BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Experts question the size of Savisaar’s book fee

Estonia’s largest book sellers say that if Tallinn mayor Edgar Savisaar received about 200,000 euros in fees for writing a book, as claimed by his lawyer, it means that the book must have been sold more than 100,000 copies, which is unimaginable, writes ERR.

“This must be Estonia’s all-time royalty that has ever been paid out,” says Tauno Vahter, editor-in-chief of Tänapäev publishing house.

“If we take the information that has been published, a simple calculation shows that around 100,000 copies must have been sold. When we consider that an average book is printed in Estonia in 1,000 copies, this is 100 times more than normal,” said Vahter.

He adds that until now very few top-selling books have been printed in 30,000 or 40,000 copies. Karl Martin Sinikärv, chairman of the Estonian Writers’ Union, says that authors normally receive 2 euros per copy for a book that sold for 20 euros in the book store.

“VAT and markups account for about 40 percent of the sale price. The remaining costs are mostly printing costs. What is left will be divided between the publisher, editor, layout artist and the author,” said Sinijärv.

Finnish policeman sees pickpockets at work in Tallinn

Marko Forss, a Finnish policeman who was spending a holiday with his family in Tallinn when he saw two pickpockets almost steal a wallet from German tourists, wrote Delfi.

Forss said that he was walking with his family from the Tallinn passenger port towards the Old Town near Merekeskus when he saw a man who held a map in his hand and looked like a tourist.

„A moment later he was joined by another man who also had a city map in his hand. The two approached from behind an elderly German couple. One of them held out a city map while the other started to unzip the German's backbag," said Forss.

"I shouted at them and pointed towards the pickpocket who was unzipping the bag. They immediately ran away in different directions, like professionals."

Forss said that, of course, the two German tourists were also scared of his shouting because they had no idea of what had happened.

„They were lucky and It nothing bad happened, but unfortunately these pickpockets are professionals and usually succeed."

Forss warns that pickpockets are now using a new trick. "One of them shows the victim a piece of paper with something written on it while his accomplice empties the victim's pockets or handbag. The pickpockets are often professionals from some East European country who work in pairs or in larger groups."

Toomas Hõbemägi

Estonia’s income gap with Scandinavian countries is widening

Postimees writes that contrary to the promises of PM Andrus Ansip, Estonia’s income gap with wealthy countries is not shrinking, but growing.

“In purchasing power, Estonian GDP per capital was about 55% of Finland’s and 52% of Sweden’s level back in 2009. In 2012, the figures are 60% and 53%,” says analyst Maris Lauri, adding that one has to take into account the deep economic crisis that affected Estonia much more than Scandinavian countries.

Adjusting for new census results, accurate figures for 2012 should be 62% of Finland’s level and 55% of Sweden’s level, she adds.

According to Lauri, also the recent news that Estonia was falling behind in GDP per capita from Latvia and Lithuania are incorrect because Latvia and Lithuania had already adjusted their GDP for new census figure, but Estonia had not.

“I believe that Estonia should still have higher GDP per capita than Latvia and Lithuania also at present,” she added.

In 2012, GDP per person was 9,400 euros for Estonia, 23,200 euros for the EU average, 31,100 euros for Finland and 35,500 euros for Sweden.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Life expectancy in Estonia is improving, but not healthy life years

The Public Health Development Plan’s results report demonstrates that while during the years 2009-2012, the life expectancy improved, thus complying with the set objectives, healthy life expectancy was lower than aimed for, writes LETA/National Broadcasting.

Although the average life expectancy increase in Estonia has been the fastest among all EU countries in the past few years, and the country has risen to the fore among Baltic States in terms of this indicator, it is still below majority of EU countries.

The average life expectancy at birth in the EU is higher than in the case of Estonian residents – for women the difference is 2.1 years and for men it is 6.2 years.

The healthy life years indicator extended quickly during the years 2006-2009, but since 2010 it has fallen and the 2012 objectives will not be met.

In 2011, men born in Estonia had 53.9 healthy life years (the 2012 objective was 56) and for women it was 57.7 years (2012 objective was 60.5 years).

In terms of healthy life years, the difference with the EU average is wider than the overall life expectancy.

Russia blasts Estonia defense minister over Nazi sympathies

Russian Foreign Ministry has sharply criticized the Estonian Defense Minister’s address to the country’s veterans of the Waffen SS, in which the official suggested that the Soviet and Nazi troops were equal during WWII.

Minister Urmas Reinsalu addressed the weekend meeting of the Estonian Freedom Fighters Union – the organization that unites the veterans of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division, also known as the First Estonian.

In his speech the official stated that Estonia “had repeatedly condemned the repressive policies of the Soviet Union and National Socialist Germany, as well as the actions of people who committed crimes against humanity.”

Russia called the statement “another attempt to put on one scale the Soviet Union that has made a decisive contribution into ridding Europe of the ‘brown plague’, and Nazi Germany.” Russian diplomats also noted that the Estonian minister chose not to remind the public about such outrageous crimes as the total destruction by the Nazis of the two ethnic groups that resided in Estonia before the war – the Jews and the Roma (Gypsies) – as well as the fact that the genocide was committed largely by Estonian collaborators.

Top-100 tax debtors in Estonia owe government over EUR 80 million

The total debt of 100 largest legal entities owing tax revenue to the State fell by 0.7% to 82.2 million euros from the beginning of May to the beginning of July 2013, writes LETA/Postimees Online.

At the beginning of July, a total of 52,886 individuals and legal entities in Estonia had tax arrears totalling 327 million euros.

The largest tax debt (8.89 million euros) has been accumulated by OÜ Saltreks, now bankrupt. Ranking second in terms of tax debt is Polar Tekstiil (with 5.49 million euros), and third is AS Luterma, a bankrupt food and real estate enterprise. Luterma owns the State 2.96 million euros in taxes.

Days of doping darkness return to haunt Russia

A day after news that an old steroid dating back to the 1980s, stanozolol, had been administered to an Estonian teenage swimmer, Russian swimmer Nikita Maksimov has been banned for two years after testing positive for the anabolic steroid at the core of East Germany’s State Plan 14:25 systematic doping programme of the 1970s and 1980s, Oral-Turinabol. FINA, the international governing body, reports that Maksimov tested positive for the substance in a sample taken during training in March. The Russian federation has suspended the swimmer until April 3, 2015.

FINA reports: On March 3, 2013, a swimmer Nikita Maksimov (RUS) was tested positive to the substance Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone/ Oral-Turinabol (Class S.1.1.a Exogenous Anabolic Androgenic Steroids) following an out-of-competition doping control test conducted in Krugloe (RUS). The Russian Swimming Federation imposed a sanction of 2 years’ ineligibility on the athlete starting on April 4, 2013.

Finance ministry says City of Tallinn financially viable

The Finance Ministry has published a highly controversial report which claims that the financial situation of the City of Tallinn is excellent and that Tallinn was capable of financing additional projects in the value of tens of millions of euros, writes ERR.

The city claims that at present the government allocates only EUR 30m to local governments for road maintenance which is equal to 10% of the fuel excise duty collected by the state, although local government roads make up about 40% of all roads in Estonia.

In March, City of Tallinn sued the government over the share of funding of road repair and maintenance from the central government. Tallinn estimates that while its public transportation company Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS paid the state EUR 3.8m in fuel excise duty last year, the government allocated Tallinn less then EUR 3m for road maintenance costs.

"Even the excise duty that we are paying the state is higher than what we receive from the state. We believe that the government should take this into account and this is why we went to court," explained Deputy Mayor Kalle Klandorf.

To better defend government's interests, the Ministry of Economic Affairs had asked the Finance Ministry to prepare an assessment of the City's financial situation.

Deputy mayor prevails in court over blogger

Mihhail Kõlvart, one of Tallinn's deputy mayors, has won the first round of a court battle over a blogger who made unfounded claims that defamed the official's character.

The blogger, Jevgeni Krištafovitš, will have to publish a retraction in Estonian and Russian within 15 days of the court decision coming into force, Harju County Court ruled today.

In the blog entries and comments published on April 14-15, Krištafovitš had claimed that Kõlvart was involved in organized crime. The court ruled that Krištafovitš will also have to retract claims that Kõlvart is a contact for the Russian Embassy. Scurrilous or otherwise, the latter is a theme that has featured extensively in the media, with several tabloids having published photos of guests invited to Kõlvart's 35th birthday party.

Furthermore, in its yearbook published April 2012, the Internal Security Service mentioned Kõlvart in connection with the Russian Embassy contact. Kõlvart was unable to halt publication of the yearbook, but sued the agency for defamation. He lost that case in Tallinn Administrative Court in March 2013.

Krištafovitš, who told uudised.err.ee he plans to appeal, said he was "surprised" Harju County Court found that the Russian Embassy handler claim was libelous.

"I find the court's reasoning odd," he said, adding that it was generally accepted that Kõlvart had close contacts at the embassy, which, he said, was the logical equivalent of being a contact for the embassy.

Kõlvart also provided comment on the case to uudised.err.ee, saying "One of the values of a democratic society is unconditionally free speech. But no freedom can be violated at the expense of other people's rights. That includes the right to objective information and a good reputation."

Estonia claims 3rd place, breaks record at Track and Field Championships

The Estonian decathlon and heptathlon teams battled to third place in the Super League of the European Cup in Combined Events held in Tallinn over the weekend.

France won the event, with a total of 41,421 points, beating runner-up Russia (41,032). Estonia collected just five points fewer than Russia. Ukraine and Italy suffered relegation to the first league.

On Friday, team member Mikk Pahapill said that the aim was to avoid the two last places and subsequent relegation, in the tournament that featured the continent's top eight teams.

But the bronze medal is not the only result to celebrate, as Grit Šadeiko broke the Estonian heptathlon record, amassing 6221 points. She came third in the individual event and earned a pass to the Moscow World Championships in August.

The men, competing in the decathlon part of the meet, fared no worse, with Mikk Pahapill claiming third and Andres Raja sixth. The mens' team led the standings until the last event, the 1,500 meters, but was then overtaken by France.

Founders of Skype buy Pärnu’s landmark Ammende Villa

Estonian businessman Rein Kilk has agreed to sell the building title to Ammende Villa in Pärnu to Kv3, an investment company that belongs to founders of Skype, writes Äripäev.

On Friday, the Pärnu city government approved the transfer of the building title to Kv3 OÜ. By a former decision, Kilk had a building title for Ammende Villa until 2045.
Commenting the deal, Toomas Kivimägi, mayor of Pärnu, said that it seems that Kilk needed money for other investments.

“As for the city of Pärnu, we did not gain or lose any euro as a result of the deal. But if you say that capital has no nationality, I disagree, especially if we talk about such landmarks as Ammende Villa in Pärnu,” he added.

Tauno Tats, chairman of Kv3, said in comment that the company is interested in buildings that have historic value. Tats said that Kv3 has been investing in Estonian real estate that has more value than just the financial one. Kv3 belongs to Ambient Sound Systems that is owned by Estonian developers and founders of Skype such as Jaan Tallinn and Ahti Heinla.

Toomas Hõbemägi