Turning 85 today, former president of Estonia, Arnold Rüütel said that present-day Estonia is not the land he had dreamed of, but acknowledged that much has been achieved.
“Current reality is in the shadow of dreams, and in that sense Estonia does not measure up to expectations. At the same time, the fact that we have regained our independence and accelerated development relatively successfully compared to other transitional societies and that we have kept going forward [...] we should be happy that we have achieved so much,” said Rüütel, speaking on ERR radio today.
Rüütel said that the country has failed to predict many risks and problems that have unavoidably accompanied reforms.
“Many working-age people are leaving the country and we have failed to create jobs for them. And we failed to address a number of other social problems, like support for the family, which society is based on. That has caused low birth rates,” said Rüütel, who was president between 2001 and 2006.
Rüütel concluded by saying that reforms have made the state sustainable, but looking farther ahead, it becomes clear that the problem of a declining population remains to be fixed.
Rüütel is right, estonia has achieved great transitions, but many citizens remained disappointed, still to low salaries, young people willing to escape the country, according to brussels, estonia must be seen as an example, no debts, integrated e- society . But the truth is that many people aren t catching up with this new technosociety, social facilities are poor, healthcare expensive, not to mention the stratospheric inflation of prices, due probably to the euro. just a point of view
Posted by: vincent bourg | May 13, 2013 at 16:37