a tour of the PCB manufacturing process at Brandner PCB. The tour and the "question and answer" session was very meaningful to the group. Brandner PCB is pleased to note that a well-educated young Estonian engineer generation is now beginning to gain prominence.

For more information, visit http://www.brandner.ee/.

Fitch places Estonia on watch positive on likely Euro adoption

LONDON - Fitch Ratings placed Estonia's rating on positive watch Tuesday and indicated it would upgrade the Baltic nation if its bid to adopt the euro is formally accepted this summer.

"Euro membership would significantly reduce risks associated with the country's high levels of external debt and foreign exchange domestic lending, and would provide an exit to its currency board arrangement," said Douglas Renwick, an associate director in Fitch's Sovereigns group.

Estonia's currency-board system keeps the kroon pegged to the euro.

Fitch currently gives Estonia a long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating of BBB+.

The rating agency sees a "high likelihood" of Estonia adopting the euro in January 2011 and "formal approval of Estonia's bid to adopt the euro this summer would lead to a rating upgrade," Fitch's Renwick added.

The most ambitious innovation project in Estonia

Approximately 1.3 billion Estonian kroons from the European Regional Development Fund, EE (Enterprise Estonia), and Estonian enterprises will be invested into eight competence centres this year and over the next couple of years, resulting in new innovative products and services and an increase in the capabilities of researchers, stems and universities.

“The programme of competence centres which has been funded from the European Regional Development Fund is a EE programme which could best be described as one of the most ambitious, and one which is aimed at enterprises and researchers, offering them a huge future potential,” relates Mr Ilmar Pralla, the director for the Innovation Division of EE. 

Competence centres (or CCs) have a great role to play in influencing the competitiveness of Estonian enterprises. Research that is required by Estonian enterprises for product development purposes is the main function of research institutions which have been established as the result of co-operation between enterprises and institutions of higher education.

Industrial production increased compared to February of the previous year

According to Statistics Estonia, in February 2010 the production of industrial enterprises rose 5% compared to February of the previous year.

In February 2010 the production in manufacturing increased 4% compared to February of the previous year. When in total of 2009 compared to the previous year, the production decreased in all branches of manufacturing, then in January some branches showed recovery marks. In February a considerable growth could be observed in more than half of branches. When the export sales in manufacturing increased 12%, than the domestic sales fell 9% compared to February of the previous year.

The rapid increase in production was partly affected by comparing to lower comparison base, where the production in February 2009 was one of the lowest during the previous year. The branches holding a big share, as manufacturing of electronic products, rose 65%, the manufacturing of wood — 18%, mainly due to the increase of exports. The production increased also in the manufacturing of metals, motor vehicles, refined petroleum, plastic products, building materials and furniture. The production of wearing apparel, leather, chemical and metal products, machinery and equipment decreased more than a fifth. The main reason causing the decline was a continually insufficient demand.

In February 2010 compared to January, the seasonally adjusted industrial production decreased 1%, the production of manufacturing remained on the level of the previous month.

Vabaduse väljak : 20 000 candles for 20 000 deportees

Young people initiated this candlelighting ceremony on March 25th to mark the anniversary of the 1949 deportation of over 20,000 innocent people - the youngest 3 days old, the oldest 96 years old - from Estonia to Siberia by the Communist Soviet Union.  Each candle = one person. 

What an extraordinary site Freedom Square now is - on one side the Monument to Estonia's War of Independence, on the other Jaani Kirik.

It was an honor to form a 3 person team with my friend, former political prisoner Ageeda Pavel (arrested at 15 by the KGB, now 80 years old) and Mare Liivak - our little group lit and placed several hundred candles.

Hoia, Jumal Eestit!

Rod Stewart at Lauluväljak : June 12th, 2010

Saturday, June 12th will see superstar Rod Stewart take center stage in Tallinn Song Square to give an exclusive, all-seated concert. His raspy singing voice is well known all over the world for decades while curiously being one of the few A-class superstars never to have performed on Estonian soil.

With only 10,000 seats available, tickets to this summer’s premium event will be available starting from March 4 at 10AM in Piletilevi sales points and Statoil service stations all over Estonia. As this will be the only concert in this region, tickets will also be available in neighboring countries Latvia and Finland.

Considering the possible high demand, a single sale of tickets is limited to 6 pieces per buyer.

Winner of the prestigious Grammy award and selling over 130 million albums world-wide, Rod Stewart has certainly earned his right to be named amongst the world’s all time greatest pop rock artists. His show in Estonia is part of the world tour that shoots off in May.

European Council agreed on the objectives for the future strategy

Brussels – At the meeting held in Brussels today, EU heads of state agreed on the objectives for the new European employment and economic growth strategy.

The new strategy focuses on areas where specific steps have to be taken to increase competitiveness, productivity and economic growth in Europe.

Discussion at the European Council, which lasted for two days, addressed the “Europe 2020” action plan aimed at increasing the EU’s competitiveness, climate policy, Union priorities at the upcoming G20 summit and the financial situation of Greece.

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip considered it very important for agreement to have been reached on the principal objectives for the economic growth strategy.

“Agreement being reached on the principal objectives for the new strategy gives people a strong signal of the resolve of the European Union to take its economy to a new upturn,” Ansip said. “Economic growth, in turn, will mean a reduction in unemployment.”

Estonia will keep 2010 budget within EU requirements : IMF said

Estonia's deficit reduction to 1.7 percent of gross domestic product last year from 2.7 percent of GDP in 2008 was “a remarkable achievement” and that Estonia will probably keep its budget deficit below the 3 percent limit for euro region members,
Christoph Rosenberg, head of the IMF mission to Estonia said at a news conference in Tallinn.

“This was somewhat based on one-off measures,” Rosenberg said today, according to Bloomberg. “Nevertheless, we believe this can be kept below 3 percent in 2010.”

Estonia aims to be the third east European nation to join the euro region after Slovenia and Slovakia next January. The government’s budget deficit estimate for last year was confirmed by the statistics office last week, showing the Baltic nation met all measurable terms for euro entry.

The former Soviet state has cut its budget at the expense of domestic demand, exacerbating the second-deepest recession in the European Union, to ensure euro adoption by its target date. The government is betting that euro membership will support trade and encourage investment.

Tallinn cooperates with the Chinese in launching speed tram

The major of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar and other city officials departed for China on Sunday to conclude a joint intentions protocol for carrying out the Tallinn tram project, LETA/Äripäev.ee reports.

One of the aims of the visit is to conclude a joint intentions project with a large Chinese corporation China National Corporation for Overseas Economic Corporation and there are also meetings planned with China Development Bank representatives and Beijing’s culture sphere leaders.

Last week, the city government approved of a draft protocol of intentions to be concluded between the city of Tallinn, Tallinn Tram and Trolleybus Company, CCOEC Genertec and OÜ RAILCAR.

Savisaar stressed that developing electricity-powered transport as an energy saving and environment-friendly form of transport guarantees sustainability of Tallinn’s public transport system.

Juhan Tere