BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Stranded Keith left alone in Estonia after cruise liner leaves port without him !

But Keith Morgan's wife says her husband has phoned home after going missing for nearly 48 hours.

Keith Morgan was left stranded with no phone, no money and no passport in a country he didn’t know, 2,000 miles away from home – after his cruise liner left port without him. A relaxing break turned into the holiday from hell for the 44-year-old and his wife Bryden Loyer, when the luxury liner set sail from a port in Estonian. Sister Sue Clarke, 48, said: “He had no phone, no money and no passport. We didn’t even know if he had any cash.”

The couple had just visited a historic church in the Estonian capital of Tallinn when Bryden decided to go back to the cruise ship because she was tired. The pair agreed to meet back on the liner just before it was due to set sail at 5pm, local time. But as the Queen Elizabeth sailed out of the port, 44-year-old Bryden came to the awful realisation that her husband was not on board. Sue said: “She was absolutely distraught. His phone was in her bag, so they had no way of making contact.”

Jaan Sepp : 22yo killed in Cowley crash

A 22-year-old man - visiting the United States from Estonia for the summer - has been identified as the person killed Friday night in an accident 10 miles north of Winfield.

Jaan Sepp was dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred around 9:30 p.m. The Kansas Highway Patrol report listed a Wellington address for Sepp, who was driving a 2003 Oldsmobile Alero.

Sepp was eastbound on K-15 as he neared the junction with U.S. 77 highway. He failed to stop at the stop sign and struck the rear trailer of a 1999 Volvo grain hauler. Sepp was wearing his seat belt.

Michael J. Frakes, 29, Douglass, was identified as the driver of the grain truck. He was not injured in the accident. Sepp was trapped in the vehicle for a time, according to radio traffic from the scene. Authorities notified his sister, who lives in this area, of the man’s death.

A local man, who knew the victim, said Sepp and others from Estonia were living in Wellington and selling educational books. They earned money and college credit for doing so. The accident was the second roadway fatality in Cowley County in less than a week. Brandie Owen died Tuesday in a single-vehicle crash east of Winfield.

Shane Farley

4G beauty contest shoots Estonia to the top of Europe's LTE leaderboard

Earlier this month, Estonia's largest mobile operator, EMT, announced that it had covered 95 percent of the country with its 4G LTE network. According to EMT chief executive Valdo Kalm, Estonia is the first country in Europe, and the third in the world, to reach the milestone. "Sweden and Denmark are the countries competing for the second and third place in Europe with about 50 percent of their territory covered with 4G LTE," he said, adding that globally only Estonia, Singapore and South Korea have passed the 95 percent mark.

EMT — which is owned by TeliaSonera, the Swedish telecommunications company that launched the world's first commercial 4G network in 2009 — opened Estonia's first 4G network in February 2010, when it was the 11th such network globally at the time. The second operator to come to the local 4G market was Tele2, the country's third-largest operator, which launched its network in November 2012. It was followed some months later by second-largest operator Elisa, which launched its LTE network in February this year.

Spectrum beauty contest

So far, Estonian mobile operators have only used 1800MHz and 2600MHz frequency bands for LTE. While higher frequencies provide better results in urban and densely-populated areas, the 800MHz frequency band — which just a few years ago was used for analogue TV in Estonia — is more suitable for covering larger areas and also offers better indoor connections.

Defector to Reform Party 'anoints' possible Ansip successor

Politician Ain Seppik, who crossed over to the Reform Party this week, has named a potential successor to Prime Minister Andrus Ansip. 

That would be Kristen Michal, who stepped down as justice minister in the only resignation in the wake of the Reform Party financing scandal. 

Michal was secretary general of the party when whistle blower Silver Meikar said he approved anonymous contributions. He was cleared in a criminal investigation but stepped down in December 2012 after months of pressure. Now he is once more taking an active role in the party, Seppik told Postimees.

"It can already be felt that he has a hand in maintaining the party and shaping its development. Kristen Michal is certainly a linchpin politician for the Reform Party. He will be prime minister yet," said Seppik. In other remarks, Seppik said the style of the Reform Party, led by strong "authoritative" leader, was not unlike that of the Center Party, in which he was a longstanding member until spring 2012.

Ansip's Reform Party very different from that of Siim Kallas : Seppik

Former prominent Centre Party member Ain Seppik who recently joined the Reform Party says that he wants to contribute to Estonia’s development and the party on power offers is the best possibility to do it. He follows another prominent former Centre Party member Vilja Savisaar-Toomast who also recently joined the Reformists.

In an interview to Postimees, Seppik says that he decided to join the Reform Party also because he does not want to see Estonia turning more left than it is today.

“As for Social Democrats, they promise new politics, but there is nothing new. Even Sven Mikser himself is an old Centrist like myself. SocDems have said nothing that they plan to do, except for introducing progressive income tax. The difference is that while also the Centre Party talks about the need to have progressive income tax, Centre Party’s version was a so-called soft system that would hardly affect anyone and is not dangerous for the society as a whole.

“As for Social Democrats, they are irresponsible because it’s a big difference whether to talk about progressive tax before and after the recession. Our businesses have suffered enourmously and now they have to think whether they are best investing elsewhere. I am actually a social liberal and Reform Party itself is moving towards the centre. Ansip’s Reform Party is very different from the Reform Party of Siim Kallas.”

Estonia set to join Eurocontrol

A Declaration of Intent has been signed by Frank Brenner, the Director General of Eurocontrol and Juhan Parts, the Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, setting out the intention of Estonia to join Eurocontrol with a target date for accession of 1 January 2015.

This will mean Estonia will become Eurocontrol’s 41st Member State, following the accession of Georgia which is expected in the next few months.

The signing ceremony took place at the end of a visit by Frank Brenner to Estonia in which he met with the Estonian government, the Estonia Civil Aviation Administration and Estonian Air Navigation Services.

The accession of Estonia will mean that all 27 European Union states will also be members of Eurocontrol.

The signing of the Declaration was welcomed by Siim Kallas, Vice President of the European Commission, Commissioner for Transport and former Prime Minister of Estonia.

European parliament perpetuates Baltic way

Almost 25 years after the Baltic Way, also called the “Singing revolution”, took place in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, it is commemorated at the European Parliament in Brussels. Let's take a look.

Full Story:
The Baltic Way was the biggest protest in the Soviet Union.

Two-million people created a 600-kilometer-long human chain spanning three Baltic countries, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, on August 23, 1989. They joined hands and sang together to demand independence from the Soviets. It marked the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, which divided Europe and led to the occupation of the Baltic States.

One in eight employees thinking about leaving Estonia

A study by TNS Emor found that every eighth employee is thinking about moving abroad, with young people and non-ethnic Estonians in particular feeling the emigration itch as their connection with the nation is weaker.

People who earn an average salary are most likely to seek employment outside the country, with managers and specialists preferring to stay and lower-income employees seeking higher paid jobs within Estonia, Emor said in a press release today.

Every third employee has thought about changing jobs in the last year, a statistic that is on the rise as unemployment has decreased.

Ferry operator Tallink, the state-owned Port of Tallinn and Eesti Energia have the best reputations as employers, based on the survey's findings.

TNS Emor interviewed 500 employees in April for the study.

Why should Ilves and Putin meet ?

Signing a border treaty between Russia and Estonia is nice, but it will not be leading to the meeting of Estonian and Russian Presidents because they don’t like each other, says Sergei Utkin, leasing expert of IMEMO, the institute of international relations and world economy that is one of Russia’s most influential foreign policy thinktanks.

Utkin who is one of the most recognized experts on Russia and EU relations said in an interview to Eesti Päevaleht that, speaking of the border treaty, Russia was simply waiting until Estonia understood that there will never been a border treaty as long as it continued to press for the reference to the Tartu Peace Treaty. “It shows that the Estonian side finally understood the realities. Without such an understanding, nothing would have practically changed,” said Utkin.

The researcher adds that he does not believe claims that the border treaty was being pushed through by Nord Stream as the company had other ways to reach its objectives. When asked which side would benefit more from the border treaty, Utkin said that it’s a win-win situation.

PM says good words about ex-minister convicted of bribery

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip raised some eyebrows this week after he sent a video greeting for the 60th birthday of Villu Reiljan, former Minister of Environment who this week received a suspended sentence for his part in the infamous land swapping deals.

Commenting the case, Ansip said that Reiljan was a minister in his government and that the court decision has not changed in any way the fact that Reiljan had also done much good for Estonia. Ansip said that Reiljan established the Natura forest reserve in Estonia. "This is something that has turned out quite well," said Ansip.

He also credited Reiljan for establishing and successfully implementing the packaging deposit system, which Ansip said had drawn praise from other European countries. There's plenty to credit him for. I recommend to everyone if you see that someone has erred, those around him should help him pick up the pieces and go forward," said Ansip. Tallinn Circuit Court ruled this week that Reiljan, former People's Union leader, received  kickbacks from businessmen.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Estonian police starts using video recordings as official evidence

The Estonian Riigikogu approved of an amendment to the Code of Misdemeanour Procedures, which enables law enforcement officers to start using video recordings as official evidence in traffic law enforcement, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

This means that the time for a misdemeanour proceeding falls from the current 30-40 minutes to 20 minutes when video evidence is used, enabling to save an estimated 70,000 work hours a year.

"One picture tells more than a thousand words, as we know. In addition to reducing the time needed, using video evidence rules out possible human error and raises the quality of misdemeanour proceedings considerably," said interior minister Ken-Marti Vaher.

The law still has to be promulgated by the president; the traffic police starts using video evidence from August.

Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Tallinn named among Top 20 most beautiful churches

Europeish travel blog, a source that publishes information about Europe's most attractive travel destinations and culture sights, has compiled a list of Europe's 79 most beautiful churches, where Tallinn-based Alexander Nevsky Cathedral has been placed the 17th, informs LETA.

The first place was given to the St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, followed by Sagrada Familia, Barcelona (Spain), and bronze – Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Turkey). Nevsky Cathedral, located in Tallinn, ranked right above Notre-Dame of Amiens, Amiens in France.

The Europeish travel blog compiled a list of cathedrals from all over the Europe. The author analyzed and presented the top 79 churches based in Europe, including impressive, unusually located (Santuario di San Besso, Meteora), or uniquely designed (Hallgrimur, Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso).

Riga Cathedral and Aglona Basilica were also on the list, placed 52nd and 58th, respectively.

Europeish presents its readership stories about European culture, amazing photos, travel inspiration and the best real local tips every week.

The standard of living of Estonians is the poorest in the Baltic States

According to data of Eurostat, the real private consumption based on purchase power parity is the smallest in Estonia among the Baltic States, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

In 2012, that indicator was in Estonia 59% of the EU average while in Latvia it was 61% of EU average and in Lithuania it was 74% of EU average.

The highest indicator was in Luxembourg, 141% of EU average, followed by Germany with 121 and UK with 120%. The indicator was the lowest in Romania, 48% of the EU average.

As to GDP per capita, another way to evaluate the standard of living, Estonia had 68% of EU average while Lithuania's indicator was 70% and Latvia's 62%.

Average gross wages up 5.7% in a year in Estonia

Average monthly gross wages and salaries amounted to 887 euros last year, according to Statistics Estonia.  Average hourly gross wages were 5.34 euros. In annual terms, average monthly gross wages grew 5.7% and the average hourly gross wages were up 6%.

Real wages, which take into account the influence of the change in the consumer price index, increased 1.7% in 2012. After the fall in 2009 and 2010, the real wages increased for the second year in succession compared to the previous year.

In 2012, the employer’s average monthly labour costs per employee were 1,203 euros and the average hourly labour costs were 7.98 euros. Compared to 2011, the average monthly labour costs per employee increased by 5.8% and the average hourly labour costs by 5.7%.

In 2012, the average monthly labour costs per employee and the average hourly labour costs increased the most in professional, science and technical activities (10.6% and 10.7%, respectively). The average monthly labour costs per employee and the hourly labour costs increased the less in transportation and storage (1.7% and 2.3%, respectively).

500 deportation stories collected on June 14th

Close to 500 personal stories of the mass deportations carried out in Estonia by the Soviet regime in the 1940s were collected and mapped on Friday as part of the Kogu Me Lugu initiative.

At an event held on Tallinn's Freedom Square for the Day of Mourning and Commemoration, which marks the anniversary of the June 14, 1941 deportation of thousands of Baltic residents to Siberia, organizers recorded around 250 stories, thoughts and memories of those affected. Some participants brought in written accounts, others spoke on camera. The other half of the stories were submitted online or by SMS.

The locations of the stories were recorded on both an electronic map and a wooden map, with the latter taken to the Museum of Occupations where it will become an exhibition. The videos will be stored in the Estonian Film Archive.

“Despite the rainy weather, there were plenty of people filling out the map and to our pleasure, many young people and those who were not native speakers of Estonian took an interest in the undertaking. All communities living under totalitarian regimes and [who came into contact with] deportation suffered on a large or a small scale. People acknowledge this more than we had expected,” organizer Sandra Vokk said in a statement.

Estonia is the next chairman of Internet Freedom Coalition

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet participated on Monday in a high-level conference of the countries in the Internet Freedom Coalition, where he accepted the responsibility to lead the coalition from the Netherlands, reported LETA the Foreign Ministry press department.

“Estonia is the next chairman of the Internet Freedom Coalition and we will also be organising the annual conference of the coalition in Tallinn next year,” he said.

In his statement at the meeting today, Foreign Minister Paet emphasised that the goal of the Internet Freedom Coalition is to protect and promote the free movement of information in cyberspace. “When the coalition was created in the Netherlands in 2011, Estonia was among the 15 founding members,” said Paet. “The circle of countries that share the same values and way of thinking is expanding, and today the membership of the Internet Freedom Coalition has grown to 21,” he added.

Paet stated that the member states of the Internet Freedom Coalition must work in the name of creating, through their close co-operation, readiness to support and protect internet freedom in various places around the world. “Co-operation with international organisations, civil society, and enterprises is also important,” he noted.

Time's up for mass political parties in Estonia

Jüri Saar, chairman of Free Patriotic Citizen (Vaba Isamaaline Kodanik), an NGO, writes in Postimees that the influence of political parties in the society has grown too large and must be reduced.

Estonian political life is dominated by scandals that large parliamentary parties are regularly battling. While the parties at least in words promise to do everything possible to avoid such scandals in the future, the real cause of the problem is elsewhere. The problem is that the modus Vivendi of our political parties is outdated and does not comply with the principles of the democratic society of the 21st century.

This is also why our parties resemble clones of the Bolsheviks’ party and why all proposals and initiatives coming from outside the parties including the People’s Assembly are effectively killed in party corridors. In twenty years, the development potential of our political parties has been exhausted and the glory of large political parties has become their demise. The key is that large Estonian political parties have two objectives: how to get power and how to keep it. All the rest is of secondary importance.

New frequency brings Estonia to the top of Europe in 4G

Estonia's largest mobile phone operator EMT announced on Monday that it has covered 95% of Estonia with 4G signal, making Estonia the top state in this sphere in Europe; competitors doubt the data though, LETA/Postimees writes.

The company's manager Valdo Kalm said that just Singapore and South Korea have achieved that in the world, while in Europe, Estonia is the first one.

So far, Estonian telecommunication operators used 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz frequency areas for fourth generation data communications. Recently the state held the contest for the first 4G licence in the 800 MHz area that earlier was used by analogue television. The winner, EMT promised to launch service in the frequency area on June 16 latest. As the winner of the contest, EMT had to install at least 199 base stations and cover 95% of the state's territory outside cities, guaranteeing downloading data speed of at last 5 Mbps for final consumers.

Competing mobile operator Elisa announced Monday evening that based on measuring by OÜ Pemetel, EMT had not managed to stick to the deadline, i.e. that by Monday afternoon over 20% of the Estonian territory was not covered with the new 4G area. Thus, Elisa's CEO Sami Seppänen said EMT should be deprived of the 800 MHz 4G licence.

The Technical Supervision Board said on Tuesday that it will be conducting its own measuring of the network this week and will announce of the results by the end of this week or the start of the next week.

The state will hold two more contests for licences of the 800 MHz frequency, for which there are three contestants, Elisa, Tele2 and Starman.

New publication on Estonian coins and banknotes

Publication, “EESTI VABARIIGI RAHA” 1919 to 1940 and 1991 to 2010 complete.
By Allan Tohv. Softcover – 50 placards included
ISBN number: 978-9949-30-126-3
Estonian Language first print, 2011.

From the author of several publications focusing on the coins and banknotes of Estonia, Allan Tohv, a leading expert on the subject, has released a new informative and practical publication which includes illustrations of all the coins and paper money issued by the Republic of Estonia since independence in 1918.

Concentrating specifically on the illustrations, the collection of images are brought together in a functional tri-folder presentation whose format cleverly divides these issues from the first and second periods of Estonian nationhood. On one side of the folder, the coins and banknotes from Estonia’s first era of independence which covers the marka coins issued in 1922 right up to the last krooni & senti coins issued in 1939. The placards are cleverly printed (and exactly aligned) on both sides in full color and illustrating obverse and reverse images in clear depictions. Also included are images of Estonia’s first payment notes issued in 1919 (50 Marka) fidelity notes, treasury notes (1919 – 1923) - the pre-cursor to eventual banknotes issued by the Bank of Estonia beginning in 1928.

The second side includes both the circulation and commemorative coins issued by the Bank of Estonia since the restoration of Independence in 1991. The first coins, also dated that year are illustrated as well as the first silver commemorative coins issued for the 1992 Summer Olympics. Images for the gold and silver collector coins dated 2010 which mark the introduction the Euro are also included.

Estonia simplifies moving of top level specialists to Estonia

The Estonian Riigikogu approved on Thursday of amendments to the aliens law that simplify relocation of highly qualified workforce and scientists to Estonia, reported ERR.

While currently immigrations control is implemented equally to all foreigners, the amendments create more flexible possibilities for bringing persons who add value to Estonia. It also simplifies the stay of family members of foreigners in Estonia.

The law amendments enable Estonian companies to employ a top levels specialist from abroad in a matter of days and the foreigner can apply for a residence permit for it while already being here.

One of the conditions for the simplified rules is that the company has to pay the specialist at least two times the Estonian average wage.

The law also enables foreign students to work while studying in Estonia and foreign students who graduate from a university here can work in Estonia after graduation too

Toomas Hõbemägi