BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Estonian economy holding up nicely : Tõnis Palts

Businessman and former finance minister Tõnis Palts says that, in comparison with the rest of Europe, Estonian economy is still doing very well.

“We must keep our breath and pray that it remains so,” Palts told Äripäev, adding that although Estonia was sensitive to external shocks, especially from the Eurozone, there are signs that some major export partners such as Sweden also continue to do well. While most of Europe is slowing down as well, with the German economy growing only 0.3 percent, a welcome boost to Estonia’s economy came from Sweden which reported a 1.4 percent growth in the second quarter.

Palts said that much is depending also on how the Finnish economy is doing. “Estonia has relatively small unemployment, but it owes a lot to Finland. We must keep our hopes high that the economies of Finland, Sweden and Germany remain strong”.
Speaking of Finland, Palts agreed that Finnish economic slowdown would dampen Estonia’s economic growth. “When things go bad in Finland, it would affect Estonia first through the export market and secondly through employment. When unemployment in Finland were to start growing, it would directly influence the use of immigrant labour force.”

Unofficial biography of Estonian President Ilves to be published

An unofficial biography of Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves is scheduled to be published this week, writes LETA/Postimees.

The book titled “Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Behind the Bow-Tie. The Life and Story of the President” will be published in Estonian by the publishing house Fookus Meedia. It is authored by former and current journalists Anneli Aasmäe, Kai Kalamees, Kärt Blumberg, Kristi Vainküla and Krister Kivi.

Manager of Fookus Meedia Siim Saidla stated that the book is currently in print and ought to reach bookstores before the end of this week.

According to him, the book is a so-called unofficial biography for which the President has given no interviews. At the same time, he said that the manuscript has been read by the Office of the President and factual mistakes have been corrected there.

The authors of the book stated that the book will describe the facets of President Ilves that have thus far stayed hidden from the public. They asked what do people know about their President besides the facts that he likes to wear a bow-tie and is interested in modern Estonian music.

Carmen Kass : Vogue - Latin America - Sept 2012

Genio del Color – Coinciding with Jean Paul Gaultier’s recent Madrid exhibit, “De la calle a las estrellas”, the September issue of Vogue Latin America highlights his recent couture and ready-to-wear collections with cover star Carmen Kass. In front of Mariano Vivanco’s lens, the blonde treks a gritty setting in all the classic Gaultier staples including form-fitting silhouettes, lots of black and great prints. Stylist Sarah Gore Reeves’ selects are complemented by sleek hair and makeup by Ed Moelands and Ayami Nishimura. / Art direction by John Paul Tran.

Estonian Air has hired tens of foreign pilots

For implementing its ambitious new business strategy and feeding passengers to Tallinn, Estonian national carrier Estonian Air has hired tens of foreign pilots, writes Eesti Ekspress.

Ilona Eskelinen, press spokesperson of Estonian Air, admitted that since December 2010, the airline has hired 17 foreign pilots, mainly from Italy, Finland, Holland and Spain.

Most recently, the airline hired another 8 pilots on a rent contract.

The paper writes that Estonian Air’s wage terms are angering Estonian and Russian pilots, because the company pays for the accommodation and daily taxi fare of foreign pilots, but not for domestic pilots.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Tallinn City approved of the free public transport bill

The Tallinn City Government approved on Wednesday of the draft regulation that would make it possible for city residents to use public transport in the city free of charge from the year 2013, writes LETA/National Broadcasting.

The right to free rides on the public transport will also apply to all pupils until the age of 19, regardless of their registered place of residence.

Those users of the public transport who are not, according to the Population Register, residents of Tallinn, will have to buy e-tickets or electronic period cards as paper tickets will be abolished.

According to the proposal, the provision of free public transport service for city residents and implementation of the new tickets system will lead the City of Tallinn to lose approximately 14.4 million euros in uncollected ticket revenue in 2013. The projected ticket revenue in 2013 amounts to 5.5 million euros.

Juhan Tere

Apartment prices in Estonia up

The value of apartments in Estonia increased by 7.6 per cent in the first half of 2012, compared to the same period a year earlier.

According to the Ober-Haus Baltic market report, there is rising demand for high-end property in Estonia's capital, Tallinn.

Residential real estate sales in the city climbed by around 30 per cent in the six months from January to June, while the value of transactions was up on a quarterly and annual basis.

Meanwhile, the organisation revealed the level of construction activity taking place in Estonia has declined as a result of higher building costs.Going forward, Ober-Haus expects sales volumes to increase during the third quarter of this year, with property prices in Estonia remaining broadly stable.

Earlier this year, Global Property Guide highlighted Estonia as one of the world's top-performing real estate markets. Its global house price index for the first quarter of this year revealed property values grew by 9.13 per cent annually. 

Pro-Pussy Riot banner planned for Narva Castle

Outspoken MP Juku-Kalle Raid is planning to redecorate the wall of the Narva Castle on August 24, adding an 8 meter by 24 meter banner in support of jailed members of the Russian punk-rock group Pussy Riot.

The banner, which will face the Russian side of the Narva River border and be clearly visible from Ivangorod, will bear the slogan, "You can't stop freedom!" in English, Russian and Estonian, rus.err.ee reported.

Raid, whose actions are being supported by Russian journalist and writer Artemy Troitsky, also plans to send a letter to the Russian courts, the Russian State Duma and the Russian embassy in Tallinn in which he refers to the jailed Pussy Riot members as "prisoners of conscience" and calls for "dialog with Russian organizations and citizens who value freedom of thought and speech."

On August 17, a Moscow court sentenced three members of the band to two years in prison for an anti-Putin stunt they performed in a cathedral in February. Both the trial and the sentence have drawn fire from international human rights groups, politicians and artists as being heavy-handed and politically motivated.

Members of the Narva City Council contacted by ERR had mixed reactions to the planned banner, some opposing it on the grounds that the Pussy Riot sentencing was Russia's internal affair and others expressing indifference.

Steve Roman

Estonian ministries aim to raise wages above the level of year 2008

The ministers in the Government of Estonia who support the plans to raise wages in their administrative areas have requested a total of more than 82 million euros extra for pay funds from 2013 State budget, writes LETA/Äripäev.

This would raise spending on human resources above the level of the year 2008.

The Ministry of Finance is compiling the 2013 draft State budget and has received additional requests from other ministries for raising their HR spending by a total of 82.2 million euros.

If all requests were to be approved, the State’s human resources spending would amount to more than 650 million euros in 2013, nearly 15% more than in 2012.

In 2008, human resources spending from the State budget amounted to 630 million euros.

Juhan Tere

A bust to Patriarch Alexy II to be unveiled in Tallinn

Building a monument to the late Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II in Tallinn would be the proper thing to do to acknowledge his contribution to the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Estonia, Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia Cornelius told the media.

Alexy II was born in Tallinn where in 1961 he was chosen to be the Orthodox Church Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia. 

Patriarch Alexy II played a central part in the 2007 reunion of the branches of the Russian Church abroad and at home.

A bust to Alexy II will be unveiled in front of an Orthodox church which is currently under construction in Tallinn.

TASS

Baltic Chain Tour II stage won Gediminas Bagdonas

Gediminas Bagdonas from Lithuanian national Team won Baltic Chain Tour second stage from Viljandi to Otepää. This was fifth UCI win for Lithuanian champion this year.

183 km race was full of action from the very beginning. Break-away followed by another break-away, but no-one got away from peloton.First intermediate sprint had a group finish and over the line came first Bagdonas himself, securing green jersey as most active rider so far.

Soon after intermediate sprint 5-men group escaped from peloton and quickly had almost three minute gap with chasers. Nothing was decided yet as there was still more than 60km to go. In this group were Erland (Plussbank), Gröndahl (Plussbank),  Jõessar (Estonian National Team), Mihkel Räim (Saaremaa Viking) and Artur Shaymuratov from Katusha. They were working hard together until mountain climb, where Erland and Räim went for the climb finish. Räim was quicker and won it.

Soon after it Erland and Shaymuratov left other three behind. Second intermediate sprint victory was to be decided by these two and Erland was quickest this time. They worked well together unitl 20 km before finish the peloton caught them. By that point it seemed that there's going to be group finish, but approximately 10km before finish Evtushenko from Katusha decided to go for glory alone. About 1-2 kilometers before finish he was caught and group finish was to come. Bagdonas was quickest again and won the stage in front of 80-men group. Dylan Groenewegen from Cycling Team De Rijke came second and Indulis Bekmanis from Rietumu - Delfin came third.

Outlook brightens for Estonia

TALLINN - The near-term growth prospects for the euro zone's youngest member, Estonia, could be better than previously expected, thanks to an expected summertime uptick in household spending that has come despite the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the European economy.

Swedbank AB, which has a large presence in Estonia, revised its forecast for gross domestic product in 2012 to 3%, up from 2.7%. Swedbank's new forecast compares with the 1.7% forecast given by Estonia's finance ministry in the spring.

Stronger-than-expected growth would be a welcome development for a small country that ties its economic wagon heavily to the market for its exports. But a strengthening economy likely won't change the supportive position most of the country's leaders have taken in relation to lending significant financial support to help strengthen the euro zone, even though participating in the bailout of other nations has met some public opposition.

Estonia's growth, while significantly cooler than it was in 2011, comes despite growing uncertainty and public debate about the country's participation in the European Stability Mechanism, a bailout fund seen as a main crisis-fighting tool for the euro zone. The forecast comes as Finland, another Northern European member of the euro zone with a stable financial track record, is showing signs of slowing amid a significant weakening in consumer confidence.

Students pinpoint Estonia's tallest trees of their kind

Two University of Life Sciences bachelor's students have found Estonia's tallest known white birch, speckled alder, common alder and common ash in Tartu County's Järvselja Training and Experimental Forest Center.

The students, Triin Alatalo and Koit Viliberg, included their findings in a joint thesis on Järvselja's tall trees and their habitats, the university said in a statement.

The tallest known tree in Estonia is an earlier-measured, 230-year-old Scots pine that reaches 46.6 meters in height and 67 centimeters in diameter. The new thesis now reveals the country's tallest known white birch (27.6 meters in height, 54 centimeters in diameter), speckled alder (31 meters in height, 32 centimeters in diameter), common alder (33.3 meters in height, 63 centimeters in diameter) and common ash (35.2 meters in height, 60.5 centimeters in diameter). All are growing within Järvselja.

The students were studying why so many of the nation's tallest trees were found in the area, and pointed to the fact that many of them were located near drainage ditches as a possible reason.

Järvselja forest center management has installed signs to allow the public to find some of the large trees, while others are located in virgin forests and remain off-limits to the public.

Robin Ilves

International Black Ribbon Day

Dear Friends, 

The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC) and the Embassies of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania support this event on August 23rd.

Karl Altau
Managing Director
JBANC

***

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation invites you to remembrance ceremony to
commemorate the victims of Soviet communist and Nazi regimes, on the anniversary of the
1939 signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which divided Europe between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany (International Black Ribbon Day).

The event will take place on Thursday, August 23, 2012, at 12:00 noon
at the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, DC,
located at the intersection of Massachusetts Ave., NW, New Jersey Ave., NW, and G Street, NW
(two blocks from Union Station and within view of the U.S. Capitol).

For more information, please contact Nathaniel Green at
202-536-2373 or via e-mail at: [email protected].

Please feel free to distribute this notice to members of your community or to other individuals.
We hope you will consider attending.

**************
Karl Altau
Managing Director
Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc.
Representing:
Estonian American National Council, Inc.
American Latvian Association, Inc.
Lithuanian American Council, Inc.

400 Hurley Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
tel. 301-340-1954
[email protected]
http://jbanc.org
Twitter@JBANCchatter
**************

Defeat complicates Israel's EuroBasket hopes

Blue-and-white suffers a hefty blow in devastating 88-86 overtime loss to Estonia, despite hot-handed start by Casspi.

Israel’s hopes of qualifying for an 11th straight European Championships suffered a hefty blow on Saturday with a shock 88-86 overtime defeat to Estonia in Rishon Lezion.

The national team cruised in the first half, leading by as many as 17 points at one stage against a mediocre opponent. However, after a nervy finish saw it drop to a defeat to Montenegro in its qualifying opener last week, the blue-and- white was stunningly poor in the second half against Estonia and fell to an 0-2 record in Group A, seriously complicating its situation very early into its 10- game qualifying campaign.

Only the top two teams from the six qualifying groups and the four best third-placed teams will qualify for EuroBasket 2013, joining the already qualified Spain, France, Russia, FYR of Macedonia, Lithuania, Greece, Great Britain and the hosts Slovenia.

Perennial powerhouse Serbia is the firm favorite to win Group A, and following Israel’s loses to Montenegro and Estonia, it already faces a must-win situation on the road against Iceland and Slovakia on Tuesday and Friday, respectively.

Allon Sinai

Share of Estonian citizens increases by 5% over the past decade

The share of Estonian citizens in the population increased from 80 to 85 percent over the past decade, according to preliminary data from the 2011 Population and Housing Census.

Since the 2000 census, the total number of Estonian citizens has grown by 6,018. The 2011 census counted 1,294,236 permanent residents, of whom 1,101,761 had citizenship.

Compared to the previous census, the share of people with undetermined citizenship decreased from 12.4 to 6.5 percent and the share of those holding citizenship of a foreign country increased from 6.9 to 8.1 percent.

The data showed that the largest number of foreign citizens permanently living in Estonia, 89,913, had Russian passports, 4,707 had Ukrainian citizenship and 1,739 Latvian citizenship. Another 3,116 people did not specify their citizenship in the recent census.

The 11th population census in Estonia was conducted from December 31, 2011 to March 31, 2012.

Err.ee

Finland and Estonia meet to discuss "Rail Baltica"

Transport officials from Finland and Estonia will meet in Helsinki in September in a bid to accelerate agreement on the development of a rail-freight connection between the two countries.

The talks are linked to the broader Rail Baltica project which aims to shift major freight transport in Finland and the Baltic-rim states from road to rail by creating a continuous 950 mile rail freight link for goods travelling between Helsinki and Berlin, including connections to freight hubs in central Europe.

The Helsinki to Berlin rail link would serve freight hubs in Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Warsaw. "Rail Baltica is not only important for Finland in terms of market penetration and getting our goods to market in Germany and Central Europe, but connecting to the well established freight-hubs in Germany will improve rail cargo shipments to southern European markets as well," said Finnish prime minister Jyrki Katainen.

The Baltic-rim states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland reached a joint venture agreement in November 2011 to move the part-EU funded Rail Baltica project forward. The timetable envisages construction starting in 2018, with completion in 2023. For Finland, the Rail Baltica project is focused on creating a rail-freight bridge between the country and Estonia. The three options being considered include the construction of a sub-sea rail freight tunnel under the Gulf of Finland to Estonia at an estimated cost of €1.5 billion.

A rail freight and passenger tunnel is also being examined. This would cost an estimated €42.5 billion. A third option under review is to create a freight bridge between Finland and Estonia supported by cargo-based commercial train-ferry services. For the Baltic states and Poland, meanwhile, the lion’s share of the capital cost in Rail Baltica is tied to the upgrading of the existing Russian gauge track to a western standard.

Talks are part of drive to create 950-mile Helsinki to Berlin rail freight link

Gerard O'Dwyer

Fall in love with Estonia!

Estonia is in a special mood – on 20 August we will celebrate the 21st Anniversary of Restoring Estonia’s Independence. In that great occasion we have a "NOT TO BE MISSED" offer for Estonian Air return tickets! Fly to Estonia and fall in love, again. Campaign runs until this evening - 18.08.2012 midnight (23:59 +3 UTC). Flight period: 21.08 / 30.09.2012. » Book today!

Austrians strengthen grip over Estonian dairy farming

Alfred Heinzel who owns Estonian Cell, a pulp enterprise, has acquired Vao Agro, another Estonian dairy farm located in Väike-Maarja municipality. The Austrian acquired the dairy farm through Heinzerl EMACS Betellingungs AG which belongs to Heinzel and also owns Estonian Cell.

This makes him the third Austrian businessman to own a dairy farm in Estonia. Vaklak Group owns 7 farms and United Farms has another seven. Altogether, Austrian investors now owns 15 dairy farms in Estonia.

Artjom Sokolov, board member and CFO of Estonian Cell and new member of supervisory board of Vao Agro, says that the acquisition was not a speculative deal, but a serious investment. “At the same time the Heinzel Group has no plans to start buying farms from all over Estonia. We are not going to compete with Vaklak or other companies as to who owns the largest number of dairy farms in Estonia,” said Sokolov, but did not rule out that the company was considering more purchases.

Vao Agro has revenues of 1.3 million euros and its profit was 0.4 million euros in 2011. The company has 19 employees. It has 846 bovine animals including 400 dairy cows.

Yellowism : Carmen Kass

Carmen Kass Yellowistic Chamber was successfully opened in May 2011 in London and only two pieces of yellowism were shown in this legendary chamber. There was no exhibition in CKYC. The chamber was demolished few months after its grand opening. It was the last space from Series Nine in which walls were yellow. If CKYC was opened again (which is not possible because of its status), the walls would be violet like on the picture above.

Food prices in Estonia grew more than in any other EU country in 2011

The average increase in food prices in the European Union was 3.2% in 2011, while in Estonia food prices increased 8.5% and in Latvia 7.8%, writes Äripäev.ee/LETA. The price growth in foodstuffs was also fast in Lithuania and Hungary (7.7% in both countries).

Estonia experienced the fastest increase in the prices of coffee, tea and cocoa (36.5%) while in Finland the prices in this category grew 30.5% and in Lithuania 27.0%.

According to Eurostat, the 2011 average price increase in the 27 EU Member States was 3.1%, on the basis of harmonised consumer prices index that is similarly calculated across the EU. In Estonia the prices grew 5.1%, and with this indicator the country ranked second after Romania (5.8%). In the United Kingdom, the price growth in 2011 was 4.5% and in Latvia 4.2%.

Juhan Tere