BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Russia 'A' face Estonia in final

RUSSIA 'A' and Estonia will clash today in the final of the 2012 Kingdom Match Race Sailing Event, being held at the Bahrain Sailing Club near Al Jazayer Beach in Zallaq.

Competing in J24 boats, Russia 'B' defeated host nation Bahrain 'A', while Estonia edged defending champions Russia 'A', setting up a mouth-watering title decider.

Today's final will take place at 9am in a best-of-three race format, to be followed by the prize-distribution ceremony and the closing of the championship from 3pm onwards at the club premises. Skippered by rising sailing hopeful Ebrahim Abdulla, who is seeded in the top 200 sailors in the world ranking, Bahrain 'A' headed into their semi-final race against the Russians hoping to extend their impressive show in the early stages.

But Abdulla's crew, who picked up seven wins from their 10 races, faced a much stronger and experienced team and watched their dreams of winning this competition for the first time go up smoke. Led by the world's 26th ranked sailor Sergey Musikhin, Russia 'B' lived up to many expectations as they stretched their top form performance to book a deserving place in the final.

Later on, Estonia made it past Russia 'A' in one of the competition's most exciting races to set up their final showdown against another Russian team. Former Bahrain event winner and world's 24th ranked sailor Mati Sepp, who holds the highest ranking in the championship, skippered his Estonian crew to a hard-fought victory against an experienced Russian skipper Andrea Arbozov and his crew.

City Council Opposition attacks Tallinn budget

The same parties that shot down all opposition proposals in the writing of the 2013 state budget are now crying fowl on the city level as the Tallinn City Council reviews its own budget bill this week.

On the national level, all the Center Party could do to assert its power during the recent budget debates was annoy the ruling parties with filibustering, but in the Tallinn City Council, the party dominates. The city's 2013 budget bill had its first review on Thursday, reported ETV.

In protest of the draft legislation, the Reform Party, IRL and the Social Democrats released a joint statement yesterday. It said the Center Party's budget is using taxpayer funding to influence next year's municipal elections, with "propaganda" costs outpacing kindergarten funding. The city's public relations budget is set to increase by 27.8 percent.

The city has said that the priorities of its 486.5-million-euro budget are children, sports and free public transport.

Court rules in favour of City of Tallinn in dispute over Blackheads House

The Administrative Court ruled yesterday in favour of the City of Tallinn in its dispute with the central government over the future ownership of the Blackheads House in Tallinn Old Town.

The court did not offer an opinion on whether the building should be returned to the Blackheads, but abolished the government resolution in which the government rejected the proposal of the Tallinn City Council not to return the building to the historic brotherhood. The court found that it was not clear whether the building would remain open to public once it is transferred to the brotherhood.

According to the court, the government has not properly interpreted the law in handling the return issue, but the court did not provide a justified opinion on whether the building should be returned to the organization. In principle, the court found that the building can be returned to its rightful owners only if there are guarantees that it will not make it more difficult for the local government to fulfil its public duties.

Russian tourists spend even more millions in Estonia in 2012

While on average a Russian tourist spends in Estonia over 300 euros, at the end of the year their spending increases by two or three times in 2012, experts say, which according to estimates of Eesti Päevaleht means 5-10 million euros extra income for the tourism sector as compared to last year, writes LETA.

In December and January around 1,000 Russian tourists more than last year are expected to visit Estonia. Over the past five years, the number of Russian tourists has increased four times.

Since Russian tourists are among the biggest revenue creators of companies, accommodation and entertainment facilities in Tallinn and elsewhere in Estonia focus a lot of Russian tourists when organising New Year's parties. A large part of packages and hotel places are sold out in September and October.

Enterprise Estonia Tourism Development Centre head Tarmo Mutso said that 15,000 Russian tourists more can be expected in December and January than last year when over 62,000 people from Russia came to Estonia and stayed overnight in accommodation establishments. Many people also stay at relatives or come on day cruises. "When Russian people spend an average of 310 euros a year on a trip, we assume that at the end of the year the spending is considerably bigger. New Year's parties in Tallinn cost over 100 euro a person already," said Mutso.

Classical Christmas concerts to take place all December long in Tallinn

Chamber choirs and soloists to perform a whole series of Christmas concerts in Tallinn in December, the Tallinn City Council reports. Tallinn city Council supports the festive concerts.

On Thursday, December 13, a chamber choir Collegium Musicale will perform together with baroque music ensemble Mauritius. The concert's main theme is the Christmas with Vivaldi, informs LETA.

On December 27, Collegium Musicale will perform with Hortus Musicus, directed by Andres Mustonen and Endrik Juksvarv.

On December 19, a short concert of chamber music titled The Academy of Young Artists will take place at a hall of the National Library. At the same day, a concert Christmas Joy in a Cheering Trumpet Call will be performed in a St.John's Church.

The concert will be repeated on December 25 at the Cathedral of Tallinn. On December 28, a concert of the baroque music Corelli will take place on the St. John's church. On December 29, 2012, chamber choir Voces Musicales will give a concert at St. John's church.

Estonia : path to growth via austerity defies eurozone doubters and Krugman

Economic growth of 3% in the eurozone? It sounds like a statistical error at a time when the common currency area is braced for a 0.4 per cent drop. But Estonia is set to record a 3 per cent expansion in 2012, nearly double the government’s forecast at the start of the year. And officials expect another 3 per cent in 2013.

Much of this is a rebound from the extra-severe shock that passed through Estonia and the other two Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania in 2009 when Estonian GDP dropped by a cumulative 18 per cent. Three years of growth have generated a combined recovery of 15 per cent, but Estonia’s output is still around 3 per cent below pre-crisis levels.

Lithuania is in a similar position. In Latvia, where the crisis was the most dramatic with cumulative GDP drop of 20 per cent, even a fast recovery still leaves GDP around 10 per cent down on pre-crisis levels. All three countries responded to the crisis by drastic austerity packages, including public pay and pension cuts and all saw their property markets sink as pre-2008 credit-fuelled booms collapsed in mountains of corporate and household debt.

Recovery has been driven by sharp increases in exports in which benefited from the resilience of much bigger economies in the region, including Germany, Scandinavia and Russia. In Estonia, for example, Sweden’s Ericsson boosted output of export-oriented mobile phone equipment at the crucial time. But the credit boom and bust has left a serious burden. In Estonia, private debt as a percentage of GDP soared from below 100 per cent to a peak of nearly 170 per cent in 2010 before falling back to 140 per cent. This is bigger even than in Latvia, where private sector debt peaked at around 150 per cent of GDP.

"Armenia attaches importance to the relations with Estonia" : S. Sargsyan

On December 11 the newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the Republic of Armenia Priit Turk presented his credentials to President Serzh Sargsyan. Press service of Armenian President informs about this.

The President congratulated Ambassador Turk on the commencement of his diplomatic mission in our country and expressed hope that during his tenure the Ambassador will do his best to contribute to the further strengthening and deepening of the Armenian-Estonian friendly relations.

Serzh Sargsyan underscored that Armenia attaches importance to the relations with Estonia in the bilateral format as well as within the EU Eastern Partnership and is ready to move forward the mutually beneficial political dialogue.

The parties stressed the importance of invigorating reciprocal visits on different levels for the development of the Armenian-Estonian relations.

Eesti Pank cuts economic growth forecast for 2012-2014

Estonia's central bank Eesti Pank said in its fresh economic policy statement and forecast on Wednesday that while Estonia's economic growth will be a bit higher than expected in 2012, the growth in 2013 and 2014 will be slower than forecast earlier, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

Eesti Pank said in its comments that as the external environment has worsened, Estonian economic growth has slowed in 2012 to 2.9%. Uncertainty caused by the euro area debt crisis and expectations of a slower recovery in the external environment have made the outlook for 2013 and 1014 more pessimistic than the bank suggested in the June forecast. Next year the Estonian economy is expected to grow by 3.0%, and in 2014 by 4.0%. In June, the central bank forecast 2.6% economic growth for this year, 3.6% for 2013 and 4.1% for 2014, writes LETA.

The forecast shows that many of Estonia's economic indicators are close to balance, though that balance could easily be disrupted. For this reason the main goal of Estonian economic policy for the years ahead should be to maintain and build the confidence already shown in the economic environment, the central bank said.

140 couples will get married in Estonia on the magic date

TALLINN - 140 couples will get married in Estonia on the magic date on Wednesday, i.e. 12.12.2012, LETA/Ohtuleht reports.

38 of them will get married in Tallinn. Head of the Tallinn Vital Statistics Office Karin Kask told Ohtuleht that there were more people that wanted to get married on that date but unfortunately there isn’t any space for more.

Ida-Viru county government population acts service senior specialist Irina Saltruk said that they will have 5 festive marriage registrations and 17 non-festive ones, i.e. without guests.

In Viljandi county government, marriage registration starts already at 8.30 a.m. since there are couples who want to get it done before the start of the workday.

The eagerness to get married on a "magic date" was the biggest in the years 2007 and 2008 when the dates coincides with a weekend. After tomorrow, the next combination where the date, month and year figures coincide, 01.01.01, has to be waited for 89 years.

157 songs compete to be Estonia’s Eurovision entrance for 2013

157 songs, just two less than last year's record amount, were submitted to the contest Estonian Song 2012 by deadline on Monday, and one of them will be chosen as Estonia’s entrance at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, LETA/National Broadcasting reports.

A music experts' jury will select 20 semi-finalists from all the songs that were submitted and those will be declared this Thursday at ETV’s evening show “Ringvaade”.

"Estonian Song 2013" producer Heidy Purga said that for five years now, more than a hundred songs have competed at the contest. "Participation has been active and each year there are many new surprise contestants, who haven't participated at "Estonian Song" before,“ said Purga.

In semi-finals on February 16 and 23, ten songs will be selected by people and jury that will get to the final concert on March 2 at the Nokia concert hall in Tallinn.

Tallinn declared top budget location to spend Christmas holiday

The Christmas Market Barometertallinn survey conducted by the British retail postal service Post Office Ltd. described Estonia as a special and stress-free location to spend Christmas, which it said was in part due to cheap airfares.

Tallinn is followed by Budapest and Prague as the cheapest locations, according to Post Office's website.

Factors such as housing, two cups of coffee, dinner and wine plus transportation are taken into account. A two-day Christmas trip in Tallinn is calculated to cost 460 euros per person.

Ilves appoints new cabinet ministers

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves appointed Hanno Pevkur as justice minister and Taavi Rõivas as social affairs minister.

Pevkur has until now been the minister of social affairs; and Rõivas, an MP.

The outgoing justice minister, Kristen Michali, resigned last week and was relieved of duties today. Michal has continued to deny a whistleblower's accusation that he colluded in an alleged political funding conspiracy, but the justice minister announced last week that he would step down because his loss of public trust was hindering the government's ability to operate. He said will continue as a member of Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Reform Party was overtaken by the opposition Social Democrats and Center Party in interim popularity poll results.

Estonia GDP grows 3.5% in 3rd quarter

Estonia’s economy grew 3.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, faster than the preliminary estimate of 3.4 percent, bolstered by construction and export growth.

Output grew a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent from the previous quarter, compared with an earlier estimate of a 1.7 percent expansion, the statistics office in the capital, Tallinn, said on its website today.

Estonia, the first former Soviet republic to adopt the euro, has been buffered by robust retail sales, rising corporate investment and public-sector construction financed by sales of spare United Nations carbon-emissions quota. The $22 billion economy may grow 2.5 percent this year and 3.1 percent in 2013 as economies of its main export partners recover from Europe’s debt crisis, the European Commission forecast.

“Construction contributed the most to the economic growth already for the fourth quarter in succession,” the statistics office said in a statement. “Fast growth of the value added of administrative and support service, information and communication, agriculture and forestry and transport and storage activities had a substantial impact on economic growth.”

Household spending advanced 7 percent after a 2 percent increase in the second quarter, while shipments of goods such as wireless network gear for Stockholm-based Ericsson AB and wind generators for Zurich-based ABB Ltd. (ABBN) rose 5 percent from a year earlier after a 4 percent increase in the second quarter.

Estonia has no outstanding bonds, so investors speculate on its creditworthiness by trading credit-default swaps. Five-year Estonian CDS traded at 69 basis points on Dec. 7, eight basis points from a five-year low of 61 on Nov. 27, according to data provider CMA. Moody’s Investors Service in July affirmed Estonia’s A1 rating, the fifth-highest investment grade and one notch above fellow euro-area member Slovakia.

Aaron Eglitis + Ott Ummelas

Estonia to head the Nordic Baltic cooperation programe

Next year, Estonia will hold the presidency of the Nordic-Baltic cooperation programme, which helps countries in the Caucuses and Balkans to modernise their national defence.

The programme, called the Nordic-Baltic initiative, supports security sector reform in Georgia, Ukraine and the Western Balkan nations. These nations are also assisted in establishing civil control of their armed forces and in increasing their readiness for joining the European Union and NATO.

Minister of Defence Urmas Reinsalu said that next year Estonia wishes to increase the visibility of the Nordic-Baltic initiative. "The status of presidency will provide Estonia with a good opportunity to make the cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic nations even closer, and to identify new projects and partners," he said.

"We can do much more in terms of sharing our experience in building our national defence with those nations for whom a number of challenges and reforms still lie ahead. That way, we will help to strengthen stability and security in the backyard of Europe," Reinsalu added.

Clemency requests denied by Ilves

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves turned down clemency requests from 18 criminals today, including from the country's most notorious murderer and Nikolai Mitjanin, serving a life sentence for killing a policeman and robbery.

Mitjanin was 19 in November 1999 when he shot a man in his apartment stairwell, in the Lasnamäe district of Tallinn, paralyzing him, then turned the gun on senior police officer Sergei Pärna. The officer died five days later.

Others turned down by Ilves today included Yuri Ustimenko, a Russian citizen whose at least five victims during a two-month crime spree in 2002 made him Estonia's most prolific murderer of all time; and Raivo Paala, a southern Estonian businessman serving a one-year sentence for tax fraud.

Ansip yet to decide whether to continue as party chair

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said in Parliament's question time that he has not yet decided whether to run for another term as the chair of his party next summer.

"I said on February 23 this year that if this coalition's will for cooperation should decay before the next elections, I will not form a new government, and that is all that I have said so far,“ Ansip said. "I have certainly not said that I don't plan to run for another term as Reform Party chair. Whether I will run or not, that I have yet to thoroughly consider,“ he said.

The prime minister said in an Independence Day speech in February that some of his fellow compatriots have grown tired of an overly stable government and especially of the prime minister, and that he would not form the next government.

"I have made clear that if the government's capacity for work or will for cooperation for some reason ceases before the next parliamentary elections, then my time as prime minister will come to an end. I will not form the next government, neither before nor after the new parliamentary elections. Worthy successors will be found; there is no doubt in that,“ Ansip said in that speech.

The Reform Party is slated to elect a new chairman next June. The next parliamentary elections take place in 2015.

Tallinn hands out 64,000 transport cards in 10 weeks

In ten weeks, starting from September 21, Tallinn City has distributed 64,000 transport cards, almost a fourth part of their owners use the cards when riding in the public transport, the Tallinn's press service reported.

Overall, 18,000 persons have used the latest transport cards which entitle the owners to take a ride on the public transport for free starting from next year, writes LETA.

The card is personal for each public transport's passenger and should be validated when entering each drive via the electronic validator.

The right to ride in public transport in Tallinn has been granted to all capital city inhabitants and all Estonia's schoolchildren (<19).

The transport cards are available in shopping centers Prisma, Maxima, and Selver, as well as at the Post Office, and in the client service unit at the City Government. Pensioners can receive the cards for free by post.

Kristen Michal resigns as Minister of Justice

In what seemed to have been a long-overdue decision, Minister of Justice Kristen Michal announced yesterday that he was stepping down.

He said after meeting with MP Andrus Ansip on Thursday that he had decided to step down in order to defend the Reform Party and the government’s professional ability. Michal said that it was difficult to remain Minister of Justice in the situation where the justice sector needs important changes, but they cannot be implemented because of attacks targeted at him.

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said that he would take Michal’s resignation letter to President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on Monday. The Reform Party’s board is expected to put forward the candidate for the new Minister of Justice today, but so far there seems to be no clear frontrunner.

Ansip said he first offered the job to Kaja Kallas, MP and chairwoman of the parliamentary economic committee, but she refused, saying that she has a baby at home and would not want to sacrifice her family for the job. Media have speculated that possible candidates for the job are also Rait Maruste, chairman of the parliamentary constitutional committee, and Väino Linde, member of the same committee.

Selver to continue expansion

The Selver supermarket chain, owned by retail group Tallinna Kaubamaja, has said it plans to continue expanding its operations in Estonia. The chain is on track to open six new outlets in 2012, and said it will open more outlets next year, without offering specific figures.

Selver currently operates 35 supermarkets and two gourmet stores (both of which were opened this year, in Tallinn). The chain is set to open three new outlets by 27 December, and said “many projects” are being planned for 2013. The chain noted that no decision has yet been made, as the projects are “in the phase of negotiations”, but confirmed that it will open at least two new outlets during the year.

Selver did not offer any details of how much it will invest on the openings.

Estonia blocks Nord Stream exploration request

TALLINN - Estonia on Thursday denied Nord Stream’s request to study areas of the Baltic Sea bed falling within the nation’s commercial waters, the Estonian government's press service said.

In August, the pipeline’s operator requested official permission from the Estonian government to explore a four-kilometer corridor of the seabed, with a view to building a third and possibly fourth line.

The government said that this work risked revealing sensitive information about the nation’s natural resources and ways of utilizing them, and would also involve drilling and the use of explosives on the continental shelf and the dumping of noxious substances into the sea.

Nord Stream’s twin 1,224-kilometer pipelines run along the Baltic Sea bed from Portovaya Bay in Russia to Lubmin on Germany's Baltic Sea coast, with an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas.

When fully operational, the integrated twin pipeline system will have the capacity to transport 55 bcm of gas a year from Russia's massive gas fields to the European Union, the operator said.