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Lise Nicoline Kleven Grevstad speech at IRL seminar "Equal opportunities in labour market"

2011-12-13

Ladies and gentlemen,

First I would like to say that I am very proud and pleased to be invited to present to you the gender equality situation in Norway. This has been and still is one of the most important issues in Norway. So thank you for the invitation.

You have asked me to speak about women in business with a specific focus on quotas in the board rooms of companies in Norway. So I will do. But in order to fully understand how this has worked out in Norway - reactions and results - it is important to keep in mind how gender equality has evolved in my country.

When I was a student in the 80s we were not too many women at master level. Those of us who were master students often got the question - why - don't you want to have children as if this was a clash of interests. We answered like Winnie the Poo - thank you - we want both. And this has been and still is the "Colombus Egg" of Norwegian gender politics - combining gender equality with comprehensive family and parental provisions. Today 80% of women work and the fertility rate is 1.98 among the highest in the developed world.

Let me quote my Minister: PHOTO
"Nations of the world will only prosper and develop when using the talents and competence of all their citizens. There is clear scientific evidence that the participation of women and girls in education, work life and the economy - along with boys and men, makes a significant difference in GNP, effectiveness, innovation and competitive edge."

"The right to gainful work and a wage to sustain your own life, is a basic human right, along with the right to political participation, regardless of your gender. The freedom for men and women alike, to have careers and families; not to be forced to choose "either - or", is basic to modern society. I would say that there is broad consensus on this approach today."

Why is it so?

We have worked on making enabling policies and structures since 1960s and thus empowered girls and women to be visible in the labour market, to be eligable to high positions in board rooms as well as to compete for top management jobs in private and public sectors. It has not always been an easy match. It has also been an ongoing battle fed by impatience and campaigns, often confronting the Government. Values decisions as these always are, would not carry through parliament without the support from women's NGO's, consultations and negotiations with social partners and now men's voices as well.

Before I present to you some milestones in the gender equality history in Norway, allow me to start with some personal reflections. I am born in 1954. I grew up with female emancipation. My daughter born in 1981 grew up with a female PM. Nobody would ask her why she went to university.

We had to fight our rights.
Examples from
• cross country skiing and ski jumping
Things started to really move in the beginning of 1970's. A clear reflection is the female coup during local elections in 1971 - deleting men from the list. Photo 3. Majority of women.

Each year in 70'2 gathered lots of people March 8 - rather confronting attitudes.
• Different slogans. Examples.

And results came. It worked.

Already in the 1970s, some political parties adopted male/female quotas on the electoral lists on voluntary basis. In 1981 we got the the Gender Equality Act which since then has contained rules on gender representation in publicly appointed boards, committees, councils, delegations to mention some. Since 1988 the requirement has been 40 percent. So the use of quotas is not a new measure in Norwegian policymaking. It has a long history.

All the demonstrations, all the debates, the female revolution paved the way to our first female prime minister in 1986 - Gro Harlem Brundtland. PHOTO Since that time all governments have kept the unwritten rule of at least 40 per cent of each sex in the Cabinet.
Photo 2. Party leaders today. In 1993 we included a provision in the Municipal Act to secure gender balance in local political committees.

Today the political participation of women is quite high with parity in Cabinet, 40% in Parliament and as an average in local and regional councils.

No let me turn to women in business and quotas which has been heavily debated. In 2003 the Norwegian Parliament passed the law requiring large enterprises noted on the stock exchange market (Public Limited Companies) to have more than 40 per cent women in their boardroom positions. We have now introduced the same rule for state-owned companies and cooperatives, and we have recently included small companies where municipalities own 2/3 or more of the shares.

Why did we do this? In 2003 women were visible in all pther sectors of society as outstanding and competent but not in the corporate sector. A figure of 7% women on the boards of the 500 largest companies (2003), was an issue of political embarrassment. So time was more than ripe for change and innovation. But this was no easy match. The law was rather controversial.

Several top Norwegian business leaders say today that at the time they were opposed in principle to quotas, but believe now the law has been effective and are happy with the results. Fears of not finding enough qualified women to fill board seats proved unfounded. Another expressed fear that "women would not take on such responsibilities" was totally unfounded. That companies would have to flee Norway as to prosper, was another "popular" saying in 2003, but Norwegian companies are doing quite well. This has changed the mental images of women's abilities and possibilities forever.

Today we see
• 40,2% women on the boards of PLC's
• 17% women on the boards of private companies
• 27% female top managers in the State sector (ministries etc), 47% middle managers
• 20% female top managers in private sector (all) Still a way to go.
• 36% female middle m. in private sector (all)
• 42% female top managers in Municipal sector (though only 18,4% head of Municipal councils).

Let me show you 4 photos of women in top positions.
Recent research supports that diversity in the board rooms pays.
Morten Huse (Oslo Business School)/Sabina Nielsen (Copenhagen Business School), 2010: The Contribution of Women on boards of Directors. Results as follows:
• High female participation gives more priority to strategic control/accountability
• More emphasis on the self-development of the board as a team
• Produces instructions for good governance
• More systematic competence building
• Less conflicts and more efficiency

We should also keep in mind that building an image and reputation in the marketplace is of utmost importance for any business. The issue of having gender equality in board rooms, seems to be crucial to recruit and retain the best people.

Strategic work in boardrooms needs also to mirror the diversity outside; the complex markets and different demands. Half of the consumers are women, with their own purse.

Let me add the obvious before concluding that. Womens participation in the workplace or in politics would not have been possible without comprehensive family and parental provisions.

In Norway we have

• Paid Parental leave: 56 weeks with 80% refunding of your salary (either parent), or 46 weeks with 100% refunding, up to a certain level. I know you have a better scheme for this.
• Most important and controversial at the time: 2009 enlarged 10 weeks mandatory for the fathers, appr. 90% enjoy this non-transferable quota. Unless the fathers take this leave the family will lose the refunding of his salary.
• 26,7% of the fathers share more of the whole period with the mothers; which is a most wanted trend (2008).

Photos 3 - Supported by these guys.

Gender equality doesn't come easy.

We still have unsolved challenges on gender equality in Norway. A major challenge is the pay gap between women and men - the pay per hour for work of equal value. Photo: March 8 - 2010.
We have a gender segmented labour market. Even though 80% of women are working, women continue to make the soft choices and 40% work part-time esp. in the health-, care-, and retail sectors.

An Equal Pay Commission in 2008 analyzed wages in private, state and municipal sectors. The Commission established the fact we all know: Professions where women traditionally are in majority, is lower prized in the labor market. One of the important findings was that the wage development for women becoming mothers comes to a halt, and tend to follow the person ever since, as the men becoming fathers tend to have higher wages.

Photo

A White Paper on equal pay submitted to Parliament earlier this year is a tool to keep the pressure on the social partners in the collective annual bargaining on wages. Furthermore the Ombudsman's office will have stronger measures in the Gender Equality Law to handle complaints of pay discrimination.

Furthermore we still need better sharing between mother and father for taking care of children and home responsibilities. Many women still speak of "the husbands helping out in the house and with the children". Again, exclusion of the men, or men as mere "assistants" in the house. As if the house work is not a shared responsibility, regardless of gender. Women must let go, too.

Last week the Norwegian Minister for Children, Equality and Social Inclusion Audun Lysbakken presented the Governments action plan "Gender Equality 2014" This plan involves 86 specific actions for developing gender equality facing the new challenges in society and thereby contribute to increased justice, democracy and division of power. To ensure that the goals are met, indicators for success are listed in each area.

It is also in this spirit that the Norway and EEA Grants - a fund of 1,79 bill EUR sponsored by Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein -- include opportunities for promoting gender equality in Estonia and 14 other beneficiary countries.

In Estonia 2 mill EUR is allocated for gender equality mainstreaming and another 2 million for efforts against domestic and gender based violence. These two programmes will jointly be implemented by the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs. In addition there will be a 2,3 million fund for Non-governmental organisations and the Open Estonia Foundation is the candidate for the fund manager.

At the moment all these three programmes are yet developed - it is not yet determined what kind of activities will be supported. We hope that the programmes will be finalized and approved by March-April 2012. So the funds will open sometimes next year.

So to conculude let me say:
The battle for gender equality in Norway is still live.
We still need to focus on, repeat and highlight that equal representation of women and men combined with modern family policy are crucial to the development of a modern society.

And more - it is a win-win situation for both men and women. We want to secure both women's and men's possibilities to work and to care for children and family - not to be forced to choose one or the other.

Talent is evenly divided among women and men - for child-caring as well as for business. Gender economy is smart economy.

Thank you for the attention.

When Human Rights Turn into a Commodity

2011-10-29

What are the moral values of the West? To what extent can European values be betrayed in the name of promulgating them?

Up to Tymoshenko's verdict, Europe was smart with Ukraine, but the situation has changed after the verdict. Many politicians and members of the European Parliament have already expressed their skepticism about the ratification of any document between Ukraine and the European Union under current circumstances. Early this month the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe failed to include the issue of Ukraine into its agenda, although the need to do this was more than clear. Watching the legal system being used to settle scores with political opponents was a painful blow to European values. Indeed, this has happened before in some member states; this time, however, the total failure to react was unprecedented. Stefan Füle, the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, was also unexpectedly mild towards Ukraine. He frankly points at former presidential candidates in Belarus as political prisoners but would not deem it proper in the case of Ukraine. We are told that the problem is in the weak legal system or in judges who lack experience, but not in political prisoners as such.

Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Lutsenko and Valeriy Ivashchenko remain imprisoned precisely at the time when Ukraine is waiting for the EU to decide on the EU-Ukraine association agreement. Is it reasonable to sign an agreement on trade issues and legal acts with a state that has political prisoners? More than doubtful indeed, as the political prestige of Europe would be damaged.

Does Ukraine need an association agreement? Yes, desperately! Ukraine is the pointer of balance between Europe and Russia; the master of geopolitical initiative becomes the one to whom it extends. But that is not all yet; I am not actually a big fan of geopolitical rhetoric. What really matters is the fate of Ukrainians: what kind of future is in store for them, will it be democracy or autocracy; will a citizen be respected or not?

The air is thick with conspiratorial theories. Some say President Yanukovych is sincere in his effort to move towards Europe, but his apparatus, full of Russian FSB agents, has served Ukraine the dirty dish of imprisoned politicians. Others portray the Ukrainian President as a simpleton who cannot stand the temptation to seek personal vengeance upon Ms. Tymoshenko.

These stories are whispered into the ears of European politicians; I heard them too. Fables of this kind are aimed at convincing everyone that Ukraine should not be criticized: just turn a blind eye, at least until the association agreement is signed. And don't forget that East and West are on the scales.

According to conspiracy theories, Ms. Tymoshenko and other politicians are victims of the Russian FSB who made them political prisoners. Those agents are aiming to sink Ukraine's hopes to join Europe. Hence, those Europeans who demand the release of Ms.Tymoshenko are naive useful idiots playing into the hands of the FSB.

Experience, however, calls for caution regarding such kind of reasoning. All this has happened before, déjà vu! Each time when Russia's rulers sinned against human rights we heard the same old excuse: be careful, someone worse may take their place! What is indeed unusual is that there is no such talk now about the third coming of Putin, merely because there is nothing worse to threaten with.

Nearly a decade ago, when the hopes for emerging democracy in Azerbaijan collapsed, new political prisoners filled the cells and the ruling clan took power with an iron grip, there was similar talk: let's pardon them, let's turn a blind eye. There was no association agreement at stake, but there was a gas pipeline along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route.

The pipeline was important for Europe then and remains so today. The question, though, is rather one of whether it is possible to buy yourself out of human rights with gas and oil as Azerbaijan hoped then and hopes now? Azerbaijan is a wealthy country and its rulers genuinely believe that selling mineral wealth and doing intensive lobby work can pipe down Western politicians; achieve positive reports and wide support.

With Belarus, the haggling goes another way. Deep in economic troubles, this country is being offered help and loans if political prisoners are released. Such an approach offends human rights activists in Belarus. They ask: what are moral values of the West? How much money per prisoner is gained as ransom? How soon will the authorities pick another group of subversives to capitalize on their release?

The main question for Europe is whether European values can be betrayed in the name of promulgating them and to what extent. But this is exactly what happens when an opposition leader is sentenced to seven years in prison at the time of the signing of an association agreement.

Tunne Kelam MEP: On the massacre of Copts in Egypt

2011-10-12

Christian Copts were routinely discriminated already under the Mubarak regime, with their churches and homes attacked and burnt by Muslim extremists. Last Sunday, October 9, dozens of Copts were killed as more than 100,000 of them, supported by groups of Moslem co-citizens, marched peacefully through the streets of Cairo, protesting against new attacks which targeted their churches.

Appalling is the fact that this happened under the new interim Government, only a month before elections which are hoped will be free and fair. Last Sunday's massacre is bound to cast serious doubts on the democratic perspectives that the Egyptian revolution has generated.

The Copts are not strangers in Egypt. On the contrary, they embody a significant minority of ca 10% of the population, representing the oldest inhabitants and traditions of this ancient country.

Earlier this year, the Copts participated actively and in the spirit of solidarity together with other Egyptian co-citizens in massive protest actions that put an end to the previous authoritarian regime. Egyptian revolution is owned by all its citizens, including Copts.

The apparent cooperation between Egyptian military and Muslim extremists which resulted in shooting at peaceful demonstrators and crushing them under armoured vehicles is revealing some ominous features of the new regime.

The European External Action Service has to address these events with utmost seriousness. It is the role of the European Union to stress that a basic criterion for a truly free society is the establishment of a secular democracy that will not prefer any religion and will guarantee equal opportunities for all, including the right freely to change one's religion. So far this has not been the case in any Islam-dominated country, including countries which have liberated themselves from authoritarian regimes.

We should clearly indicate that founding the new constitutions of the revolutionary Arab countries on Sharia law is bound to legalize continuous discrimination and persecution of minorities.
The EU should not close its eyes before these developments, if it hopes to see democracy and human rights finally established there. This will not happen if the constitutional start of the new regimes will be fundamentally tilted in favour of one dominating religion.

Speech by Tunne Kelam at the plenary session of the European Parliament on 12 October 2011

Laar discussed cyber protection with the Senate’s leader of homeland security

2011-08-02

The Minister of Defence Mart Laar met Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs yesterday in Washington, talking mostly on cyber defence and the Cyber Defence League established in Estonia.

Senator Lieberman said upon his meeting with the Minister of Defence Laar that Estonia is a role model for other countries for both its democratic and economic reforms and its activity in building and defending an e-state.

The Senator was interested in Estonian experience in cyber defence; the activity of the Cyber Defence League which is a good example of cooperation between the Defence Forces and civil structures was also discussed in greater length at the meeting.

"The United States is also actively involved in cyber defence, but it has noticed Estonia's efficiency and commitment in this area," Minister of Defence Laar said.

The Minister of Defence who is currently visiting the United States, will continue his meetings with the representatives of the U.S. brain trusts and the leading politicians. There have been discussions on the U.S.-Estonian bilateral relations and defence cooperation, also on the situation in Russia and cyber defence.

"Cooperation with the United States is already very close, but I believe it can be improved even further. It is good to see that in some areas, we a no longer a receiver, but already also a giver. All Congressmen I have met with have known Estonia well for our contribution in Afghanistan; our soldiers are praised and acknowledged," Laar said.

He also stated that Estonia is acknowledged for its decisive actions to recover from the economic crisis through painful, but necessary cuts, and raising the defence expenditure to two per cent of the gross domestic product.

"Compared with the U.S. defence budget, these amounts are of course small, but the way Estonia keeps to its promises and principles is impressive even for America," Laar said.

Source: Ministry of Defence

Natural-born partisan

2011-07-20

By Gary Peach

Meet Mart Laar: a young pretender turned old defender

When Yegor Gaidar, the first post-Soviet prime minister of Russia, who was architect of the country's misunderstood ‘shock therapy', died suddenly in December 2009, Mart Laar, a friend, eulogised in a blog: "To be the first is always difficult - all of us can make mistakes in this situation."

Gaidar was 35 when, in 1992, he was given the gargantuan task of decentralising Russia's economy, which at the time was so dysfunctional that the country could not feed itself. Laar became Estonia's prime minister the same year, at the age of 32, and, like Gaidar, he embraced privatisation, price liberalisation, and a strong currency. But, Laar says, "Yegor was a nicer person than me...He didn't kick all the communists out. And that was a mistake, mildly speaking, and why his reforms didn't have the same results for Russia as ours did for Estonia. We tried to kick out as many communists as possible."

Anti-communism was one of the pillars on which Laar's reputation rested in the late 1980s. Those were breathless years, when the dilapidated machinery of Soviet central planning was falling apart. Laar used his position in Tallinn's culture ministry, and Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of ‘glasnost', to create a large, grass-roots movement to preserve cultural heritage.

"Cultural heritage, of course, also includes political heritage, and step by step - being very cautious at the beginning - we started restoring our numerous monuments to Estonian soldiers who fell in the war of independence in 1918-20," recalls Trivimi Velliste, one of Laar's close friends at the time. The entire undertaking "was political in a hidden way in the beginning, but very quickly it became obvious that when we were talking about restoring [heritage], the final goal was to restore independence".

Eventually the Estonian Heritage Society, which Laar and Velliste led, grew to 10,000 members - an astonishing number for a small country - and Laar would use this base to form the Pro Patria (Isamaa) party, which went on to win the 1992 election. Laar was appointed prime minister, and swiftly set about dealing with the nuts-and-bolts of nation-building. After 50 years of communist occupation, a currency had to be introduced, revenues gathered, diplomatic relations restored.

Laar was ousted two years later, after a scandal involving the sale to Chechnya of Soviet roubles that had been withdrawn from circulation in Estonia, but he remained a member of the Riigikogu (parliament) for the next four years, and in 1999 returned to the prime minister's chair, where he spent two years focused on how to join EU and NATO. When his coalition crumbled in 2002, rather than leave politics, he went back to the legislature - and stayed for the next nine years. He has now been a party leader for 16 of the past 19 years, driving a succession of political mergers. "Laar is a born political animal; he has an inborn instinct for politics," says Velliste. "He's a quick thinker and a good organiser."

Among other accomplishments and innovations, Laar introduced a flat rate of income tax in Estonia - which was the first country to take such a step - and was instrumental in ensuring that national debt remained in single digits. The Baltic state now has the lowest debt in the EU, and the fiscally improvident throughout the world are taking notice.

Over the years, Laar's reputation has crystallised, as a trailblazer, a patriot and a man of energy, enthusiasm, decisiveness, and trustworthiness. "A lot of people say that when you make radical reforms you will be ousted from politics, that everyone will want to stone you. That's not the case," Laar says, chuckling. "Things have gone well in my political career."

With time, Laar's experience was in demand beyond Estonia. When Georgia embraced integration with the West after the Rose Revolution in 2003-04, it called on Laar for advice. Since then, Georgia has seen its economic-freedom ranking leap from 110th place to 23rd (as measured by the Fraser Institute last year). "I am very proud, looking at the economic development, what Georgia is doing and has achieved," says Laar.

The irony is that Laar, the son of an engineer and a laboratory technician, was never an economist. He is a historian by training and has written dozens of books, many of them on military history. One of them, "War in the woods", is considered the seminal work on the doomed campaign that Estonian partisans waged against Soviet occupation for more than a decade after the Second World War. He is still a member of the Estonia Home League, an armed group of volunteers dedicated to defending independence. This explains why he feels that he has wound up in his natural habitat: this April he took up residence in Estonia's defence ministry, after the latest form of his party - the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica - entered the two-party government as the junior partner. "In many ways, I'm in my real topic for the first time," he says, in his plush ministerial office in central Tallinn.

In a tiny nation of 1.3 million with a secure seat at the NATO table, it would be easy to assume the defence minister could kick back and hone his skills in badminton and squash (two of Laar's favourite pastimes). But of leisure there is no thought. "The defence system is going through reform right now to modernise, to take it to the level of the 21st century," he says. "We feel quite safe [in NATO], but we must modernise, we must look to the future."

Referring to the massive cyber-attack waged on Estonia in 2007, believed to have been precipitated by a government decision to remove a Soviet war grave from downtown Tallinn, he says: "The next attack will not be similar. It will be significantly more organised, significantly stronger. Everything moves, and we must move with it."

Specialisation is the key, Laar says, and Estonia has made a start with the Tallinn-based Co-operative Cyber-Defence Centre of Excellence. "Every member state of NATO must do its share - one larger than the size of its borders, because modern security is no longer connected to the size of its territory," Laar says. "This is a principle for us."

Next month, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will mark the 20th anniversary of the restoration of independence. Looking back, Laar is principally pleased that his son and daughter "are growing up in a different environment than the one I did. I grew up in a situation of hate, when the population of Estonia was divided into two large groups who actively hated each other. There were colonists, and there were local people. And now this hate is gone. This is a huge, enormous change."

Curriculum Vitae
1960: Born, Viljandi
1983: Graduated in history, University of Tartu
1983-86: Teacher, Tallinn secondary school nr 24
1986-90: Department of historical documents, Ministry of Culture, Tallinn
1990-92: Member, Supreme Council of Republic of Estonia
1992-94: Prime Minister
1992-95: Leader of Pro Patria
1995-99: Member of Parliament
1998-2006: Leader of Pro Patria Union
1999-2002: Prime Minister
2002-2011: Member of Parliament
2006-: Leader of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union
2011-: Defence Minister

Laar: Tartu Uprising was a beam of light between two occupations

2011-07-11

Today, in Tartu, Minister of Defence Mart Laar unveiled a memorial plaque on the wall of the main building of the Estonian National Defence College, commemorating members of the National Defence League who, on 10 July 1941, occupied the building on Riia hill - at that time the building of the National Defence League - thus starting the liberation of Tartu from Soviet occupation forces.

At the unveiling of the memorial plaque, Minister of Defence Laar said that the Tartu Uprising was like a beam of light between two totalitarian occupations. "In the summer of 1941, the battle in Tartu was fought solely for the freedom of Estonia. We pay our respects to everybody - partisans, fire fighters as well as schoolboys - who made the ultimate sacrifice - their lives - in this battle."

The memorial plaque was dedicated by Lt. Col. Taavi Laanepere, Chief of Chaplains of the Estonian Defence Forces; in addition, former political prisoner and freedom fighter Enn Tarto gave a speech.

This summer marks 70 years from the Summer War of 1941, when members of the National Defence League and Forest Brothers brought down the Soviet occupation power and re established the pre-war Estonian power just before the arrival of the advancing German forces. However, the Estonians' hope of re-establishing their independent state was not fulfilled and by autumn, the Soviet occupation was replaced by a new occupation, the German one, all over Estonia.

Source: Ministry of Defence

Laar: Estonia will stand up to any attack

2011-07-04

Minister of Defence Mart Laar acknowledged the bravery of the people who took part in the Liivamäe battle, celebrating its 70th anniversary, today, in Kilingi-Nõmme, Pärnu County.

He emphasized that the Forest Brothers, who fought for Estonian freedom in 1941, paid a heavy price in the desperate battle against the Soviet Destroyer Battalion. "This fight was not for nothing, because thanks to this we can stand here today as a free people in a free Estonia," Laar said.

According to the Minister of Defence, it was fatefully important that the Estonian people chose to fight, not to surrender silently. "Now we know that there is no freedom without a fight, and Estonia will continue to confront any attack today, because that is the price of our freedom," Laar confirmed.

The Minister of Defence also thanked Juta Zahharova and Leonida Rebas, who treated the wounds of both the Forest Brothers and the members of the Destroyer Battalion at the battle that took place 70 years ago, and were also present today.

On 3 July 1941, the Kilingi-Nõmme and Mõisaküla Members of the Defence Forces overthrew the Soviet power in both of these towns. A day later, the Soviet occupation authorities sent the Pärnu unit of the Destroyer Battalion to restore the former situation. In the Liivamäe battle, which took place in the afternoon of 4 July, one kilometer from Kilingi-Nõmme, the members of the Defence Forces defeated the Destroyer Battalion unit, killing 68 men.

Source: Ministry of Defence

Interview with Mart Laar, Estonia's Minister of Defence

2011-07-04

Estonia's attitude towards Moscow's increase in defence spending and its so-called ‘energy securitisation' is to focus on a dual approach to defence, according to Mart Laar, Estonia's Minister of Defence.

"Estonia is a small, liberal-democratic country in the EU and NATO with a challenging neighbour. Our situation and location leads us to adopt a two-pronged approach to defence," Laar told Jane's.
"We believe firmly in collective defence and pooled security, but also recognise that every country must itself take responsibility for the core of self-defence."

"Two recent events have framed our strategic thinking. The 2008 Russia-Georgia war demonstrated that we have not reached the end of [the] history [of conflicts] in Europe regarding territorial disputes and the use of force to settle political differences has not disappeared from our continent. When most European countries are moving toward fully professional militaries, these events confirmed our choice to maintain and expand a system of broad-based conscription and reserve duty," he said.

Following a cyber attack in 2007, which saw websites belonging to governmental departments, internet providers and banks under siege
from distributed denial of service attacks, Estonia has positioned itself at the forefront of cyber defence development.

"The 2007 cyber attacks against Estonia taught us that a multifaceted threat requires a multifaceted response. Soldiers alone can't protect us. Estonia is implementing a whole-of-country approach to national defence," Laar said. "We co-ordinate government cyber defence through a cabinet-level commission. Cyber defence and security depend on the involvement of every user.

"We recently created a cyber unit within our all-volunteer national guard called the Defence League. Cyber experts from all walks of life volunteer their time to train together and teach each other, which enables a co-ordinated, integrated response to even large-scale cyber attacks and enhances our overall defence readiness," said Laar.

"Estonia's small size, resulting flexibility and innovative technical approach make it a perfect testbed for new cyber solutions, which we are able also to export. One technology company [Cybernetica AS] has recently secured a research contract with US DARPA [DefenseAdvanced Research ProjectsAgency] to develop a system that aggregates confidential defence information.
"We see cyber defence as an area in which Estonia can make an outsize contribution to NATO and Europe's security. We host both NATO's
collaborative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence and the EU's new IT Agency," Laar explained.

When asked about Estonia's role within NATO, Laar said: "Estonia is one of the biggest per capita contributors in Afghanistan. Our contingent serves, without caveats, alongside UK forces in Helmand province. The valuation we have received from our allies regarding our
contingent has been consistently high.

"We are very close to NATO's guidelines for defence expenditure [2 per cent of gross domestic product] and will reach this benchmark in 2012, despite a difficult recession. We believe that all allies should move towards this objective."

Although reticent to discuss current procurement needs, Laar said: "This money needs to be well spent. Estonia is a strong proponent of ‘smart defence' - pooling resources and avoiding duplication. Co-operation is particularly important for small countries that cannot independently develop the full range of capabilities. "The best example is NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission. It would be disproportionate for Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania to develop their own jet fighter capability.

At the same time there is no lack of fighter aircraft within the alliance. Consequently, our firm belief is that with such small budgets, development of our own air capability just seems unreasonable," said Laar. "The Baltic States invest considerably in respective HNS [host nation support] infrastructure. We have nearly completed the renovation of Ämari military airfield, which should provide additional support for future allied air policing. We defray air policing costs and are at the same time better able to contribute to the alliance's ‘force pool'- in other niches."

Estonia was invited in January 2011 to join the Nordic Defence Cooperation Organisation comprising Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and is involved in the EU Nordic-Baltic battlegroup and the NATO Response Force.

"Smart solutions are visible in other fields of defence co-operation. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have developed a number of joint programmes. Our flagship is the Baltic Defence College, where we educate, in English, staff officers and civil servants from 16 nations," Laar said.

"Estonia is looking for further synergies in Baltic and Nordic defence co-operation. We are the best-integrated country in northern Europe - the only one that is a member of the EU, NATO and the Euro zone - so we see ourselves as drivers towards further integration. The small liberal democracies around the Baltic Sea share a great deal in common: values, history, security concerns about the environment and cyberspace and a similar assessment of conventional risks in our neighbourhood.

"We are all also accustomed to punching above our weight and I am confident the northern European countries will pioneer forms of co-operation and burden sharing that will set an example for NATO and the EU," Laar concluded.

Bruce Jones JDW Correspondent, London

Estonian Contact Centre Based on Skype Technology was Opened in Rome

2011-06-30

The Minister of Agriculture of Estonia Helir-Valdor Seeder opened the Estonian Contact Centre at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Seeder said to the representatives of different countries who participated in the opening that this centre is Estonia's additional contribution to global communication process. "Communication possibilities, which are free of charge make the world smaller, bring different nations and cultures closer to each other and give a better opportunities for the representatives of countries with smaller income to communicate with the world," said Seeder.

The centre has two booths, which have been equipped with videophones using Skype technology and enabling free video calls all over the planet. The ribbon with Estonian national motifs was cut by Minister Seeder and the Director General of FAO Jacques Diouf. Diouf acknowledged Estonia's success in the usage of different IT solutions and assured that Skype is used daily by many FAO employees.

The Estonian Contact Centre was established as a joint project between Estonia and the FAO, videophones were given by Skype. Further maintenance costs will be covered by the FAO.

During his visit to Rome, Minister Seeder also met with the Vice-President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Yukiko Omura. Estonia is one of the few members of the OECD, which does not belong to the IFAD. Membership in the IFAD, which has more than 150 member countries, would give Estonia better possibilities for sharing our experience in the transition to market economy with countries, where the transition is still ongoing.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture

At the Cyber Security Conference, Minister of Defence Mart Laar warned against a possible large-scale attack

2011-06-14

At the conference on European Cyber Security Policy, Minister of Defence Mart Laar warned against the possibility of a large-scale cyber attack, and called upon Member States to engage in serious cooperation in order to prevent such an attack.

The Minister of Defence emphasised Estonia's readiness to contribute to European cyber security, and called upon partner states to take the threats coming from the Internet as seriously as military deterrence. "If we take the possible damage caused by bombs and bullets seriously, then we should take just as seriously the hazards moving through the Internet, because through the Internet, the economy, energy security and intellectual property of countries may suffer direct harm," the Minister said.

The current approach of the European Union to cyber threats must be reconsidered. Since in the fight against cyber threats, an entity like the European Union is only as strong as is its weakest link", added Mr Laar.
The Minister of Defence gave the opening keynote address at the conference, taking place today, in Brussels, titled "Shared Threats - Shared Solutions: Towards a European Cyber Policy", the objective of which is to increase awareness of cyber threats in the structures of the European Union.

Full text of minister's speech: http://www.kmin.ee/et/ministri-koned

Source: Ministry of Ddefence

Center-right coalition wins election on 6 March parliamentary election

2011-03-07

Estonia's governing centre-right coalition has won the parliamentary election yesterday, 6 March 2011 and is in a position to serve a second term.

The result will give the two governing parties 56 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu.

The division of seats in the new parliament will be as follows:

Reform Party: 33 seats (+2) - 28,6%
Centre Party: 26 seats (-3) - 23,3%
IRL: 23 seats (+4) - 20,5%
Social Democrats: 19 seats (+9) - 17,1%

The Greens with 3,8% and People's Union with 2,1% did not reach the 5% threshold.

Center-right coalition wins election on 6 March parliamentary election

2011-03-07

Estonia's governing centre-right coalition has won the parliamentary election yesterday, 6 March 2011 and is in a position to serve a second term.

The result will give the two governing parties 56 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu.

The division of seats in the new parliament will be as follows:

Reform Party: 33 seats (+2) - 28,6%

Centre Party: 26 seats (-3) - 23,3%

IRL: 23 seats (+4) - 20,5%

Social Democrats: 19 seats (+9) - 17,1%

The Greens with 3,8% and People's Union with 2,1% did not reach the 5% threshold.

EPP Group congratulates Mart Laar on the election success. Joseph Daul MEP

2011-03-07

"I warmly congratulate Mart Laar, Chairman of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, a former Prime Minister of Estonia, on the great success of the Estonian Parliamentary elections on 6 March 2011," said Joseph Daul MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament.

Pro Patria and Res Publica Union received 20.5% of the votes and 23 seats in the 101-member Estonian Parliament, gaining 4 more seats compared to the last parliamentary elections.

"After regaining its independence, Estonia has developed into a role model for several European countries. Pro Patria and Res Publica Union and its Chairman Mart Laar have played a significant role in this process", said Joseph Daul.

"Estonia was the first of the Baltic countries to adopt the Euro on 1 January 2011 - that was an act of confidence. Estonia's rigorous reforms, budgetary balance and small debts during the recent economic crisis show an excellent example for the rest of Europe."

"The success of the centre-right coalition shows that Estonian people approved the budgetary balance policy that led to the successful adoption of the Euro", Joseph Daul said.

"I hope that Pro Patria and Res Publica Union's success will give an additional boost to Estonia's development and will strengthen Estonia's influence in Europe," Chairman Daul concluded.

The EPP Group is by far the largest and most influential political group in the European Parliament with 265 Members.

Estonian elections: centre-right coalition wins absolute majority; EPP congratulates IRL for impressive gains

2011-03-07

Brussels, 7 March 2011

The President of the European People's Party (EPP), Wilfried Martens, congratulated today Estonia's EPP member-party IRL and its leader Mart Laar for winning 20.5% of the vote and increasing its seats from 19 to 23. The Reform/IRL centre-right coalition won a total of 56 seats (out of 101):

"I warmly congratulate my good friend Mart Laar and the IRL for the impressive gains in yesterday's elections, which have given the centre-right coalition a clear majority in the Riigikogu. Estonians have given a strong endorsement to the government's successful polices, including Estonia's membership in the Eurozone," the EPP President underlined.

"I look forward to personally congratulating Mart Laar at the upcoming EPP Summit of 24 March in Brussels," Martens added.

The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 73 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the Commission, Council, and Parliament, 15 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.

EPP leaders in Helsinki agree to bring forward a competitiveness pact; the EPP on the side of the people in North Africa

2011-03-05

At a special Summit of leaders of the European People's Party (EPP), which took place last night in Helsinki Finland (click here for photos) in preparation of the March 11 Eurozone meeting in Brussels, a document was adopted which calls for the agreement of a comprehensive strategy that safeguards financial stability, economic growth and improved employment in Europe. In the 5-point document (see attachment), the leaders also agreed to bring forward a competitiveness pact:

"In the 5-point document that we adopted last night, we underline the importance of formulating a competitiveness pact which will bolster economic growth in Europe. With the right structural reforms and with fiscal consolidation, we can improve our competitiveness and create new jobs," underlined Wilfried MARTENS, President of the EPP.

"I also hope that the Socialist Prime Ministers in the EU will be willing to consider our proposals, since they opted not to endorse (by their absence, minus the host) the populist positions announced at the meeting of second-tier Socialist politicians in Athens yesterday," Martens added.

The EPP leaders also expressed their commitment to support and reinforce the democracy movements in North Africa and the Middle East:

"We have made it very clear that the EPP is one the side of the people in these countries. We will do everything in our power to promote freedom and democracy, and Libya is now a priority in this process," the EPP President underlined.

Photo: Mauri Ratilainen / Compic

The EPP leaders also offered their support and best wishes to Mart LAAR and his IRL party for the upcoming March 6 elections in Estonia:

"Mart Laar is highly regarded in the EPP and we hope that he will achieve a positive result in tomorrow's elections," said Martens.

Finally, the EPP leaders offered their support and best wishes for the Finnish elections in April to Jyrki KATAINEN - Kokoomus leader, Deputy Prime Minister of Finland, and Vice President of the European People's Party (EPP) - who hosted the EPP Summit in Helsinki:

"We are very pleased that Jyrki Katainen - the chairman of the EPP EcoFin Ministers and EPP VP - took the initiative to host the EPP Summit. The success of yesterday's event proves that Jyrki Katainen and Finland have a central role in Europe's decision-making process. Needless to say, Katainen's electoral success next month will enhance significantly Finland's role on the European stage," the EPP President stated.

The EPP Summit in Helsinki featured European Commission President José Manuel BARROSO, European Council President Herman VAN ROMPUY, European Parliament President Jerzy BUZEK, EU Council President & Prime Minister Viktor ORBÁN (Hungary), Chancellor Angela MERKEL (Germany), President Traian BĂSESCU (Romania), PM Silvio BERLUSCONI (Italy), PM Valdis DOMBROVSKIS (Latvia), PM Lawrence GONZI (Malta), PM Andrius KUBILIUS (Lithuania) and PM Yves LETERME (Belgium).

Ireland's Taoiseach-elect & EPP Vice President Enda KENNY also attended.

The Party Summit also featured Vice Chancellor Josef PRÖLL (Austria), Deputy Prime Minister Karel SCHWARZENBERG (Czech Republic), IRL President Mart LAAR (Estonia), Slovenian Democratic Party President Janez JANŠA (Slovenia) and Nea Demokratia President Antonis SAMARAS (Greece).

Note to editors:

The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre right, which currently includes 75 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the Commission, Council, and Parliament, 15 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.

Defence Minister Aaviksoo met Finnish colleague

2010-12-05

Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo participated yesterday with his Finnish colleague Jyri Häkämies in a ceremony dedicated for the Estonian veterans who fought in the Finnish Armed Forces. Also the ministers discussed matters regarding defence cooperation between the two countries.

Aaviksoo and Häkämies participated in a ceremony in the National Library of Estonia held in the honour of the "Finnish boys". Total of 3,400 Estonian soldiers fought in the Finnish armed forces during World War II.

At a meeting after the ceremony Aaviksoo and Häkämies discussed matters regarding the new strategic concept of NATO, the defence cooperation between Estonia and Finland and the operation in Afghanistan.

"Estonians and Finns have fought with arms for each other's freedom. The help of Finland has been invaluable in building our present-day defence capability and our defence cooperation sets an example for tightening the Nordic-Baltic cooperation," said Aaviksoo after the meeting.

Source: Ministry of Defence

Member States agreed in principle to Estonian and French joint proposal concerning the seat of the IT-agency

2010-12-02

Today, on 2nd of December EU Ministers of Interior during the Justice and Home Affairs Council endorsed the joint Franco-Estonian proposal concerning the seat of the agency of operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice, proposed by Mr. Marko Pomerants, Minister of Interior of Estonia and Mr. Brice Hortefeux, Minister of Interior of France.

According to Estonian Minister of Interior Mr. Pomerants, this political agreement is the most important step on the way of creating the headquarters of IT-agency in Tallinn. "The formal decision will be made on later stage, but today´s exchange of views showed that the Council is happy with the joint proposal by Estonia and France," said Mr Pomerants. Our successful joint proposal is the result of a good cooperation between these two countries, added Pomerants.

The Regulation on the agency of operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice has to be approved together with the European Parliament. This will hopefully take place in the beginning of 2011.

According to Estonian and French joint proposal, the seat of the new Agency would be in Tallinn, but the development and operation of the current and future systems will be carried out in Strasbourg, so as to optimize technical synergies with existing systems and benefit from investments done so far at the site in Strasbourg.

The joint solution is also in line with the decision in principle taken by the European Council in 2003 that the new EU agencies shall be located in the New Member States.

Source: Estonian Ministry of the Interior

Aaviksoo: Estonian cyberdefence is held in high regard in US

2010-12-02

While visiting the US Cyber Command yesterday Minister of Defence Jaak Aaviksoo stated that Estonia can contribute a lot more to the security of NATO and its allies in the field of cyber security than its size suggests.

In Ft. George Meade Aaviksoo met with the Commander of US Cyber Command General Keith Alexander and was given an overview of the cyber defence organization in the US.

According to Aaviksoo the importance of cyber security and its meaning to the defence capabilities of USA is ever present. "The messages of President Obama's cyber security coordinator Howard Schmidt and General Alexander of the newly created Cyber Command are extremely clear - cyber threats are the most dangerous and likely threats to the US and its allies over the next years," stated Aaviksoo.

Aaviksoo added that Estonia is remarkably competent and experienced in this field and that this is also extremely valued among our allies. "I am confident that especially in the field of cyber security lies Estonia's strongest contribution, despite our small size, in providing security for NATO and its allies," added Aaviksoo.

Defence minister Aaviksoo also met with Howard McKeon, the incoming Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee of Armed Services. During the meeting, Aaviksoo presented McKeon with an overview of the current Estonian and European vision on security. Also, the importance of each NATO member allocating 2% of the GDP to defence funding was once again stressed and Member of the House McKeon agreed that the permanent military presence of the US in Europe must continue in its current form.

The Minister also met with the White House cyber security coordinator Howard Schmidt.

On Tuesday Aaviksoo visited the NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) in Norfolk, where he met with General Stephane Abrial. During the meeting they discussed the consequences of the Lisbon summit, the roles of ACT in the new NATO military structure and latest developments in the field of cyber security.

Today Aaviksoo will take part in a briefing at the think tank Atlantic Council, where the most important developments of the US foreign policy will be discussed. Also, the Minister of Defence will pay tribute today Memorial for the Victims of Communism in Washington.

On Friday Aaviksoo is meeting with his US counterpart Robert Gates in the Pentagon. The planned topics of discussion will be the Lisbon summit, new strategic concept of NATO, the operation in Afghanistan and the cyber security cooperation between Estonia and the US.

Aaviksoo is accompanied on his visit by Sven Sakkov, Undersecretary for Defence Policy and Colonel Ilmar Tamm, Director of NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. The Minister of Defence will return to Estonia on Saturday.

Source: Ministry of Defence

Ministers of Agriculture are introducing their reform positions in Brussels

2010-11-29

Estonia stresses at today's EU Ministers of Agriculture meeting the need to harmonize Union support rates and change the criteria of less favoured areas.

The European Commission proposal for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is discussed for the first time at today's meeting. All ministers have a possibility to give their first comments on the reform proposals.

The Minister of Agriculture of Estonia Helir-Valdor Seeder says that the Commission's proposal reflects to a certain extent the Estonian vision on how to continue with the CAP. "Support rates need to be harmonised in the EU and the Commission has realised that," said Seeder. "In case the current basis for calculating support is continued to be used, we cannot talk about common competition conditions."

According to Seeder, changing the criteria of the so-called less favoured areas is also important in the European Union, so that allocated support would really serve their goal.

Yesterday, Seeder also had a meeting with the EU Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos, who has so far also supported the idea of support harmonisation. This would mean increased support rates for the Estonian farmers after 2013.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture

Voronin - the most equal man in Moldova

2010-11-26

Communism for the people, but not for me

In the upcoming Moldovan parliamentary elections this Sunday, the Communist Party of Moldova (PCRM) is hoping to woo voters with typical communist ideas of social equality and fairness. As Moldova is Europe's poorest country with one of its highest income inequalities, these slogans are obviously popular. Yet looking at the leader of the Communist Party and his wealth, one cannot but conclude that Moldovan communism is simply deceiving voters with hypocritical populism.

Take Vladimir Voronin, the head of the party and President from 2001 until 2009. Having no wealth to speak of when he assumed office, he is now one of the richest people in the country. During his term in office, he wasted no time misappropriating state property and distributing spoils of office to his allies. In an obvious case of nepotism and corruption, he used his son Oleg Voronin to acquire over 2 hectares of land in the suburb of Chisinau for a price ten times lower than the market value. The area is now home to dozens of luxurious residences, belonging to the members of Voronin's family. If that was not enough, in 2008 he leased a whopping 700 hectares of forest in Tiganca for 50 years, where he erected the so-called Voronin's Manor. The extent of Voronin's wealth became public when his son's bank statements leaked into press in 2009, revealing that he had spent $8 million in 16 months during his trips abroad.

Apart from being present in almost all spheres of Moldova's economy, the Voronin Family has invested in property in various EU countries. It has recently emerged that after years of staying in fancy spa resorts in Karlovy Vary, Vladimir Voronin has finally bought a proper home in his favourite holiday spot. Most Moldovans will never see it, of course, due to lack of adequate flight connections in the impoverished country. Voronin, however, does not need to sleep on an airport bench - he can use his private Learjet 35 to take him there.

It seems, therefore, that for Moldovan Communists being elected is not only a political opportunity to represent the people. It may well be the easiest means to enrichment as well.

Voronin's datscha in a nature reserve

Based on Moldovan sources, abstract by Tiit Matsulevitsh

Ministers of the Interior of Estonia and Finland met in Tallinn to discuss cooperation

2010-11-25

On Wednesday, 24 November, Minister of the Interior of Estonia, Marko Pomerants, and Minister of the Interior of Finland, Anne Holmlund, met in Tallinn to discuss cooperation between the two countries in the area of internal security as well as common objectives in developing the area.

At the meeting, the ministers focussed more closely on border guard cooperation on sea and the police cooperation action plan, to facilitate further activities at the level of the relevant institutions.
In the framework of police cooperation, the ministers set the aim on the development of strategic police cooperation and decided to analyse the impacts of visa-freedom between the European Union and Russia on Estonia and Finland.

The ministers also discussed the establishment of the EU IT Agency and Estonia's possible contribution in participating in that process.

According to the Minister of the Interior Marko Pomerants, the meeting confirmed the common understanding of Estonia and Finland in ensuring internal security and of mutual goodwill.
"Compared to the situation a couple of decades ago, Estonian internal security has by now reached a level that allows us to make plans as equal partners and provide mutual support," said Pomerants.

The Ministers of the Interior also acknowledged that the need to reinstate the position of Estonian police communication officer in Finland is still topical and both countries are interested in reinstating the position. Pomerants stated that the position of a police communication officer will be restored as soon as the budgetary funds allow. "There does not seem to be a possibility to this in the coming year, but we shall definitely allocate the necessary expenses when preparing the budget for 2012," he added.

The Ministers of the Interior of both countries agreed that cooperation so far has been successful and active. Anne Holmlund, Minister of the Interior of Finland, gave recognition to the contribution made by the Estonian Ministry of the Interior and internal security agencies, and added that from the viewpoint of the internal security of both countries it is important to further increase close cooperation in various aspects of the area.

During the visit, the Minister of the Interior of Finland also visited the Riigikogu and the ICT Demo Centre.

Source: Estonian Ministry of the Interior

Estonian lawmakers adopt private debt restructuring law

2010-11-17

Estonia's parliament adopted a bill allowing courts to reduce liabilities of thousands of mortgage borrowers who have overdue debt payments, writes Bloomberg.

Lawmakers voted 87-1, with no abstentions, to give judges the right to reduce all debtors' liabilities that exceed the market value of the collateral. Courts may need to handle as many as 1,500 cases a year of private debt restructuring, Ken- Marti Vaher, a co-author of the bill, told lawmakers yesterday.

Estonia should seek the European Central Bank's opinion before approving the bill, as European Union rules require Estonia to consult with the ECB on any legislation in its competency, the country's central bank said last month.

"Adoption of this bill won't harm the reliability of the financial institutions and won't make lending more expensive, considering that a similar option to restructure debts is legalized in most European Union members, including the Nordic countries, whose big banks are dominant here," Vaher said yesterday.

Estonia's lenders, led by Stockholm-based Swedbank AB and SEB AB, and the employers' lobby have opposed the bill, saying it will increase borrowing costs, reduce lending and overload the courts, while no estimates have been published before on the scope of possible cases.

The bill, mainly directed at those who are behind on mortgage payments, will come into force on April 5 and also apply to existing debts. It would apply only to borrowers deemed to have temporary solvency problems, helping them to avoid a bankruptcy, Vaher said yesterday.

"The homes put up for a collateral will be much better protected, with banks having much less incentive to quickly put those up for sale," Vaher said today.

The court can overrule opposition from creditors, if it sees the restructuring helping creditors to recover more debts than would be possible through bankruptcy proceeding, he said.

About 5 percent of 158,000 mortgage borrowers were behind on their payments at the end of August, Hannes Rumm, a lawmaker with the opposition Social Democrats, said in parliament today.

The stock of overdue mortgages was 9.3 billion krooni ($800 million) at the end of September, or 8.2 percent of all loans to private individuals, down from a record 10.1 billion krooni in February, according to central bank data.

Source: Baltic Business News

Aaviksoo: exchanging experience is the key in averting cyber attacks

2010-11-04

Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo opened today in Westminster conference centre in London the high-level round table Cityforum on cyber security, aiming to give key personnel of public and private organisations an overview on global trends on cyber defence.

The round table focused on cyber risk management in a changed security environment and on sharing best global practices and solutions.

In his opening speech, Defence Minister Aaviksoo introduced Estonia's experience on averting cyber attacks in Spring 2007. „Two weeks after becoming the Defence Minister I had a personal experience working in my office in the Ministry of Defence when, in addition to a political provocation, the national security of Estonia was jeopardised by cyber attacks," explained Aaviksoo.

According to Aaviksoo, Estonia is widely using the newest technology: 98% of Estonia's bank transactions take place in the internet, the medical system uses digital databases and digital prescriptions, e-elections are held. „But due to wide use of electronical means, we are also vulnerable. However, the main risk in cyber battles is not technological, but a matter of strategic management. It is a question of how well we are prepared to react to attacks and how well the subsequent decision making processes are set in motion," said the Defence Minister.

According to Aaviksoo, due to prior lessons there is now a Cyber Defence League formed of private and public sector's top IT specialists and the league is engaged in prevention work, training and also in informing people of cyber threats. „The aim of the Cyber Defence League is to always be ready and to ensure that information reaches every computer user. NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence, located in Tallinn, deals with external and security cooperation. Namely international cooperation and exchanging information and experiences with partners is the key in averting cyber threats in a global information space," said Defence Minister Aaviksoo.

Defence Minister also gave a speech on cyber defence to the students of Royal College of Defence Studies in London this afternoon.

Tomorrow morning Defence Minister Aaviksoo meets with his colleague Liam Fox and visits the Headly Court Rehabilitation Centre where also members of the Defence Forces of Estonia, wounded on missions, are treated.

Source: Ministry of Defence

Estonian representative elected Vice-President of European seniors

2010-11-04

Today the Chairman of the Seniors Association of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, Mrs. Ann Räämet, was elected Vice-President of the European Senior Citizens Union (ESCU). Dr. Bernhard Worms from Germany was re-elected as President.

European Senior Citizens Union (ESCU) is the biggest seniors' organization in Europe, uniting 820 000 members from 24 countries and 37 political parties.

In her speech Ann Räämet focused on voluntary activities in Estonia, as well as on possible measures, which could be used to develop voluntary activities among seniors.

"Our main goal is, that a retired person should not be left home alone, but be engaged in voluntary activities, or should have a chance to have a part-time job," said Ann Räämet. "Also retired people should feel that they are needed in the society."

The VII Congress of ESCU takes place from 2 - 4 November in Bad Honnef, Germany.

Estonian MEP warns that Russia's clout is increasing

2010-10-28

European People's Party faction representative Tunne Kelam has gone on record as saying that Russia's power to sow and exploit divisions between EU states and in transatlantic relations has never been greater.

The EU Parliament member from the center-right party said on October 27 that insufficient coordination of transatlantic cooperation was to blame, and also cited what he said were recent initiatives by EU members to court Russia, such as a meeting of French, German and Russian leaders in Deauville.
"Any sort of purposeful partnership can be based only on trust and reciprocity," said Kelam.

Kelam asked EU High Representatve for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton whether Russia should not first fulfill its obligations to the EU such as the proper implementation of the conditions of the ceasefire in Georgia before the EU starts exploring new forms of partnership.

Kelam also said that many members of European Parliament were "deeply concerned" about the Khodorkovsky trial, which he called a "grotesque" miscarriage of justice.

Ashton emphasized the importance of transatlantic cooperation and the need for Russia to comply with its obligations and said her priority was that human rights-related issues not be sidetracked.

Source: Estonian Public Broadcasting News

Circassians standing up for their rights and cultural identity deserve EU support

2010-10-06

Tunne Kelam
Member of the European Parliament

The appeal by the leaders of the Circassian Diaspora to the European Parliament deserves attention and support.

Circassians have been subjected to one of the most severe persecutions among the ethnic Caucasian nations. Since the 18th century, when the authorities of the Russian empire started massive ethnic cleansings and deportations of the native population, more than 1.5 million Circassians are estimated to have been killed. The continuation of Russian colonial policies has had a dramatic impact on today's Circassians. Sadly, their situation has not eased in the 21st century.

While Moscow is pursuing its preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics, it is only fair to take into account that Sochi and its surroundings are situated on the ancient territories of the Circassians. The playgrounds of the 2014 Olympics are located in the long-time post-Soviet conflict areas - conflicts for which the Russian Government has to share responsibility. These conflicts are still unresolved as demonstrated by the August 2008 Russian military invasion of Georgia as well as Russia's official support for the secession of two separatist entities from Georgia. Potential conflicts pose a real threat to the security and safety of Olympic athletes.

The indiscriminate way Russian authorities have carried out the preparations for the Winter Olympics shows that this is not merely a problem for one single local nation. It is by necessity a political, social, humanitarian and ecological problem concerning the whole of Europe, especially if the European nations decide to take part in the Games.

First, it is clear that in the course of preparations for the Olympics, the human rights situation in the region has dramatically worsened.

Second, blatantly ignoring environmental standards has damaged the ecological balance and caused severe deterioration of the environmental situation with probably irreversible consequences for the local people.

Third, according to different testimonies and observations, abuses by the political and administrative powers and corruption in the region have reached an unbearable level.

All the listed issues are in serious conflict with the noble ideals of the Olympics. Clearly, the Sochi Winter Olympics cannot be considered a success at the cost of systematic repression of the civil rights and cultural identity of a small native nation, or at the cost of ignoring environmental damage which, in all likelihood, nobody will rectify after the Olympic flag has been lowered. This is the responsibility the organizers must pay for conducting the Sochi Olympics first and foremost to boost the political prestige of Moscow.

The abnormal and tragic situation of the Circassians and other Caucasian native peoples also demands a prompt response from the EU member states based on common European values. TheRussian Federation is a strategic partner to the EU; Russia has joined several international conventions and should therefore live up to the commitments and standards stemming from those agreements. If numerous violations of the rights of citizens, native nations and environment are confirmed, the EU should react robustly to the situation. A boycott of the Sochi Olympics by Western nations cannot be ruled out. Dispatching an EU fact-finding mission composed of independent observers and experts to the region is one of the necessary first steps to acquire objective information about the Circassian situation as well as to assess the risks and costs of the Olympics in question.

The readiness of the Circassians to engage in political dialogue is encouraging. Such an attitude deserves respect. The organisations speaking for the rights of the Circassian people exclude any kind of extremism in their actions and emphasize the secular and just nature of the Circassian movement. The EU cannot leave Circassians alone in their struggle to survive. Their civil and cultural rights and above all, the need to guarantee their identity and language in the foreseeable future, cannot be trusted to the official declarations of the Kremlin's authoritarian rulers. Europe is called on to take responsibility for this part of our continent.

IRL Foreign Policy Council meets Circassian delegation

2010-09-29

On Tuesday, 28 September, the Foreign Policy Council of IRL met with a delegation of the International Circassian Council. The council, established in the US, represents a nation from North Caucasus with 90% of its population living now in Diaspora.

Among other concerns the Circassians draw the attention of international community to violations of human rights and freedom of speech, as well as to the environmental damage caused by the authorities of the Russian Federation while preparing for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The delegation consisted of the Chairman of the Circassian Council Iyad Youghar, Director of Communications at the Circassian Cultural Institute Tamara Barsik, human rights activist Aliy M. Berzegov, and a Chairperson for the upcoming international project of the Travelling Circassian Genocide Museum Setenay Gurcesme.

Earlier the Circassian delegation had a meeting with the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament Riigikogu.

Read the appeal to the Estonian Parliament here

Ministers of the Interior of Estonia and Bulgaria signed an inter-ministerial cooperation agreement

2010-09-22

On 21st September a cooperation agreement between the Ministries of the Interior of the two countries was signed by the Minister of the Interior Marko Pomerants and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Bulgaria Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

The aim of the agreement is to ensure cooperation of the ministries in order to facilitate the fight against crime in both countries by exchanging information and experience in border management and police sectors.

"The cooperation agreement concluded today is a basis for everyday practical cooperation between national security authorities in both countries and for making long-term strategic decisions", said the Minister of the Interior Marko Pomerants.

Within the framework of cooperation information and experience necessary for fighting crime will be exchanged: experts from both countries will be involved, meetings and joint training sessions arranged and crime prevention programs implemented.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Bulgaria Tsvetan Tsvetanov also believes that the agreement is very important. In addition to the signing of the agreement the Bulgarian minister has also noted that an overview of the Estonian IT solutions received during the visit was useful. "In the area of electronic services Estonia might be a model for other European states", said the Bulgarian minister.

"I will definitely tell my colleagues about what I saw here and will recommend them to learn from Estonian experience", added the Bulgarian minister while talking about IKT Demonstration Center, e-police and ID-cards.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Bulgaria Tsvetan Tsvetanov arrived in Estonia with a two-day visit in order to sign an inter-ministerial cooperation agreement and to discuss Estonian candidature as a location of a new IT Agency of the European Union. During the visit the Bulgarian minister also had a meeting with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.

Bulgarian delegation received an overview of the Estonian IT solutions and work of police force by visiting Police and Border Guard Board and Police Coordination Center.

Baltic MEPs Address Marine Eco-Crisis

2010-09-15

MEPs pledged to bring up Baltic Sea environmental issues at the plenary of the European Parliament. Topics included pollution, as well as the possible impact of submerged chemical weapons, the Nord Stream pipeline and the Kaliningrad oil rig.

On September 14, the new parliamentary season's first session of the Baltic Europe Intergroup - a group uniting MEPs from several Baltic Sea countries - discussed the current environmental situation and fish stocks. Presentations were held by MEP Isabella Lövin from Sweden, and Katarina Veem from the Baltic Sea 2020 foundation.

According to Veem, the flow of fertilizers and nutrients into the sea will continue for years to come, despite restrictions limiting their use. A sharp decline in the numbers of cod and other predator fish is increasing the proliferation of algae and deteriorating environmental quality.

Intergroup Chairman Tunne Kelam, who described the situation as critical, proposed to take the discussion of Baltic Sea environmental issues to the plenary of the European Parliament, in the form of a question addressed to the European Commission. The proposal was supported by the members present.

Source: ERR News

Arms Exports: after Lisbon, EU needs better coordination of its arms exports.

2010-09-08

Tunne Kelam MEP and Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš MEP

Today's European Parliament debate on arms exports, initiated by EPP Group Members, was based on solid concerns of several Member States who have been seriously worried about the imminent exports of modern military technology from some Member States to third countries.

"The EU has to develop a working common security and defence strategy", Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš MEP said. "Currently, a Member State can seriously compromise the security interests of other Member States. France's proposed sale of Mistral class ships to Russia shows how much we are lacking in common policy", said Kariņš.

Estonian MEP Tunne Kelam saw the debate as an opportunity not only to voice the concerns of particular Member States but to prepare for the practical implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, including better coordination of the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

"It is good to hear that France has decided after all to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia without modern military technology", Kelam said. "However, there remains the need to consult better and in time in the Council with other Member States before any arms sales decision is decided. We need to trust each other more, share our mutual plans and also concerns", concluded the Estonian MEP.

Source: EPP Group in the European Parliament

Laar to provide advice to Moldova

2010-08-10

Chairman of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) Mart Laar will travel to Moldova on Tuesday in order to introduce Estonia's experiences in carrying out reforms and to provide advice to the Government of Moldova, writes LETA/Postimees Online.

Laar will meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Filat as well as with the other cabinet ministers.

His assistance was requested by the World Bank which has lately paid a lot of attention to supporting the new Government of Moldova. Laar himself explained that the reason he was contacted was the success Estonia has achieved after the regaining of independence and the World Bank estimates that among transition countries Estonia has by now achieved the best business climate.

The chairman of IRL estimated that currently Moldova is in the same situation as Georgia in the beginning of reforms and he sees no reason why Moldova should not be able to achieve success.

"Because the former communist nomenclature was in power for a long time in Moldova, the country did not carry out the necessary reforms and by now Moldova is the poorest country in Europe," remarked Laar. He asserted that the new Government that has taken power after the communists were felled has undertaken to improve Moldova's positions. "It will not be easy as the political situation is still unstable and communists may well return to power," he added.

Source: The Baltic Course

Former PM: Austerity measures boost confidence, not the opposite

2010-07-28

While some EU governments have adopted wide-ranging austerity programmes to redress their economies, more needs to be done to tackle imbalances and leaders should stop thinking such measures make government approval rates plunge, Mart Laar, former prime minister of Estonia, told EurActiv in an interview.

Former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar is leader of conservative party Pro Patria and Res Publica Union. He was speaking to EurActiv's Managing Editor, Daniela Vincenti-Mitchener

Mr. Laar, You were the first prime minister of Estonia after the Soviet era and implemented wide-ranging economic reforms at the time. You then returned as prime minister before Estonia joined the European Union. Do you think Europe is opting for the right reforms to get out of the economic crisis?

How well Europe will do depends on all of us. It depends on how strong and united we are and the answer is of course always that we aren't united enough. We are moving in the right direction now, however, and that is a positive thing.

There are a lot of things to be done: the main thing is that national states must leave their debt crises. In a way, a crisis can be good to learn from - it has demonstrated that Europe couldn't go on with its policies as they were not sustainable. If we do not do something, then the crisis will be far worse in 10-15 years' time.

There are many tools a country can use. Do you think enforcing austerity measures is the right approach?

They are absolutely the right approach. We have lived above our means for decades, and this became a problem. All finance ministers have understood that our situation is not sustainable. We need to start thinking of the future and the privileges Europe has created for its citizens, and ask whether we can sustain them. And if we cannot do so, we must make the system significantly more effective - making a lot of reforms - if we want to keep our social protection model.

Estonia is clearly a country that can be showcased, as it has now successfully achieved the right reforms to join the euro. Do you think other countries can learn from Estonia? How exactly?

I think other countries are learning. I don't know if they are learning that from Estonia alone, but maybe we have shown that cuts are possible. This doesn't necessarily mean that it will make the government unpopular - for example, we cut our budget by 20% last year but have one of the highest government approval rates.

Of course, Estonia has maybe been in a different position as our memory of communism is so fresh.

One of the arguments coming across from the Atlantic is that huge savings and budget cuts will negatively affect demand and growth. Don't you think this is the case?

There are always two theories in economics. We are looking at a theory that worked very well during the crisis in Europe and we'll see the same result in the US as well: finding a short-term solution instead of a long-term one is to ignore the sustainability of the economy.

I cannot say that I am optimistic as to what will happen on the world stage, as the European debt crisis will eventually spread to the US, but we can now say that the creation of demand was just a waste of money. When you have such high debts, at some point taxes must be raised.

One of the things the EU is thinking of doing to boost demand is accelerating the transformation to a low-carbon economy, boosting infrastructure for clean technologies and creating a European energy community. What is your feeling about this?

They are quite positive ideas. Of course, it is difficult to say exactly what it means. On all issues, Europe must cooperate. If not, we will fail. We must have the same policy, including for energy. It doesn't exist at the moment, however. We are not united.

There are those building South Stream, and others building Nabucco: it's a big mess and when we can find a common approach it will be much better.

What do you think about the Nord Stream project, which is already under construction, and the South Stream pipeline, built with the same design in order to bypass countries denounced by Moscow as being 'unfriendly'?

We are not affected by either. When we want gas it comes directly from another pipeline. The way the South Stream project was done was not very clever and is a reason why Eastern European governments are not very fond of the idea.

Economically, people are afraid of what it means for the Russian economy. When looking at Russian gas reserves, they are not as good as is presented and require huge investment.

My Russian friends in top positions in the current administration are asking only one question: 'where will the gas come from?' That is a very open question and is very hard to answer. The money, in my view, is wasted in building this project, especially as Ukrainian relations are good again and there is a real need for it. It is clearly a political rather than economic project for Russia.

Do you think the EU is neglecting transatlantic relations?

No, I don't think so. The main problem is to ask what the common approach is. I don't think that the EU as an institution is neglecting it. The problem is us - can we cooperate and have a common position? I think that the Lisbon Treaty helps in creating the 'one number to call' and making us a more reliable partner.

Do you think we need more economic coordination?

I don't believe very much in economic regulation. We don't need big institutions to build coordination. We just need to sit down and find a common position. This also doesn't take much money.

Take as an example the common position agreed to stop the Georgian war in 2008. That was not just putting words together, but they have been shown to work.

With the Franco-German axis position increasingly emerging before summits, do you see a change in the way European consensus is being formed?

I think this has always been the case, but whereas before it was kept hidden we are now informed as to their position beforehand, which is different, as we can now be part of decision-making as well.

Smaller member states have also been shown to have their word to say. Maybe the problem between the big countries is that positions have often been very politically correct when this wasn't necessary, and so their words effectively mean nothing.

You are party leader in the Estonian parliament. You mentioned the Lisbon Treaty, in which national parliaments have an increased role. Do you see your parliament having this increased role or is it just trying to find its way in the dark?

I think that it will take time. In one way it works well in that we are informed of the decision-making, but of course the role of national parliaments can always be bigger. We are interested in playing a bigger role.

It depends on how prepared we are and if we are prepared to not be politically correct. I am a strong supporter of parliaments. From my point of view, the stronger both the European and national parliaments can be, the better for Europe.

In your book you look back over the past twenty years. If you were to predict what kind of Europe will exist in twenty years' time, what would it look like?

I hope for a very good Europe. There is every chance for Europe to be very effective, but our future depends on ourselves. The biggest problem is that we don't trust ourselves; we don't believe in Europe and don't believe how good our possibilities are, and are thus afraid to use them.

It has not been understandable for me to see how national governments use the EU to attack others after making a stupid domestic decision and of course this creates a negative image for Europe, but of course Europe is actually more effective.

If we can stop blaming Europe for our own mistakes, Europe has an excellent chance for the future. Political will and leadership are very important things for Europe's future.

We must talk more about freedom

2010-07-02

A new book on Central and Eastern Europe after 1945 has been born. Another one, yes, but the difference with all the others is that this book aims to compare some of the new democracies, arisen after the fall of the Soviet empire. And thus far, this has never been done before. In The Power of Freedom, Mart Laar wants everyone to understand what happened, and the best way to achieve this understanding is by comparison. According to Mart Laar, the freedom that was lost after World War II and regained after the fall of the Iron Curtain, that freedom, would not be there if it weren't for a lot of people. It's our common history: the history of united Europe.

With the support of the European Parliament, UNITAS Foundation, and the Centre for European Studies (CES, the think-tank of the European People Party (EPP)), Mart Laar's dream of writing this book finally has come true. He had been wanting to do this for quite some time, but now the time has finally arrived. Together with Marko Mihkelson, "The power of freedom - Central and Eastern Europe after 1945" has become a tangible reality, solid matter, instead of just a hazy, distant dream.

Mart Laar Mart Laar is Chairman of the IRL Party and former Prime Minister of Estonia. With this book, he wants to stress the importance of the fight for freedom, not only in the past, but also the ongoing fight for freedom, still fought today, all over the world, including in the West. "We must talk more about freedom," Laar says. But next to stressing the grand importance of the power of freedom, Laar wants to give a view on what happened after the Communist yoke was discarded. New democracies arose and over time these joined "the European political family". In comparing these new nations, he wants to help people understand what happened.

According to Wilfried Martens, President for EPP and President of CES, Mart Laar's book serves these two purposes very well. First, he mentiones "understanding the history of the societies that spent 40 years under a communist yoke and helping everyone understand their struggle for freedom". Second, Martens agrees that this struggle for freedom is an ongoing, daily practise and "should become a standard for political behaviour".The enlargement of Europe Laar calls one of the successes of united Europe. But are things really better for everyone? 20 years have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the symbolic end of the Soviet empire. Laar admits: "Of course Communism was not all bad. There was work, justice and so on." And still, you have to wonder, have things really changed for the better on "the former Soviet side of the Iron Curtain"? Does everyone enjoy the greater stability and prosperity in this united Europe?

Even though you will find a lot of dates and historical facts in this book, Laar really tries to tell a story. A story as seen from "the people's side", of people overcoming their fear and never giving up their fight for freedom. In this book, the people of Central and Eastern Europe are the protagonists. It's because of them Europe was united and is now free. Either way, with this book Mart Laar is the first to compare the recent history of Central and Eastern Europe. And if we can take his word for it, the struggle for freedom will continue still...

Mart Laar: "The Power of Freedom - Central and Eastern Europe after 1945"

"An excellent reminder of a unified Europe and the power of freedom" - Tomi Huhtanen, CES director.

"Narrative, intimate and personal" - Wilfried Martens, CES President and President of EPP

70 years from the occupation of the Baltic States

2010-06-14

On Tuesday, June 15, at 13.00 the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian delegations in the EPP Group in the European Parliament commemorate 70 years from the occupation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union in 1940 and at the same time, the anniversary of the first mass deportations from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on June 14, 1941.

The delegations will lay flowers and show the respect for the tens of thousands of victims who were taken from their homes by the Soviet totalitarian regime, many of whom were never to return. Commemorating June 14th has become a tradition in Strasbourg in which many MEPs from other nations also take part.

70 years from the occupation of the Baltic states

by Tunne Kelam, MEP Estonia

Seventy years ago, in June 1940, three European states on the eastern coast of the Baltic sea, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were invaded by the Red Army and illegally annexed to the Soviet Union. This was the direct result of the August, 23, 1939 pact between two dictators - Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler - who had agreed divide the eastern part of Europe between themselves. Nazi Germany gave the Soviet Union free hands to establish its domination over Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, as well as parts of Poland and Romania.

Within a week after the signing of the Nazi-Soviet friendship pact, Hitler was able to launch aggression against Poland that resulted in the outbreak of World War II. Stalin followed suit, occupying the eastern part of Poland.

Stalin's explanations to his Politburo members four days before signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact should dispell any remaining doubts about the intentions of the Soviet leadership:
"If we accept Germany's proposal to conclude with it a non-aggression pact, Germany will then attack Poland and Europe will be thrown into serious unrest and disorder. .. It is in the interests of the USSR that war break out between the Reich and the capitalist Anglo-French bloc. Everything must be done so that the war lasts as long as possible in order that both sides become exhausted.... In defeated France ... a Communist revolution would follow. ... Later these peoples who fell under the protection of a victorious Germany likewise will become our allies. We would have a large arena in which to develop the world revolution."
Stalin concludes: "Germany has given us full leeway in the Baltic countries and has no objection to returning Bessarabia to the USSR."

At the end of September and the beginning of October 1939, immediately after the destruction of the Polish Republic was completed by the well-coordinated aggression of two dictators, the Soviet Union forced the Baltic states, under the guise of mutual assistance treaties, to admit Soviet army, navy and air force bases on their territories. Officially Estonia had to admit 25,000, but in reality more than 35,000 Red Army soldiers. They vastly outnumbered its own defense force of 12,000. In the words of a Swedish commentator, "Moscow proceeded swiftly to snap Stalin shackles on defenseless Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania."

At the same time, Stalin explicitly promised to respect the sovereignty of the Baltic states and their form of government.

Taking Estonia under Soviet control was conducted in coordination with the other partner of the August 1939 deal - Nazi Germany. In October 1939, a week before Red Army units arrived in Estonia, Hitler ordered the historic German minority to leave that country (some 17,000 Estonian Germans were "repatriated" to the newly conquered Polish territories).

In spring 1940, Moscow began preparations to finalise the occupation of the Baltic states. On May 28, 1940, the official Soviet newspaper Pravda suddenly accused Estonian „elites" of sympathies toward England and of "hatred of Germany and everything German". At the same time, larger Red Army units began to concentrate on the Estonian border. By mid-June, ca 160,000 men and 600 tanks were ready to invade the country whose sea and air connections with the outer world were totally cut off.

On June 14, 1940, when the world's attention was focussed on the Wehrmacht's entry into Paris, Moscow presented an ultimatum to Lithuania, followed on June 16 by similar ultimatums to Latvia and Estonia. All three Baltic governments were accused of "plotting against the Soviet Union" and of "violating" the mutual assistance treaties. Ultimatums demanded the immediate formation of new governments acceptable to Moscow, as well as the stationing of additional Soviet troops. In the Soviet military directives, the Baltic states are referred to as "the enemy".

On June 17, 1940, the complete military occupation of Estonia began. An additional 80,000 Soviet troops entered that country of 1,2 million, bringing their total number well over 100,000. This proportion of one Red Army soldier for every ten Estonian civilians was maintained over the next half century of Soviet rule.

Under international law, the Republic of Estonia, a member of the League of Nations, became an occupied state on June 17, 1940. Two days later, Andrei Zhdanov, Stalin's plenipotentary, arrived in Tallinn to conduct a transfer of power from the legal Government to a puppet Soviet regime. By that time, the Red Army had assumed total control of the country. Estonian army units were confined to their barracks, the paramilitary Defense League was disarmed. The Soviet security police, the NKVD, began to arrest people and to purge Government institutions. To disguise the Moscow-organized coup d'ètat, Zhdanov ordered Estonian communists (at that time numbering 150) to stage demonstrations against the incumbent Government. Most of the participants were Russian workers from Soviet military bases, Red Army troops in civilian clothes as well as ethnic Russians from border areas who had been brought to Tallinn by trains. They were accompanied by Red Army tanks.

By that time, Estonian political and military leaders were completely isolated from the outside world. President Konstantin Päts became a hostage of foreign invaders. In the Soviet Embassy, Zhdanov prepared the list for a new Government which was to be led by some leftist intellectuals while the power positions were already controlled by Communists. In the subsequent Soviet narrative, these events were called the "1940 June revolution". The new Government initially promised to preserve the independence of Estonia as a close ally of the Soviet Union.

Immediately after the political coup, all public organisations were disbanded, Communists established control over media and the suppression of suspected opposition began. Next, Stalin ordered extraordinary elections to be carried out in all three occupied Baltic states. Only one official list of candidates was presented - that of the Estonian Working People's League. Despite intimidation and harsh political pressure, patriotic groups succeeded in filing alternative candidates. However, the latter were removed from the lists by force. The July 14-15 "elections" left no room whatsoever for choice. Polling stations were guarded by Red Army soldiers, citizens were threatened to be labelled as "enemies of the people" if they did not show up. Even then, the results were grossly falsified as shown by the preserved protocols of the electoral committees.
The final step to merge the Republic of Estonia into the Soviet Union was made on July 21, 1940, when the illegally formed parliament, confronted with a row of armed Red Army soldiers who were lined up before the deputies, duly voted to transform Estonia into a Soviet state, petitioning immediately for its admission into the Soviet Union. The petitions of all three Baltic puppet parliaments showed the same handwriting and were "satisfied" by the Moscow's Supreme Soviet respectively on August 3, 5 and 6, 1940.

The international legal status of the Soviet-occupied Baltic states was defined authoritatively by the prompt reaction of the US Government. On July 23, acting US Secretary of State Sumner Wells declared that "the people of the United States are opposed to predatory activities no matter whether they are carried out by the use of force or by the threat of force".
Referring to the Stimson Doctrine, the State Department stated that non-recognition of illegal seizure of foreign territories would be applied to the Soviet Union as it had been applied to Japan, Germany and Italy.
This was the start of the important United States policy of non recognition of the Baltic states' incorporation by force into the Soviet Union - the policy that during decades to follow became the only line of hope for the enslaved and isolated Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians. As a result of this policy, Baltic diplomats continued their activities in Washington as part of the diplomatic corps, the assets of three Baltic states in the USA were granted protection and American authorities refused to turn over Baltic merchant vessels to the Soviet Union.
Responding on August 9, 1940 to a Soviet note, the State department concluded: "it has become apparent that the governments and people of those countries were being deprived of freedom of action by foreign troops which had entered their territories by force or threat of force."
United States recognition of the legal continuity of the occupied Baltic states and their diplomats lasted until the restoration of Baltic independence in August 1991. It served to encourage other Western democracies not to yield to Soviet pressure and to continue to regard the Baltic states as illegally occupied.

The 1940 Soviet occupation resulted in the demolition of the state structures and civil society of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and wiped these three states from the political map of Europe for half a century. The Baltic States were subjected to terror and the systematic suppression of basic rights to life, property, free expression and the rule of law. Especially the national leaders, civil servants, entrepeneurs, policemen, military and Russian emigrés were targeted for destruction. 55 members of the pre-invasion Estonian Parliament and the mayors of 11 major cities were murdered. Of eleven former Prime Ministers, four were executed, five died in imprisonment, one committed suicide. Only one managed to escape to Sweden. A forced nationalization stripped practically all owners of their property without compensation. Industrial enterprises, banks, larger private homes and even motor vehicles were taken over by the Communist Government; all bank accounts were confiscated. Farms were limited to a maximum of 30 hectares.

The Soviet regime's first mass crimes against humanity in the Baltics were the deportations which had been planned by Moscow since the end of 1940. Security forces were directed to repress first of all "activists of the counter-revolutionary parties", members of "anti-Soviet" and "nationalistic" organizations, owners of sizeable properties, civil servants etc. These definitions covered all non-Communist parties, all NGOs and patriotic organizations, including Boy Scouts, members of the Red Cross and clergy.
More than half of the approximately 10,000 persons deported from Estonia on June 14, 1941 were women, children and elderly people, who were crammed into railroad cattle cars. They were transported for thousands of kilometres to Siberia and unloaded in primitive conditions as slave labour, facing cold, hunger and the denial of their basic rights. As a rule, men were arrested and separated from their families. By the spring 1942, of more than 3000 men only a couple of hundred were still alive; hundreds of them were shot in prison camps as a result of court martial verdicts. After many years only 4331 deportees - less than half - were able to return to their homeland. The 1941 deportees included about 10% of the Estonian Jewish community.
These deportations from the annexed Baltic states constituted massive ethnic cleansing operations against civilian populations, conducted by Soviet Communists in peace time. Approximately 50,000 nationals were deported from the Baltic states in June 1941.
As the first trainloads of deportees were arriving in Siberia, the next wave of deportations had already been prepared by the Soviet authorities. However, due to the German invasion in June 1941, the NKVD managed to implement it only on the island of Saaremaa.

The first year of the Soviet Communist regime (June 1940 - August 1941) made a profound impact on the Estonian people. The scope and cruelty of indiscriminate violence and destruction was so shocking that the whole nation reached one and the same conclusion - nothing could have been worse.

The annexation of the Baltic states in 1940 did not remain an isolated act of international aggression. The Baltic model of using military occupation disguised as "social revolution" was used by Stalin during the second half of the 1940s throughout Eastern and Central Europe, where, based on the presence of Red Army, Soviet vassal states, so-called "peoples' democracies" were created.
Marek Kornat, the Polish historian, concludes his study with the following words: "if there are any lessons to draw from European history of the 1938 -1940 period, it is the understanding that Europe can never be divided into spheres of influence and that no part of the continent can be regarded from the viewpoint of all-European security interests as more or less important. The European continent is an integral whole. Consequently we need to bridle aggressive states because history teaches us that any policy of one-sided concessions will have a high price and can lead nowhere."

The European Parliament was the first international body to pass in January 1983 a resolution on the Baltic nations, condemning „the occupation of these formerly independent and neutral states by the Soviet Union that occurred in 1940 following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact...". Led by Otto von Habsburg, members of the European Parliament stressed that "the Soviet annexation of the three Baltic states has still not been formally recognized by most European states and the USA...". The resolution called on the Foreign Ministers to form a common favourable approach to the 1979 appeal by Baltic freedom fighters with the aim of recognizing the rights of the Baltic states to self-determination and independence.

Representatives of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have on numerous occasions voiced their gratitude for this authoritative support by the European Parliament for their aspirations to restore independence and democracy. This June, we commemorate the tragic events of 70 years ago not alone, but together with our friends and colleagues from all over Europe. The ordeals, sufferings and also achievements of the Baltic nations in restoring freedom and democracy will from now on be an important and inseparable part of our common European history.

Strasbourg, June 14, 2010

Estonia wants to re-launch Tallinn-Warsaw passenger rail service

2010-06-04

Estonia plans to propose to restore the Tallinn-Warsaw passenger rail service by using the existing rail infrastructure, said economy minister Juhan Parts today.

Parts told ERR that Estonia will put forward such a proposal at the meeting of transport ministers of EU countries to be held on June 8.

If the proposal finds backing in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and all partners will take swift action, the first train could go on the line in about a year at the soonest, Parts said today at a press conference.

Juhan Parts met with Pavel Telicka, EU official who coordinates the Rail Baltica project in the EU, in May. Parts said that Estonia would allocate 1.3 billion kroons for the project which includes EU aid: "However, this requires good cooperation and willingness from all three Baltic states and the European Commission".

The Estonian government 's position is that it is necessary to launch passenger train service on the existing rail infrastructure in the next few years. "Equally important is to ensure that it is possible to travel to Warsaw reasonably quickly by rail," said Parts, addign that this required joint initiative to overcome bureucracy and technical obstacles.

Rail Baltica project will be discussed in June in the conference of pan-European transport networks.

In April the Baltic states launched a feasibility study for Rail Baltica corridor to find out if construction of a new 1435 mm gauge European standard railway line is feasible and what would be the costs and benefits for the countries concerned.

Based on the results of the study, Latvia Lithuania and Estonia will make the decision when the new EU standard railway line can be developed.

The contract to carry out the feasibility study was won by UK firm AECOM. The study is to be completed in early 2011.

Rail Baltica feasibility study is included in Trans-European Transport Network 2007-2013 multiannual programme approved by European Commission. Within the programme, the project has been assigned Community funding of 50% of the total project costs. The national funding of 50% is provided from state budget resources of each country concerned. The total cost of the feasibility study amounts to EUR 396,000.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

World War II: Apologies for past crimes have to precede future victory parades. Tunne Kelam MEP

2010-05-06

On May 9, 2010, the Kremlin leaders will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Red Army's victory over Nazi Germany and leaders from all over Europe have been invited to Moscow. "This is probably not the best venue or style to mark the end of World War II. Moscow celebrations generate mixed feelings among many, particularly the nations of Central and Eastern Europe," declares EPP Group MEP Tunne Kelam.

Five years ago, on May 11, 2005, the European Parliament reacted to a similar Kremlin-sponsored celebration by initiating a resolution on the consequences of WW II. The parliament concluded that "for some nations, the end of World War II meant renewed tyranny inflicted by the Stalinist Soviet Union."

"The end of WW II in Europe is generally taken to mean that the Allied powers restored freedom to the European nations subjugated by Hitler.

Tragically for Central and Eastern Europe, the coming of the Red Army meant the replacing of one form of murderous dictatorship with another. In Central and Eastern Europe alone, in the first five years after the defeat of the Nazis at least one million persons were killed during the formation of so-called peoples' democracies. In the Soviet Union, the number of Gulag inmates more than doubled during the period immediately following the war," says Kelam.

"The basic goal of the war - to defeat the Nazi Germany and its allies - was absolutely right. However, one should never forget that the launching of WW II was the result of the August 23, 1939 alliance between Stalin and Hitler. From the beginning, both dictatorships had similar long-term strategic goals - primary among these was world domination. These goals never changed during the course of the war or as a result of changing alliances. Although eventually an important partner in crushing Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union remains co-responsible for launching the very same war, the end of which Moscow rulers are now so eager to celebrate. The Soviet Union also helped Hitler to conquer Western and Southern Europe, supplying the Wehrmacht with all possible strategic raw materials for 22 crucial months of the war."

"Reunited Europe must remind Russia, the legal successor to the Soviet Union, that apologies for past crimes have to precede future victory parades. Continued May 9 festivities in Moscow under the scenario of the KGB-FSB leadership, nostalgic about the collapse of the Soviet Union, will only obfuscate the truth." stated Kelam.

MEP Kelam reminded The European Parliament's "Resolution on European Conscience and Totalitarianism" (adopted in April 2009) concluded that reconciliation on crimes committed by Communist totalitarian regimes can be achieved only by "admitting responsibility, asking for forgiveness and fostering moral revival".

"In the future, the end of WW II in Europe should properly be celebrated in Strasbourg, the symbol of true reconciliation and the cradle of united democratic Europe. It is high time for the European Union member states to implement the call by the European Parliament to proclaim August 23 as a Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian regimes," concluded Kelam.

Estonia bidding to host the IT Agency in the field of justice and home affairs

2010-04-29

The Ministry of the Interior has submitted Estonia's official proposal to host the Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice.

"Estonia is known for its innovative society and use of IT. Therefore, Estonia would be a perfect environment for the Agency," said the Minister of the Interior Marko Pomerants. "Estonia´s candidacy follows the decision of the European Council from 2003 that new Member States should have the priority of hosting agencies. It is an important political commitment that ensures balance all over the Union," Pomerants emphasised.

Estonia is willing to invest around 20 million EUR upon becoming the host for the Agency. This includes office premises in Tallinn and custom-built data centre for future developments in close proximity of the capital . The Government is also prepared to contribute to introducing the European School curricula and form a support team to assist establishment of the Agency.

According to Minister Pomerants, Estonia has always devoted a lot of attention to security. Tallinn already hosts NATO´s Cooperative Cyber Defence COE that manifests Estonia's competence in the field of IT security and innovation. It would also be more cost-effective to have the headquarters and new data centres in the new Member State.

The Agency should become fully operational in 2012. The host country will be selected by the Council. Besides Estonia, only France has submitted its proposal to host the Agency.

Estonia's proposal can be found at: http://www.siseministeerium.ee/itagency

Source: Estonian Ministry of the Interior

Pro Patria and Res Publica Union appoints Ken-Marti Vaher as Secretary General

2010-03-20

The extended board of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) on Saturday gave consent to the appointment of Ken-Marti Vaher as the new Secretary General of the party.

The board of IRL supported the proposal of party chairman Mart Laar to appoint Vaher, current chairman of the parliamentary legal affairs committee, as new head of the party administration.

Vaher has headed the legal affairs committee since 2007 and will stay in this post also after assuming his new duties as Secretary General of the party.

Ken-Marti Vaher held the position of Secretary General also in the former Res Publica party about ten years ago. In 2003-2005 Vaher was a minister of justice in Juhan Parts' government and then returned to parliament as an MP.

The current Secretary General Margus Tsahkna was appointed political secretary of IRL by the extended board.

Estonian Minister of Defence Jaak Aaviksoo to visit Silicon Valley

2010-03-15

During his three-day stay in United States Estonian Minister of Defence Jaak Aaviksoo will keynote a top level cyber security conference and meet with Estonian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

On Wednesay, March 17, Aaviksoo will keynote this year's IT Security Entrepreneurs' Forum: "Bridging the Gaps" in our Nation's Cyber Security: Connecting Leadership, Innovation, and Policy" at Stanford University. The Forum will gather more than 200 government, industry and venture capital leaders.

Jaak Aaviksoo will also speak to entrepreneurs at the Plug and Play Tech Center on Estonia's experience in cyber warfare - warding off massive DDOS attacks in 2007 and about the recent developments on the research of online threats.

Strategic Impact of Cyber Attacks

2010-03-05

H.E Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonian Minister of Defence
At the Royal Defence College, United Kingdom

Ladies and gentlemen,

There is no doubt that cyberspace is a very important medium in the modern world. It should not come as a surprise to anyone that more and more countries in the world are using its possibilities for gaining greater efficiency and flexibility, and establishing a true modern society. Just as same, we should not be surprised if there are ways to exploit these new possibilities for malevolent ends. Today I would like to give to you my thoughts about this dual nature and its implications on our security environment.

The new challenges that the international community is facing are not as "clear and present" as they used to be. Terrorist attacks, information warfare and other subversive methods are the preferred tools of modern aggressors. As democratic states are coping with this new reality, one conclusion that can be drawn is that the nature of conflicts has unquestionably shifted. Conventional large-scale wars, especially in Europe, are becoming increasingly improbable. But if large wars are being left to the history books, the question is - how should states adjust to this? Should we be prepared to fight conflicts in cyberspace?

As you undoubtedly have heard, in the spring of 2007 Estonia experienced a heavy barrage of cyber-attacks against our information networks. Cyber-attacks in themselves are not particularly rare, and I believe that there have been cases in every country that has even the slightest "fingerprint" in cyberspace. What made the attacks against Estonia different was the level of organization that was apparent in those assaults.

The attacks took place from the end of April until mid-May. They were politically motivated by the relocation of a Soviet-era monument, the so-called Bronze soldier, which was deemed controversial because of its complicated historical connotations to Estonia. Most of the attacks were carried out against government servers and Estonian news portals, but also the two biggest banks in Estonia came under heavy attack. At the highest moments, the amount of cyber traffic from outside Estonia targeting governmental institutions was 400 times higher than its normal rate.

Some of the attacks were carried out in waves and were executed with very precise timing. They were also unusually well-coordinated and required resources unavailable to common people. At one point, attacks were carried out in a very precise timeframe and included groups of computers - "botnets" - that were possibly rented out earlier for this purpose. This fact would indicate involvement of other actors besides disgruntled or outraged civilians. Had Estonia not been well-prepared and had we not acted in a timely fashion, the impact of these attacks could have ended in much more severe results.

The best way of looking at the impact of this attack is considering the proportions. Taking into account the size of Estonian infrastructure and the scope of the attacks, it was one of the most significant coordinated cyber-attacks against a sovereign state in the world. This made it a quite unique, but not a very pleasant experience.

Although the attack was defeated without any long-term consequences, there were some immediate effects that affected all Estonian people, such as unavailability of online banking or difficulties in communications. In a country where 98% of bank transactions are made online and where majority of citizens fill tax forms online, I am sure that you can realise the impact that such prolonged incidents could have.

The impact of the attack was also amplified by the psychological effect and intimidation that it had on the general populace. Besides directly affecting the target, cyber-attacks created widespread confusion and miscommunication in the general public, as it was impossible to get online information on events in Estonia from abroad. This could have been one of the objectives of the attack.

From this Estonian case, and not only, we can draw a few conclusions applicable to all cyber attacks.

Cyberspace presents us with new vulnerabilities that exhibit a risk unlike anything that we have experienced up until this point. A very unique aspect of cyberspace is that vulnerability is strictly connected to how well-developed and advanced a country is at information technology. Obviously this means that the most vulnerable countries are the ones that have grown to depend on IT in almost every aspect of their societies. This includes most European nations, USA, and other developed countries. Nonetheless, developing countries, too, are using information systems more and more and are thus becoming more susceptible to threats from cyberspace. As time progresses, almost every country in the world is at a risk of becoming a potential target for cyber-attacks.

Furthermore, the threat that comes from cyberspace has a clear potential to be global and thus exceedingly asymmetric. As computers spread worldwide, attacks can appear from any place in the world. Seeing as almost every computer in the world is connected to the internet, perpetrators find it at times very easy to use mal-protected personal computers to participate in attacks by controlling them remotely. This way, a person from Middlesbrough or Essex could be involved in an attack originating from an altogether different continent even without knowing.

In order to provide cyber security, the efforts of a government alone are not enough. This means that it is in the best interests of state authorities to establish closer public-private partnerships. This would result in increased security for citizens as well as companies and enable to better cope with cyber-crime. In addition, we should also consider taking over best civilian practices, because frankly, the leading ideas concerning information and communication technology more often come from the private than the public sector. This is another incentive for deeper cooperation between state actors and private enterprises.

Another important lesson was that we, governments, as hierarchical structures are facing enemies in new conflicts who are non-hierarchical and well networked actors. So, for us it will be very difficult to act effectively against the networked actors with traditional hierarchical command and control mechanisms. One of the most important lessons from the Estonian attacks was, therefore, to make sure that you have your own defensive network ready before you are attacked. A network that will be possible to mobilise quickly in case emergency will be the key element in successful mitigation of cyber attacks.

* * *

An old saying by Zun Tsu - "every battle is won before it is ever fought" applies in all aspects of strategic planning as well as it applies in strategic planning for cyber conflicts. If we start our planning and think what kind of response will work in diminishing the effects of cyber attacks during the conflict, the good start could be to conceptualise what types of conflicts are likely to involve cyber attacks. Then we can also analyse what would be the impact of attacks?

In order to get prepared for the battle before it will be won or lost, it will be useful to categorise which cyber methods will likely be exploited at what levels, as well as what could be the possible consequences. One way to conceptualise the issue would be to divide cyberspace according to the levels of vulnerability.

The conflicts with most far-reaching consequences will occur at the global level. The World Economic Forum estimated in 2008 that there is a 10 to 20% probability of a major Critical Information Infrastructure breakdown in the next 10 years, with a potential global economic cost of approximately 250 billion US$. Although the consequences of this kind of conflicts will be severe, the preventive systems and countermeasures needed for recovering from the technological failure are quite similar to recovering from the man-made catastrophies.

The second category of conflicts occurs at the level of nation states. States are in an increasingly difficult situation since using cyberspace for warfare inhibits the principle of total asymmetry where the well-equipped traditional militaries could be helpless when attacked by a group of professionals with advanced cyber methods. Nation states should be also worrying on the probability of their civilian infrastructure attacked via cyberspace without clear attribution, and they should prepare necessary crises management mechanisms for this kind of attack.

One of the most feared conflicts in cyber space could materialise if a coordinated cyber attack towards country's critical information infrastructure is organized together with physical attacks. Whether it takes place during the military conflict, or not. However, cyber attacks during the (proper) military conflict will be more clearly attributable and during the military conflict, a well-developed framework of international law could be applied that covers the armed conflicts. The Law of Armed Conflicts regulates the humanitarian aspects of a conflict also when cyber attacks are used - to avoid casualties among civilian population, to refrain from non-proportionate responses, to consider secondary and tertiary effects etc.

The difficulty in a conflict between nation states where cyber attacks are used arises when the military methods are not used in kinetic terms, but the damage is achieved by cyber attacks. Although the consequences could be very serious, attribution might be still very difficult. A long discussion has been going on how to solve the attribution issue in a cyber attack. So far we have no clear concept of how this problem could be tackled during a conflict. Although the forensics analysis will show the original sources, and lead to certain people in certain nationalities or equipment, during the conflict when you try to retaliate you will not have time to figure out the exact attack chain. Additionally, nation states or state sponsored actors could use the actors on territories without proper law enforcement, with weak government structures and non-existent national cyber monitoring systems. Lawless "cyber heavens" exist and this is a known fact for nation states as well as for organised crime and the terrorists.

The third category of the conflicts where cyber attacks will be employed, could be agitating, terrorising, propagating or disinforming certain groups in the society. Internet as the largest world-wide medium has already become the most important battleground where fighting for hearts and minds of people occurs. We can envisage more of these types of conflicts happen where cyber attacks will be utilized as a tool in a larger information operation.

The dynamics of modern conflicts have been changing. Most of the conflicts are not occurring for new territories or for spreading ideologies, but they involve a great deal of different ideational factors: collective identities, norms, values and symbols. A major reason for conflict transformation lies in the fact that in industrially advanced post-modern societies the concept of security is perceived beyond the traditional military security.

We have already witnessed cases where military conflicts on the ground with thousands of people actually dying receive less international attention compared to the conflicts, which are carried out with an aim to affect certain symbols, values or lifestyles. In new types of conflicts, attacking a military site or any strategic facility might not provide the same effect compared to attacking something, which has a great cultural or symbolic value.

The fourth category of vulnerability in cyberspace includes economic actors, industries or sectors that are attacked for political reasons. Although the majority of attacks at this level are carried out for economic gains and with criminal motivations, the trend to attack civilian infrastructure during political conflicts will grow and industries might find themselves at an extremely vulnerable position while attacked by state sponsored actors with considerable resources.

A last, but very important category, which will be influenced by an increasing trend of conflicts occurring in cyberspace, are average computer users, or individuals. The individuals represent also a threat in cyberspace if their unprotected computers will be used as part of botnets, which could attack nation states, critical infrastructures and other industries.

The role of human factor cannot be underestimated. Cyber security is very similar to secure traffic where certain security culture is needed for behaving in the streets. Creating cyber security culture can be accomplished only by raising awareness of all computer users and investing to people's e-skills. In this respect, all individuals have a great role to play in creating a more secure information society in the long run.

* * *

After the attacks on Estonian Internet infrastructure, we started to develop a National Cyber Security Strategy, which was adopted in 2008 by the government. The strategy, which is based on the analysis of the consequences of cyber attacks at different levels, that I described briefly, offers a common vision for all actors in society how to reduce vulnerability of cyber space. The strategy envisages specific guidelines for many government and private sector organisations, universities, non-governmental organisations and also citizens.
Cyber security strategy has set a vision that information technology solutions should be supported by a high level of security standards for information systems and general cyber security culture.

One prerequisite for ensuring national cyber security is also an effective civil society, in which each citizen realises his or her responsibility to utilise the information systems at his or her disposal in a purposeful and appropriate way. We believe that a precondition for securing cyberspace is that every owner of a computer, computer network or information system feels responsible for the expedient and prudent use of the information and communication technology.

Reducing the vulnerability of cyberspace in the nation as a whole is accomplished through the implementation of domestic action plans, but also through active international co-operation, which supports the enhancement of cyber security in other nations as well.

(The strategy has set following major objectives:
· to ensure national cyber security, an extensive system of security measures will be employed;
· to increase the level of competence and expertise in information security and to raise public awareness of cyber threats;
· to advance national critical information infrastructure protection system with proportionate regulatory framework;
· to engage actively in international co-operation on cyber security.)

* * *

To conclude this lecture, I would like to draw your attention to three key issues where we, democratic nations, can work together so that the future generations can also enjoy the benefits that information and communication technologies bring to mankind.

First, let me elaborate on the need for extensive international collaboration in cyber security. As we experienced in Estonia in 2007, without the experts in European countries and USA, our information security specialists would not have been so successful in countering the attacks. I am glad to note that after the Estonian attacks, international cooperation on cyber security has become an important element in many countries' and international organisations' policies. Still, it will take huge effort to establish an effective international early warning and assistance system, which we will inevitably need in the future.

Secondly, we have to work on different models in different nations regarding how to build cooperation with private sector actors in this field. The majority of the infrastructure is owned by the private sector, and the majority of Internet users are companies and individuals - these are also the most vulnerable segments if the nation experiences a large-scale cyber attack. Therefore, the most effective response by the governments could be to support building the resilient civilian infrastructure and national capabilities that help to resist in times of crisis.

Third, it will be crucial to educate people how to protect their own computers as well as to guarantee that IT workforce has high level of competence in information security and practical skills. Since we rely on information technology in all spheres of human activities, the human factor is going to be a strategic element in building a secure information society in the future. Advanced education and skills of IT people will also provide for efficient reaction in cyber crises. For instance, in Estonia we have included the information security basic requirements to all IT programs at colleges nation-wide. In addition, our IT specialists have formed a voluntary organization - Cyber Defence League which aims to increase broad information security competence and awareness about the new threats.

In the cyber domain, we are facing a new type of threats. With these new elements we have to be innovative in preparing for future conflicts. I believe that if we are able to move forward with these last three components that help to secure cyber space, we have also moved closer to our final aim of building a more secure society for the future.

Thank you.

The Under Secretary of Defence of the US thanked Estonia for close alliance relations

2010-02-26

Jaak Aaviksoo, the Minister of Defence, and Michèle Flournoy, the Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, assured that the military alliance relations between the US and Estonia are secure and the bilateral military cooperation is becoming more active.

The Under Secretary of Defence of the US said that Estonia's contribution to ensuring of international security is significant and highly valued in Washington and in the NATO as a whole.

"Close alliance relations to Estonia and the other Baltic States are clearly in the centre of the US defence policy," Michèle Flournoy said.

Jaak Aaviksoo, the Minister of Defence, said that Estonia has shown its commitment to collective security and sent members of the Defence Forces to serve side by side with soldiers of the US in Afghanistan, the focal point of the most important military operation of the NATO. "We continue this mission in the same volume but beside military presence it is even more important to increase civil activity by sending supplementary aid and experts," said the Ministry of Defence.

Aaviksoo assured that the US show more and more commitment to collective security and also regarding a regional aspect which is important to Estonia.

"The best proof for that are the several military training exercises held in Estonia and in its close proximity," Jaak Aaviksoo, the Minister of Defence said after the meeting.

In the meeting the NATOs wider role, which in addition to the collective defence-centred principles also includes new challenges regarding terrorism, cyber crimes and energy supply, in ensuring European security was discussed.

Michèle Flournoy, the Under Secretary of Defence for Policy of the US recognised the initiative of Estonia to establish a NATO cyber defence centre and was of the opinion that exchange of information and experience in cyber-related matters would become even more intense than it is now.

In the meeting the NATO's relations to Russia and possible joint activities regarding restrictions of weapons of mass destruction, relations to Iran and combat with pirates and international terrorism were also touched.

Defence cooperation of Estonia and France shall be closer

2010-02-26

Jaak Aaviksoo, the Minister of Defence, and Pierre Lellouche, the Minister of State for European affairs of France, agreed upon closer defence cooperation between Estonia and France.

„The defence cooperation until now has enabled to establish a strong foundation which is a great place to move forward," Jaak Aaviksoo, the Minister of Defence said after the meeting.

„France has been a committed ally and participated, on several occasions, in air policing missions of the Baltic States and also in the Baltic Defence College but I'm glad that France still sees several ways how our defence-related cooperation could expand and become closer, for example increased participation in training exercises in the Baltic States, "Aaviksoo explained.

Lellouche, the Minsiter of State, also explained the issues regarding a possible weapon transaction of France and Russia, and further exchange of information was agreed upon.

It was decided that in the near future the politics directors of the Ministries of Defence shall meet in order to discuss the action plan of reaching the closer defence cooperation within the next following years.

In the meeting the issues of regional security and the NATO's strategic concept were discussed. The Ministers recognised that collective defence would remain the main task of the NATO also in the future.

Source: Estonian Ministry of Defence

Estonian Independence Day: Joseph Daul MEP congratulates Estonia

2010-02-24

Joseph Daul MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group, the largest political Group in the European Parliament, has congratulated the people of Estonia on the occasion of the 92nd anniversary of the proclamation of Estonia's independence on 24 February 1918.

"On behalf of the EPP Group, I would like to congratulate the people and government of Estonia on Independence Day", Daul said.

"After regaining independence, Estonia made incredible progress and became a full member of the EU. We wish you much success in taking up the challenge of joining the Eurozone. I am convinced that Estonia will meet the necessary criteria and will join the Eurozone in 2011. The EPP Group will support you in these efforts", Daul concluded.

Herkel meets President Aliyev and imprisoned bloggers at visit to Azerbaijan

2010-02-09

The leader of the PACE delegation of the Riigikogu Andres Herkel is staying in Azerbaijan this week, in order to meet human rights protectors, journalists, political prisoners, and representatives of the opposition and government, in connection with the report prepared by summer. At the end of the four-day visit, meetings with the President of the Parliament, the Head of Administration to President, and President Ilham Aliyev are scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Together with Herkel, Joseph Debono Grech, Member of the Parliament of Malta with a 42-year experience in politics who has been the Minister of Agriculture as well as the Minister of Transport in his country, is participating as a co-rapporteur in such mission for the first time. Yesterday, Herkel and Debono Grech met in prison youth activists Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade who are more widely known as the so-called imprisoned bloggers. The young men were imprisoned last summer and they have been sentenced for two and a half year and two years, respectively, on the charge of hooliganism. The judgment has been appealed.

In Herkel's words, the charges are very obviously a fabrication and the case has attracted wide attention in the world exactly because, earlier, often classical journalists have been detained but Milli and Hajizade are clearly representatives of the new media. One of them kept a video blog and the other involved people in his activities mainly through Facebook.

Today, Herkel and Debono Grech are continuing meetings in Gandja (Kirovobad in Soviet times) which is the second largest city of the country and a former capital.

Source: Riigikogu

Parts: EU and Russia should consolidate cooperation in railway matters

2010-02-09

Vladimir Jakunin, the Chief Executive of Russian Railways, and Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia, who met Tuesday morning, agreed that European Union and Russia should consolidate cooperation in the matters of railway.

Parts and Jakunin were both certain that in the perspective of the following ten years the bulk of goods traffic will grow and in the light of that a more effective cooperation is necessary.

„This presumes a better co-ordination from both parties," said Parts. „A modern railway is the most effective and economical means of terrestrial transportation. An effective functioning of goods traffic is in the interest of both parties."

The International Regional Rail Business Forum "Strategic Partnership 1520: The Baltic Sea Region" will be held in Tallinn from 8-10 February. Delegations from 25 different countries will attend.

Source: Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications

Joseph Daul congratulates Mart Laar on his re-election as Chairman of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union

2010-02-02

Joseph Daul MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group, the largest political Group in the European Parliament, has congratulated Mart Laar on his re-election as Chairman of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union in Estonia.

In his message to Mart Laar, Daul congratulated the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union for the successful Congress held in Tallinn on Sunday.

"Under your leadership, the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union has proven to be a strong partner in the current government. During these times of crisis, one has to have courage to take difficult decisions. It would be easy to go along with pressure and make populist and short-term decisions. But I believe the strength of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union has always been in its farsightedness", Chairman Daul said.

"On behalf of the EPP Group, I wish you all the best for the future and great success for the parliamentary elections in March 2011", concluded Daul.

EPP congratulates Mart Laar for his re-election as IRL president

2010-02-01

The President of the European People's Party (EPP), Wilfried Martens, congratulated today Mart Laar for his re-election as the President of the Estonian EPP member-party Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL). At the successful Congress of more than 2 000 participants held yesterday in Tallinn, Mart Laar received vast support from the IRL delegates (90 per cent).

"I would like to warmly congratulate IRL for its successful Congress and my good friend Mart Laar for his re-election as IRL President. Under Mart Laar's leadership, the IRL has proven to be a strong and reliable partner in the current centre-right government of Estonia and I am a convinced that the party will achieve even greater successes in the 2011 March elections," underlined the EPP President.

Mart Laar and his party belong to the largest and most influential European political family - the European People's Party - which currently includes 72 member-parties from 39 countries, 13 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, the Presidents of the Council, Commission and Parliament, as well as the largest Group in the European Parliament.

Source: European People's Party

Mart Laar re-elected as IRL president, Parts, Ergma and Lukas as vice-presidents.

2010-01-31

The members of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) re-elected Mart Laar as party chairman at the congress held in Tallinn on Sunday, 31 January. The speaker of the parliament Ene Ergma, Minister of Economic Affairs and Communication Juhan Parts and Minister of Education and Research Tõnis Lukas were elected vice-chairmen.

Former Prime Minister and current leader of IRL's parliamentary group Mart Laar gained 1760 votes; Juhan Parts 1248, Ene Ergma 1180 and Tõnis Lukas 594 votes.

Out of 32 candidates 20 were elected to the party board: Marko Mihkelson, Tõnis Palts, Siim Kiisler, Ken-Marti Vaher, Sven Sester, Urmas Reinsalu, Priit Sibul, Madis Kübar, Siim Kabrits, Indrek Raudne, Tiit Leier, Tunne Kelam, Erki Nool, Peeter Tulviste, Andres Herkel, Helir-Valdor Seeder, Mart Nutt, Lauri Vahtre, Tarmo Kruusimäe and Liisa Pakosta.

The congress also elected five-member audit committee, as well as nine-member court of honour.

IRL has 9537 members. The congress had 2039 participants.

Photos of the event

Aaviksoo: A year of intense co-operation ahead for Estonia and US

2010-01-29

Yesterday the Minister of Defence Jaak Aavikso met with US's new ambassador to Estonia Michael C. Polt, with whom issues related to bilateral defense co-operation, were discussed.

Minister of Defence Aaviksoo stated that defense cooperation between Estonia and its strategic ally US has improved in terms of substance, efficiency and strategic scope. "The beginning year will involve a number of joint exercises, including host nation support exercise "Baltic Host" held between the US and the Baltic States, as well as US marines' landing exercise in Estonia and joint ground forces exercise in Latvia," the minister noted. In addition, the minister also highlighted plans to increase the countries mutual cooperation in Afghanistan.

The US ambassador stated that the upcoming bilateral engagements are a sign of close ties between the two countries. Both men also assured that the principle of collective defence, shall remain the cornerstone of the NATO.

Michael C. Polt is the US's ambassador to Estonia since December 2009.

Source: Estonian Ministry of Defence

Estonian and Georgian Ministers of Agriculture signed the Memorandum of Cooperation

2010-01-22

Yesterday, Estonian Minister of Agriculture Helir-Valdor Seeder and Georgian Minister of Agriculture Bakur Kvezereli signed the Memorandum of Cooperation, which concentrates on the development assistance provided by Estonia and on bilateral economic and trade relations in the field of agriculture and food production.

By Minister Kvezereli's words, Georgia is interested in cooperation with different international organisations and expects the contribution of Estonian experts. At the same time, Georgia is open for the investments of Estonian companies, for which several advantages are offered, incl. the sale of agricultural land under favourable conditions.

Regarding the exchange of goods, Georgia primarily offers to Estonia its wines, expecting dairy and fishery products in return. Today, fishery products make up the majority of Estonian food export to Georgia. As for trade in dairy products, direct contacts between companies should follow and Georgian Minister promised his support for the establishment of relations.

Minister Helir-Valdor Seeder said that cooperation between the two Ministries has been rather active and the Memorandum of Cooperation signed yesterday promotes its continuation. „For instance, at the end of last year, Georgian representatives participated in the Tallinn international seminar on development assistance provided in the field of agriculture and food." told Seeder. „Considering the similar history of our countries, we shall be able to support Georgia in several domains."

Source: Estonian Ministry of Agriculture

The Minister of the Interior discussed the European Union's domestic security strategy in Toledo

2010-01-22

On Thursday, January 21st, the Minister of the Interior Marko Pomerants participated in the informal meeting of the European Union Ministers of Home Affairs and Justice in Toledo, Spain.

One of the most important agenda items was cooperation in the fight against terrorism that was discussed with the participation of Janet Napolitano, the US Secretary for Homeland Security. At the meeting, the EU ministers of the interior and US Secretary of Homeland Security passed a joint declaration, which stressed the need to intensify the exchange of information between countries and to consider additional possibilities for guaranteeing security in air travel.

In their speeches, the ministers emphasized that the support for third countries, such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the fight against terrorism should be coordinated more effectively. The ministers also pointed out the need to accelerate work on the directive that would allow the use of booking information of European Union air travelers.

"The experience of various countries demonstrates that air travelers' booking information is of significant help to law enforcement agencies in their fight against terrorism and organized crime. Since the use of booking information speeds up the control of the travelers, it also makes it simpler and more convenient for the travelers," Minister of the Interior Pomerants said. At the same time, the minister stressed that this assumes the establishment of very clear rules for the use and preservation of the data.

On his visit, Minister of the Interior Marko Pomerants was accompanied by Kristo Põllu and Uku Särekanno, Councillors of Internal Affairs at the Estonian Permanent Delegation to the European Union and Maila Sass, Councillor of the Ministry of the Interior on European Union Matters.

Source: Estonian Ministry of the Interior

Estonian and Latvian Ministers for Regional Affairs discuss cross-border co-operation in Valga

2010-01-21

A joint session of intergovernmental commissions for cross-border cooperation between Estonia and Latvia is held in Valga under the leadership of the Minister fof Regional Affairs Siim Kiisler on Friday, 22 January. The participants intend to agree on cooperation priorities and a plan for solving specific problems.

According to the Minister for Regional Affairs Siim Kiisler, cooperation between Estonia and Latvia is important in order to ensure high-quality social services for the residents of border areas and to create possibilities for improving the employment level. "For instance, we place great importance in the provision of mutual assistance as regards emergency medical care and rescue services in border areas, as well as in the Valga-Riga railway connection. If we reach an agreement in respect of priorities between our two countries, we can also appoint the responsible parties and determine the dates. It is important for me that this co-operation would not just be left on paper," said Kiisler.

Cross-border cooperation between Estonia and Latvia on the governmental commissions level started in 2004. The commission includes representatives from ministries, Riigikogu, county governments and local governments. The last joint session of the two commissions was held in 2005.

Source: Estonian Ministry of the Interior

Mart Laar receives high Georgian decoration from president Mikheil Saakashvili

2010-01-20

Today, January 20, 2010, the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili awarded the Chairman of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union Mart Laar the St. George's Victory Order, which is the highest state decoration a foreigner can receive.

Laar was awarded for his activities in pulling Georgia out of economic crisis into which the country had sunk in the beginning of the 21st century.

By applying Estonia's experience in carrying out economic reforms, Laar helped to raise Georgia's competitiveness and decrease significantly corruption.

Mart Laar stated that while he is extremely honored to receive this award, he feels that the real honor belongs to the Georgians. As the economic adviser to the President it was his task to suggest several measures for pulling Georgia out from its difficult economic situation and for creating a favorable environment for investments.

„The situation in Georgia was indeed depressing, I have to admit that I've never seen a country economically so collapsed. Georgia has carried out a miracle and it is almost impossible to recognize this country any more," said Laar.

„My role in Georgia has been to give advice, but the real honor belongs to the Georgians who had courage to follow the direction of radical reforms and to achieve success on this road".

The very first St. George's Victory Order was awarded to U.S. president George W. Bush in 2005. The President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and the President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus were the next recipients of the order.

Estonian Minister of Agriculture: Historical meeting in Berlin

2010-01-18

For the first time after the restoration of independence in Estonia, the Minister of Agriculture of Estonia met the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Viktor Zubkov and the Minister of Agriculture of Russia Jelena Skrõnnik, who invited him to Moscow to discuss the development of bilateral agricultural relations and to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation.

„Regarding foodstuffs, Russia has always been an important trading partner for Estonia, but at state level our cooperation has been modest so far," told the Minister of Agriculture of Estonia Helir-Valdor Seeder. „The high-level meeting held yesterday allows us to believe that our cooperation will start to improve."

The future cooperation between the two countries will primarily concern the export and import of food products and the problems of fisheries. In the future, a High-Level Working Group will be established on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation to be signed in Moscow. The Group will meet at least once a year, also enabling consultations on current trade problems.

After the restoration of independence in Estonia, the Minister of Agriculture of Estonia has never met the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture of Russia. At the meeting, the general situation of agriculture in the context of the global economic downturn and the importance of Grüne Woche, the biggest food fair of the world taking place for the 75th time this year, were also discussed.

Source: Estonian Ministry of Agriculture

Juhan Parts: Estonia must do more to ensure euro zone entry

2010-01-05

The minister said that tax collection was better than planned in last year's budget and there won't come an abrupt fall. Thus, he said, the question mark hanging above the accession with the euro can now be taken off.

Parts added that by spring, the budgetary strategy for the next three years must be compiled. "There will be cost-cutting pressure on the public sector but hopefully we don't have to make a lot of cuts anymore," he said.

Parts added that the economy and communications ministry has agreed that the priority of this year is jobs and all new initiatives to create jobs must be supported and entrepreneurship revived.

Parts said that great hopes lay on small and medium-sized companies which should cooperate more and enter foreign markets with common projects.

Speaking of this year, the minister mentioned allocating 2.5 billion kroons for different entrepreneurship programs and deciding upon issues connected to Eesti Energia in the first half of the year.

"We wouldn't want to have another campaign year, we want to focus on real work," said Parts.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Mart Laar receives high Finnish decoration

2009-12-11

Finnish President Tarja Halonen has awarded Mart Laar, historian and chairman of the Estonian Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) party, the Knight of the Order of the White Rose, first class.

Laar was nominated for the honour by Finnish war veterans in recognition of his research into the history of World War II. The decoration was handed over by Finnish Ambassador to Estonia Jaakko Kalela, spokespeople for IRL said.

"It certainly would not have been possible to receive this decoration without the Estonian men who, fighting for the freedom of Finland and for the honour of Estonia, showed that Estonia's goal in World War II was to support neither of the two totalitarian great powers," said Laar.

Last year the man of letters Rein Veidemann received the same decoration.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Tunne Kelam: Selling Mistral -type helicopter carriers to Russia equals rewarding Kremlin for its invasion of Georgia

2009-11-23

Statement at opening session of European Parliament Plenary Session in Strasbourg

The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) is the only international mission monitoring the implementation of the August 12 and September 8, 2008 agreements between Russia and Georgia.

Catherine Ashton should now make it perfectly clear to the Russian side that they must guarantee EUMM access to the separatist occupied Georgian territories without any further delay.

Today, a French Mistral-type helicopter carrier arrived in St. Petersburg. The plan to sell this modern warship to Russia is tantamount to rewarding the Kremlin for its invasion of Georgia last year.

In the words of the Commander of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vysotsky, in August 2008 this type of ship would have enabled the Russian fleet to carry out its mission in 40 minutes instead of 26 hours.

If so, President Sarkozy would have had no time to prevent Mr. Putin at the last moment from occupying the Georgian capital. Providing the Russian Navy with the newest NATO technology means taking responsibility for encouraging Kremlin hawks to carry out in real life the scenarios for invading territories of their neighbours as practiced in their recent military exercises. This will be a very heavy blow to the credibility and solidarity of NATO defence policies.

Tunne Kelam: New member states should have a representative in the new EU "troika"

2009-11-11

In the debate on the results of the recent European Council, the EPP representative Tunne Kelam from Estonia made three observations:

First, with the Lisbon Treaty finally coming into force, the EU will, more than ever, need an effective common foreign, security and energy policy, based on solidarity. Only such common policies can prevent the concluding of further Schröder - Putin deals.

Second, in this new situation, we must realize how important it is continuously to have a strong European Commission that can take full responsibility for the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. The role of the future Commission must not be weakened by the creation of the new EU top offices.

Third, we must summon the courage not just to consider portfolios but to propose and to support strong individuals with far-reaching vision and strong commitment to the continuity of the common European values.

In order to successfully address enormous new challenges, the EU needs once again true European statesmen of the calibre of Adenauer, Schuman and de Gasperi. We should actively seek such leaders, casting aside preconceptions and prejudices. Such statesmen can be found as well in the new member states which certainly should be represented in the future EU "troika".

Minister: NATO defence plans are not a mirage

2009-10-27

Estonian Minister of Defence said that NATO has defence plans in Baltics and they're being developed in cooperation, ERR News reports.

"One has to keep in mind that the plans exist in variety of levels and formats," Aaviksoo answered, when asked why did Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite say at the Presidents' meeting on Saturday that NATO doesn't have certain defence plan for the Baltics.

"I think that what Lithuanian President means is of what is said "Poland has, Turkey has, Norway has, but Baltics don't." Those are actually conventional conflict resistance plans from the Cold War time which really need much military planning," Aaviksoo said.

He said that the documents are in different form and have different aims.

"Objective fears need planning to be solved and I'm quite convinced that these plans will be developed within NATO. Everything happens gradually. Less emotions and more actions - we've been on this track so far and we continue in this direction," Aaviksoo said.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

New members of Tallinn city council approved

2009-10-27

Tallinn election commission approved new membership of Tallinn city council, which will meet for the first time on November 5.

Members of the council from Pro Patria and Res Publica Union are: Siim Kabrits, Tarmo Kruusimäe, Madis Kübar, Andres Luus, Urmas Mardi, Liisa-Ly Pakosta, Tõnis Palts, Indrek Raudne, Reet Roos, Nikolai Stelmach, Anna-Greta Tsahkna, Kalev Vapper and Andres Öpik.

Tunne Kelam: There is a third party in Russian-Georgian conflict

2009-10-22

Speaking on October 22th at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg where parliamentarians assessed the international commission's report on the 2008 Russian-Georgian conflict, the European Peoples Party member Tunne Kelam said that the conflict has a third party, too. This is the international community, including the European Union.

In Kelam's words, one has for a too long time and too easily become used to the existence of the so-called frozen conflicts. Accommodating to the existence of these conflicts equals appeasement.

"The central conclusion to be drawn from the conflict is that Georgia did not invade the territory of Russian Federation whereas Russian invaded with massive military force the Georgian territory and was about to occupy its capital city", stated Kelam.

According to Kelam, this was an unprecedented breach of basic norms of international conduct that dramatically undermined Russia's credibility as a reliable partner.

International reaction to this conflict has been ambiguous, said Kelam. Terming this invasion as an "excessive use of force" can be assessed only as a continuing appeasement. While Russian leaders have apparently succeeded to avoid any international consequences of their military invasion, they see themselves as winners.

"Alarmingly, this has in fact increased the likelihood of new Russian military aggressions in the areas like Crimea or even in the Baltic Sea region", Kelam warned.

In Kelam's opinion, a EU's strong presence and clear commitment in guaranteeing Georgia's freedom to choose its future path and retain its territorial integrity will be of utmost importance.

IRL faction to pass draft act for controlling monopolies

2009-10-12

Today Pro Patria and Res Publica union (IRL) decided to propose Reform Part and Green Party to start a draft that controls monopolies, aripaev.ee writes.

The aim is to keep water, heating and gas monopolies under control by setting upper limits of profits. Competition Authority would also get complete control over bigger water and heating companies and more competence over supervising monopolies.

Margus Kasepalu, the deputy head of Competition Authority said that this is necessary, but it increases authority's work load.

"The draft is certainly most needed and feasible, in our opinion. Competition Authority has necessary knowledge and experience," Kasepalu said.

He added that it certainly means higher work loan since the number of regulated companies is higher.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

The dangerous logic of Russian revanchism

2009-10-12

The beginning of autumn brought a number of waiting periods in the field of foreign policy to an end. The positive outcome in the Irish referendum was certainly something we had looked forward to, as failure of Europe's major joint project is something we must certainly prevent. Fragmentation is dangerous and in the worst case scenario could leave us without the united support of Europe.

The European Union fact-finding mission's report on the Russia-Georgia war did not bring any surprises. Both Moscow and Tbilisi interpreted the report in their own favour, and no matter how thorough it might have been, nothing could keep it from being used for propaganda purposes. It could actually be said that a propaganda war was waged over the report for some time before it was released. The report was going to come out one way or another, and undoubtedly it was not possible for the mission to avoid the subject of what Saakashvili did wrong. Yet it does not also sidestep the fact that there was consistent pressure from Russia whose aim was to provoke Georgia until the last straw was reached.

At the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe we went as far as we could along the path to applying sanctions on Russia in connection with the war against Georgia. Poland and the Baltic States appeared to form somewhat of a distinct bloc, but if we look at the voting results, we actually see that they did not depend so much on the country of origin of any of the representatives but had more to do with everyone's own individual decision. The call to continue "dialogue" seemed somewhat mystifying given that Russia has not complied with a single PACE requirement and only one Russian delegation member was present during the debate.

Recently, I read Tony Judt's interview with Radio Free Europe. Judt is one of the best known historians of our era - his Postwar: The History of Europe from 1945 praises Estonia's economic reforms among others - and now he is explaining how the West is going to be distanced from the Eastern European positions. Judt wants to understand a Russia that has lost such extensive historical areas of influence. The interview contains many interesting but inaccurate comparisons, such as how Americans would feel if they lost Texas and California and if their past leaders were labelled criminals, as people say about Stalin. I would like to add the historical truth that, under Stalin's rule, a huge number of crimes against humanity were committed. Therefore, condemnation of Stalinist crimes is of utmost importance, especially in the Russian Federation.

Analyzing the reasons behind the situation, Judt notes quite correctly the overly rigid positions of Germany and France with regard to Turkey, which have forced an influential country closer to Russia's fold in its search for strategic partnership. I would add to this a number of mistakes that are not favourite topics in the West. A big factor that led to the current situation is the fact that Russia was granted free rein for unchecked military action and human rights violations in Chechnya. The other key point is that Georgia was not given a NATO Membership Action Plan, which was followed by an explosive increase in the number of Russian provocations last year.

We are standing face to face with acquiescent or even vocal acceptance of Russian revanchism. PACE session two weeks ago produced one memorable moment: Olena Bondarenko of Ukraine put a vote on an amendment proposal that Russia must revoke its law allowing the use of force for protecting its citizens beyond its own borders. To which Nataša Jovanovic, deputy speaker of Serbian parliament, declared that Russia was once more a great power and it must have such a right (!) In terms of rhetoric, this was a relatively extreme case, but what is astonishing here is the acknowledgment of how the balance of power has changed: it is becoming all the more plain.

Unfortunately the West is not very conversant in the logic of Russian revanchism, which is the following: the more concessions they make to us, the more we will demand!

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Minister Parts wants to bring Asia's air transit to Tallinn Airport

2009-10-11

Export and investment plan "Made in Estonia" intends to make Tallinn Airport a hub to Asian aviation companies, Eesti Päevaleht reports.

Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications sent an additional application together with 2010 budget, wanting the state to donate security service.

"It's really specific method to lower airport fees without bankrupting airport. I have no idea what the cabinet thinks of it, but it's financially not insuperable," he said. Rein Loik, the director of Tallinn Airport said that the plan has positive aspects.

"Airports have very high costs and it's possible to lower fees when transit grows," he said.

That would also create new jobs and bring tourists to the town.

"Those investments certainly justify themselves and tourist flow would support smaller Estonian routes as well," Loik said.

About 41 pct of aircrafts in Estonian air space are linked with transit between Europe and Asia.

Source: balticbusinessnews.com

Parts: Likeliness of joining euro is 70 pct

2009-10-02

Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications said that Estonia has 70% probability of fulfilling the Maastricht criteria.

"We have differently optimistic people in the government. I'm not that much of an optimist, but joining euro-zone /.../ is actually quite realistic," Parts said.

"I asked from colleague Ligi (Jürgen Ligi - Minister of Finance), what's his estimation. I will not tell what he said, but I say that reality of meeting the criteria is 70-30 today," Parts said.

He said that euro is a natural part of exiting the crisis.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Open letter: Europe must stand up for Georgia

2009-09-22

As Europe remembers the shame of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact of 1939 and the Munich agreement of 1938, and as it prepares to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall and the iron curtain in 1989, one question arises in our minds: Have we learned the lessons of history? Put another way, are we able to avoid repeating the mistakes that cast such a dark shadow over the 20th century?

To deplore or celebrate past events is a futile act if we remain blind to their lessons. Only if these events teach us how to act differently - and more wisely - do such commemorations have any value, The Guardian reports.

Looking at Europe today, it is abundantly clear that history has not come to an end and that it remains tragic. Twenty years after the emancipation of half of the continent, a new wall is being built in Europe - this time across the sovereign territory of Georgia.

This presents a major challenge for the citizens, institutions and governments of Europe. Are we willing to accept that the borders of a small country can be unilaterally changed by force? Are we willing to tolerate the de facto annexation of foreign territories by a larger power?

In order for the forthcoming historic commemorations to be meaningful both for Europe's collective identity and for its future, we urge the EU's 27 democratic leaders to define a proactive strategy to help Georgia peacefully regain its territorial integrity and obtain the withdrawal of Russian forces illegally stationed on Georgian soil.

Nobody wants a confrontation with Moscow or a return to the hostile atmosphere of the cold war. But, equally, it is essential that the EU and its member states send a clear and unequivocal message to the current leadership in Russia.

As the commission set up by the European Union and headed by Heidi Tagliavini prepares to publish its report on the causes of the Russian-Georgian war, we call on all Europeans to remember the painful lessons of our recent past.

First, a big power will always find or engineer a pretext to invade a neighbour whose independence it resents. We should remember that Hitler accused the Poles of commencing hostilities in 1939, just as Stalin pinned the blame on the Finns when he invaded their country in 1940. Similarly, in the case of Georgia and Russia, the critical question is to determine which country invaded the other, rather than which soldier shot the first bullet.

Second, the failure of western democracies to respond to the dismemberment of a friendly nation, albeit a small one, can have very serious global consequences.

The European Union was built against the temptation of Munich and the iron curtain. It would be utterly disastrous if we were to appear in any way to condone the kind of practices that plunged our continent into war and division for most of the last century. At stake is nothing less than the fate of the project to which we continue to dedicate our lives: the peaceful and democratic reunification of the European continent.

This open letter is written by: Vaclav Havel, Valdas Adamkus, Mart Laar, Vytautas Landsbergis, Otto de Habsbourg, Daniel Cohn Bendit, Timothy Garton Ash, André Glucksmann, Mark Leonard, Bernard-Henri Lévy, Adam Michnik, Josep Ramoneda

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

World War II 70 years ago

2009-09-17

September 2009 marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its Secret Protocol, signed on 23 August 1939, opened the way for a joint attack on Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, launched on 1 September 1939 and 17 September 1939 respectively.

The years of war that followed brought about the bloodiest tragedy in the history of mankind. Millions of people perished in the horrors of World War II, and several states lost their independence.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact places the responsibility for the outbreak of World War II on the shoulders of its two contracting states: Nazi Germany and Stalinist Soviet Union. Whereas both the international community and the post-war Germany condemned the crimes of National Socialism immediately after the end of World War II, the crimes of the Stalinist regime still remain to be unanimously condemned both at international level and by the Russian Federation. Conversely, the recent law of the Russian Federation made " falsification of history" a criminal offence.

Today the divergent view of history is showing the dividing lines within Europe with nearly unprecedented acuteness. As we know, the regained freedom and the opening of archives 20 years ago gave Eastern Europe back its suppressed memory, and this memory says that the crimes of communism were not one iota lesser than those of Nazism. In 2006, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly acknowledged this; this year the European Parliament and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly did so as well. Yet in spite of these clearly expressed positions, Russia is taking actions at the state level in order to justify the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939 and the illegal occupation and annexation of the Baltic States, which took place on a total of two occasions - at the beginning and at the end of the World War II. The rhetoric is aggressive, accusatory and menacing to Russia's neighbours. It has even accused Poland, the first victim of the war, of not giving in to "reasonable demands" on the part of Germany, thus throwing Europe out of an expected equilibrium.

One explanation mooted in mutual discussions by "bolder" Russian politicians as well as by those Western politicians who hesitate to condemn the crimes of communism, is simple: Russia's pride as a traditional empire was severely wounded by the collapse of the Soviet Union and every effort must be made to refrain from pouring salt on those wounds. But the only thing being sought here is the mere historical truth.

Could anyone imagine Hitler being extolled in today's Germany in the same manner in which Stalin is lauded in Russia? Stalin may have committed all sorts of crimes, it is conceded, but at least he put Russia back on its feet. No one would dare to use such demagoguery when talking about Hitler, even though there are ample historical parallels. While Russia still sees those who stood for Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian freedom as enemies, would it be imaginable for the French Resistance to be regarded as the enemy in today's Germany? Certainly not.

In fact today's Germany is a good example of how a clean break has been made with the legacy of totalitarianism and sphere-of-influence politics, in favour of a dedication to securing the future of Europe.

Lasting cooperation is unimaginable in Europe unless all sides come to view historical events in the same open and truthful way. It is time to understand that a proper assessment of the totalitarian communist past, and in particular of the Stalinist crimes, could lead to a deeper understanding and sound future integration of all European nations.

Add comment: www.herkel.net

Baltic Sea Strategy: A success story of the original Lisbon Strategy? Tunne Kelam MEP

2009-09-16

Speaking today in plenary on the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region, the EPP Spokesman on the topic, Tunne Kelam MEP, congratulated the Swedish Presidency on its leadership in starting to implement the Baltic Sea Strategy.

"Since 2004, the Baltic Sea has become an internal sea of the EU. The Strategy reflects a fundamental change which took place in this region five years ago and this is the reason the EU needs a comprehensive approach to react in a coordinated way to both the opportunities and challenges this new situation presents", said Tunne Kelam MEP.

The EPP Member recalled that the goal of the Strategy initiators was to turn the Baltic Sea area into one of the most competitive and rapidly-developing regions of the EU. "If we take the maximum use of the opportunities the Baltic Sea Strategy offers, this region could become a success story of the Lisbon
Strategy", said Kelam.

"Just now, the region needs more than ever better access to and security of energy markets", he underlined. "The alternative channels of energy deliveries are needed, first and foremost creating a united energy system around the Baltic Sea. The issue of the bilateral and primarily political Nord Stream project should be settled through respecting rightful interests of all states around the sea and certainly not before the Russian Government joins the Espoo Convention", stressed Tunne Kelam MEP.

The third priority should be to make full use of the excellent educational and scientific potential of the region in advancing research and innovation, including the establishment of a high quality international Baltic region university.

Veskimägi: I can't see government's euro-plan

2009-09-07

Taavi Veskimägi, who's leaving the Parliament and Pro Patria Union (IRL) said that he doesn't see the government has a plan how to join euro, ERR News reports.

He expressed hope that the euro will come on January 1, 2011.

"I'd hope that it'll come. But it should be asked from the government and the PM," former Minister of Finance said.

He noted that how Estonia is coming out of the crisis is depending on the government. He emphasized that the government doesn't know how to adapt euro.

"I can't see a plan. But perhaps it happens," he said.

He noted that this year the government is missing EEK 1.5 bln of necessary EEK 4 bln cut and now the situation is serious.

"To cut EEK 1.5 bln of state expenditures in the last quarter is quite difficult without making wrong decisions," he said.

Veskimägi said that he doesn't have an idea what the next year's budget will be like despite the fact that there is 3 months to the end of this budget period and new budget must be passed to the government by October 1.

"I don't know what budget of 2010 will be like," Veskimägi said.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Taavi Veskimägi leaves party and politics

2009-09-04

Taavi Veskimägi, member of Parliament and Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) who has decided to leave politics, will become the new CEO of Elering, Eesti Energia's power-grid operator, ERR News reports.

Veskimägi said he has decided to leave already now to prepare for new job.

"I want my leaving from politics to be undobious and not leave some questions in the air. The reason for my leaving isn't in politics, but energetics," Veskimägi said.

He'll start new job from December 1, after current CEO's Lembit Vali's contract has ended. Peep Soone and Kalle Kilk continue in the management boards.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

IRL doesn’t endorse Kallas in Brussels

2009-09-02

Mart Laar, the chairperson of Pro Patria and Res Publica union (IRL) said yesterday he rather sees an apolitical person or social democrat as a proxy in Brussels, Eesti Päevaleht reports.

At the same time it's excluded that reform Party agrees, since Siim Kallas, current proxy is a member of Reform Party.

"Estonian proxy must be able to endeavour true portfolio or subject, which we currently don't have. Kallas is one of few who don't have a subject, but Estonia doesn't truly benefit from his position as an vice president of the European Commission. We want that to change," Laar said.

The council of IRL said that the proxy of education, science or telecommunications would fit Estonia's profile.

PM Andrus Ansip, heard of Laar's views from a journalist.

"I can't comment views I haven't heard from Laar," Ansip said and noted that in his opinion Kallas is the best candidate.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Baltic States commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Baltic Way

2009-08-21

Tunne Kelam (EE), Sandra Kalniete (LV), Vytautas Landsbergis (LT)

On 23 August Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Baltic Way. On that day in 1989 the people of the three occupied Baltic States joined hands in an unprecedented action - a 600 km-long human chain from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius - demanding recognition of secret clauses in the Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939 and the re-establishment of the independence of the Baltic States.

The leader of the Lithuanian independence movement, Sąjūdis Vytautas Landsbergis MEP (EPP), stated: "The Baltic Way, the magnificent event of 23 August 1989, was both a commemoration and a demonstration. Around two million people joined their hands in a live chain from Vilnius to Tallinn via Riga, commemorating the tens of millions of victims of the Stalin-Hitler conspiracy, which began the Second World War 50 years before. They also expressed their will for the war to end and demanded peace and freedom in the last captive Baltic nations: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. This came very soon. A way was opened for the others under Soviet captivity as well. No surprise, then, that the Berlin Wall crumbled."

Sandra Kalniete MEP (EPP), who was a deputy Chairwoman of the Latvian Popular Front, said: "The Baltic Way was a powerful demonstration of solidarity among European nations, a quality that is very much needed in these times of uncertainty and economic downturn. I hope that the lessons of 1989 will inspire Europeans to meet the challenges of 2009."

"The Baltic nations today call on all EU member states to assess and unequivocally condemn the morally and politically disastrous results of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact. In light of the April 2009 European Parliament resolution on totalitarianism, we call on EU governments to mark August 23 every year officially as a day of remembrance for all victims of totalitarian regimes. The liberation of Soviet-occupied Estonia Latvia and Lithuania started on August 23, 1987 with the citizens' quest for the truth about the secret protocols of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. This truth should become the common legacy of all citizens of Europe . Only in this way can we prevent such tragedies from happening again in the future," concluded one of the leaders of the independence movement in Estonia, Tunne Kelam MEP (EPP).

The Baltic Way was a phenomenon that showed how three small countries, regardless of their unique national characters, created a cross-national spiritual synergy for a common goal - to overcome the consequences of World War II and to destroy totalitarian regimes. It resulted in the regained independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 1990-1991.

For further information:
Kaja Sorg, EPP Press Service, Tel: +32-476-541013
Girts Salmgriezis. EPP Press Service, Tel: +32-477-800343
Zivile Didzgalviene, EPP Press Service, Tel: +32-475-751627

Laar: CEE is thinking with its head

2009-08-14

Mart Laar, chairman of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) wrote in his blog that the open letter leaders of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) sent to the US President Barack Obama shows that CEE is still able to think with its own head, delfi.ee writes.

"When I was contacted some time ago to tell that Philip H. Gordon, who is visiting CEE wishes to meet me separately during his short visit to Tallinn, then I was glad. As seen, the letter CEE sent to President Obama has had some influence," Laar wrote.

It's no wonder since when such people like Vaclav Havel and Lech Valesa humiliate their people, it's not easy to pay no attention to it. This letter shows, among other things, that CEE is still able to think with its own head, in other words approve those steps which seem rational and right, and tell their opinion. Adding public diplomacy to official diplomacy is practical step at this point, Laar note.

The main subject of the meeting between Laar and Gordon was the very same letter.

"It was good to see that first it is taken seriously - the meeting was a good sign in itself. And although the conversation was, as diplomatic language says, "open," it was useful and interesting to hear US explanations of their plans. In the end we admitted that it was beneficial to both parties, just like the letter to Obama, Laar wrote.

Yesterday Eesti Ekspress published a blog entry by Jaan Kaplinski, a writer and member of Social Democratic Party, where he doesn't agree with the letter. Kaplinski said it's humiliating him as a citizen of open democratic country.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Parts: economic recovery is depending on three things

2009-08-12

Who knows if Estonian economy has bottomed since it's depending on three things and one of them is not depeding on us, Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications told aripaev.ee.

"Recovery and calming of foreign markets in the US and nearer regions is not depending on us. By the way, I gues you've noticed that more positive news come from US than from Finland," Parts said.

Other important things is how we can keep our country's monetary system reliable and in order.

"And the third thing is not measurable in numbers. It's activity. It seems to me that active entrepreneurs and complete society have started operating and seeking for new option. There are many adaption decisions made. True, time will tell if they're good enough," Parts said.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Es gibt weniger Freiheit als vor fünf Jahren

2009-07-27

Der Fall der inhaftierten Jugendaktivisten beweist für den Europarat-Beobachter Andres Herkel, dass das Regime mehr und mehr auf Repression setzt - Interview

Der Berichterstatter des Europarats für Aserbaidschan, Andres Herkel, beobachtet seit 2004 ein zunehmend problematisches Land: Das Öl- und Gasgeschäft hat die Staatsmacht in Aserbaidschan nur stärker gemacht, stellt der estnische Politiker im Gespräch mit Markus Bernath fest. Auf Kosten der politischen Freiheit, wie der jüngste Fall der zwei jungen inhaftierten Bürgerrechtler zeigt.

Standard: Hat es Sie überrascht, dass die aserbaidschanische Regierung nun auch junge Bürgerrechtsaktivisten ins Visier nimmt, Internetblogger, die nicht mit den traditionellen Oppositionsparteien oder deren Zeitungen verbunden sind?

Herkel: Ich habe das nicht erwartet. Die Probleme mit den Medien in Aserbaidschan sind andererseits bekannt. Als Berichterstatter des Europarats für dieses Land muss ich sagen, dass es weniger Freiheit als vor fünf Jahren gibt. Dieser Fall ist sehr typisch für das, was Journalisten in Aserbaidschan passieren kann.

Standard: Die Richter in Baku haben in einem Berufungsverfahren die zweimonatige Untersuchungshaft gegen Adnan Hajizadeh und Emin Milli aufrechterhalten. Ein Prozess wird folgen. Wie wird das alles enden?

Herkel: Das ist schwer abzuschätzen. Für das Land wäre es das Beste, keine solche schlechte Werbung zu haben. Journalisten, die im Gefängnis sitzen, sind für eine Regierung immer unangenehmer als jene, die in Freiheit sind und arbeiten. Ähnliches widerfuhr zuvor schon anderen - Ganimat Zakhidow zum Beispiel, einem der renommiertesten Journalisten in Aserbaidschan, der auf der Straße angegriffen wurde. Das war ein äußerst zweifelhafter Vorfall. Die übliche Erklärung der Behörden ist dann, dass diese Vorfälle nicht mit der journalistischen Tätigkeit des Verhafteten zusammenhängen. Einen Journalisten kann man leicht einmal wegen "Hooliganismus" anklagen.

Standard: Die landesweite Unterstützung für Präsident Ilham Aliew ist zu keinem Zeitpunkt in den vergangenen Jahren wirklich ins Wanken gekommen. Dennoch greifen die Behörden immer wieder zu plumpen Methoden, um Stimmauszählungen zu korrigieren oder Kritiker mundtot zu machen. Wie erklären Sie sich das? Fühlt sich das Regime nicht sicher?

Herkel: Das ist eine Frage, die man in einem größeren Zusammenhang sehen muss. Aserbaidschan war vor 100 Jahren das erste muslimische Land, das eine Demokratie nach heutigem westlichen Standard einführte. Das hatte nur kurze Zeit Bestand, doch die Gesellschaft war für damalige Verhältnisse durchaus fortschrittlich. Die zweite Unabhängigkeit im Jahr 1991, als die Aserbaidschaner tatsächlich alle Möglichkeiten hatten, brachte ein Gefühl der Enttäuschung: Der Krieg mit Armenien und innere Unruhen kennzeichneten die ersten Jahre. Heute nutzt die Regierung die Einnahmen aus dem Öl- und Gasgeschäft, doch gleichzeitig sind die wirtschaftlichen Verhältnisse ärmlich.

Aber das Problem mit Aserbaidschan ist größer. Schauen Sie in Richtung Russland - das ist der entscheidende Punkt. Russlands kontrollierte Form von Demokratie gibt es auch in Aserbaidschan und in einigen anderen Staaten des früheren sowjetischen Raums. Die Lage im Europarat, dem Aserbaidschan seit 2001 angehört und wo es Verpflichtungen hat, ist kompliziert, weil es eben einen viel größeren, mächtigen Mitgliedsstaat gibt. Einen, der militärische Aggressionen ausübt, einen Krieg gegen Georgien geführt hat. Diese Dinge drücken die politischen Standards hinunter.

Standard: Untergräbt das nicht die Glaubwürdigkeit des Europarats oder auch der OSZE?

Herkel: In gewissem Maß, ja. Aber man muss das in der historischen Perspektive sehen. Der Europarat hat nach dem Fall der Berliner Mauer viele neue Mitglieder erhalten, und für eine internationale Organisation ist das immer ein Problem. Wir haben einen Mechanismus zur Beobachtung von Ländern geschaffen, wir verfolgen, in wie weit rechtsstaatliche Reformen umgesetzt werden. In Osteuropa war das erfolgreich, nicht so aber im Südkaukasus und in Russland. Als Berichterstatter für Aserbaidschan muss ich sagen, dass wir hier noch sehr weit entfernt sind vom Abschluss der Beobachtung. Die meisten politischen Gefangenen wurden in den vergangenen Jahren freigelassen, gleichzeitig ist der Staat aber durch die Einnahmen aus dem Ölgeschäft immer stärker geworden. Der Nebeneffekt: Es gibt heute weniger Raum für freie Meinungsäußerung als vor fünf Jahren, als ich mein Mandat für Aserbaidschan übernahm. Die Gesellschaft wird immer abgeschlossener, kontrollierter.

Herkel: Aserbaidschan ratifiziert Konventionen des Europarats, doch der Fortschritt ist eher formal. Eine der unangenehmsten Überraschungen war dabei das Referendum zur Verfassungsänderung im vergangenen März. Wir haben die Regierung gefragt: Warum haben Sie die Empfehlungen der Venedig-Kommission nicht berücksichtigt? Diese Kommission von Juristen zu Verfassungsfragen hatte sehr schnell eine Einschätzung zur geplanten Gesetzesänderung abgegeben - eine kritische Einschätzung. Doch das Referendum wurde wenige Tage nach der Veröffentlichung des Kommissionsurteils abgehalten. Es war zu spät zu für Änderungen. Bei einem Besuch in Baku habe ich dem Parlamentspräsidenten dann gesagt, es wäre wohl besser, sich vorher zu beraten.

Standard: Wenn kein Lernerfolg sichtbar ist und die bürgerlichen Freiheiten immer weiter beschnitten werden, ist es dann nicht Zeit für den Europarat, über Konsequenzen nachzudenken? Etwa eine Suspendierung der Mitgliedschaft eines Landes ins Auge zu fassen?

Herkel: Das ist eine sehr heikle Angelegenheit. Im Fall Russlands ist das erwogen worden, und nach dem Beginn des zweiten Tschetschenienkriegs von 1999 auch kurzzeitig erfolgt. Suspendierung ist dabei ein zu starker Begriff. Es geht um die Aussetzung des Stimmrechts einer Delegation in der parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarats. Nach den sehr problematischen Parlamentswahlen in Aserbaidschan vom November 2005 ist ebenfalls die Frage einer solcher Suspendierung im Europarat aufgekommen. Persönlich bin ich der Meinung, erst recht nach dem Krieg in Georgien, dass wir stärker zu unseren Grundprinzipien stehen müssen. Ich schließe nicht die Möglichkeit aus, dass wir einen solchen Schritt gegenüber der Russischen Föderation ergreifen, vor allem, weil bestimmte Resolutionen nicht erfüllt wurden. Danach können wir uns mit der Frage anderer Mitgliedsstaaten wie Aserbaidschan beschäftigen. Unser Engagement für unser Werte und Standards würde dann sehr viel überzeugender sein. (Markus Bernath, derStandard.at, 27.7.2009)

ZUR PERSON: Andres Herkel (46) ist seit 2004 Berichterstatter der Parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarats für Aserbaidschan. Er gehört seit 1999 dem estnischen Parlament an und ist Mitglied der rechtskonservativen Vaterlandsunion. (www.herkel.net, www.coe.int)

Leaders of CEE sent an open letter to Barack Obama

2009-07-16

We have written this letter because, as Central and Eastern European (CEE) intellectuals and former policymakers, we care deeply about the future of the transatlantic relationship as well as the future quality of relations between the United States and the countries of our region. We write in our personal capacity as individuals who are friends and allies of the United States as well as committed Europeans, says the letter to US President Barack Obama, which has been signed by more than 20 CEE opinion leaders and politicians, including Mart Laar (chairman of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union) and Kadri Liik (the director of International Centre for Defence Studies).

Our nations are deeply indebted to the United States. Many of us know firsthand how important your support for our freedom and independence was during the dark Cold War years. U.S. engagement and support was essential for the success of our democratic transitions after the Iron Curtain fell twenty years ago. Without Washington's vision and leadership, it is doubtful that we would be in NATO and even the EU today.

We have worked to reciprocate and make this relationship a two-way street. We are Atlanticist voices within NATO and the EU. Our nations have been engaged alongside the United States in the Balkans, Iraq, and today in Afghanistan. While our contribution may at times seem modest compared to your own, it is significant when measured as a percentage of our population and GDP. Having benefited from your support for liberal democracy and liberal values in the past, we have been among your strongest supporters when it comes to promoting democracy and human rights around the world.

Twenty years after the end of the Cold War, however, we see that Central and Eastern European countries are no longer at the heart of American foreign policy. As the new Obama Administration sets its foreign-policy priorities, our region is one part of the world that Americans have largely stopped worrying about. Indeed, at times we have the impression that U.S. policy was so successful that many American officials have now concluded that our region is fixed once and for all and that they could "check the box" and move on to other more pressing strategic issues. Relations have been so close that many on both sides assume that the region's transatlantic orientation, as well as its stability and prosperity, would last forever.

That view is premature. All is not well either in our region or in the transatlantic relationship. Central and Eastern Europe is at a political crossroads and today there is a growing sense of nervousness in the region. The global economic crisis is impacting on our region and, as elsewhere, runs the risk that our societies will look inward and be less engaged with the outside world. At the same time, storm clouds are starting to gather on the foreign policy horizon. Like you, we await the results of the EU Commission's investigation on the origins of the Russo-Georgian war. But the political impact of that war on the region has already been felt. Many countries were deeply disturbed to see the Atlantic alliance stand by as Russia violated the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris, and the territorial integrity of a country that was a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace and the Euroatlantic Partnership Council -all in the name of defending a sphere of influence on its borders.

Despite the efforts and significant contribution of the new members, NATO today seems weaker than when we joined. In many of our countries it is perceived as less and less relevant - and we feel it. Although we are full members, people question whether NATO would be willing and able to come to our defense in some future crises. Europe's dependence on Russian energy also creates concern about the cohesion of the Alliance. President Obama's remark at the recent NATO summit on the need to provide credible defense plans for all Alliance members was welcome, but not sufficient to allay fears about the Alliance´s defense readiness. Our ability to continue to sustain public support at home for our contributions to Alliance missions abroad also depends on us being able to show that our own security concerns are being addressed in NATO and close cooperation with the United States

We must also recognize that America's popularity and influence have fallen in many of our countries as well. Public opinions polls, including the German Marshall Fund's own Transatlantic Trends survey, show that our region has not been immune to the wave of criticism and anti-Americanism that has swept Europe in recent years and which led to a collapse in sympathy and support for the United States during the Bush years. Some leaders in the region have paid a political price for their support of the unpopular war in Iraq. In the future they may be more careful in taking political risks to support the United States. We believe that the onset of a new Administration has created a new opening to reverse this trend but it will take time and work on both sides to make up for what we have lost.

In many ways the EU has become the major factor and institution in our lives. To many people it seems more relevant and important today than the link to the United States. To some degree it is a logical outcome of the integration of Central and Eastern Europe into the EU. Our leaders and officials spend much more time in EU meetings than in consultations with Washington, where they often struggle to attract attention or make our voices heard. The region's deeper integration in the EU is of course welcome and should not necessarily lead to a weakening of the transatlantic relationship. The hope was that integration of Central and Eastern Europe into the EU would actually strengthen the strategic cooperation between Europe and America.

However, there is a danger that instead of being a pro-Atlantic voice in the EU, support for a more global partnership with Washington in the region might wane over time. The region does not have the tradition of assuming a more global role. Some items on the transatlantic agenda, such as climate change, do not resonate in the Central and Eastern European publics to the same extent as they do in Western Europe.

Leadership change is also coming in Central and Eastern Europe. Next to those, there are fewer and fewer leaders who emerged from the revolutions of 1989 who experienced Washington's key role in securing our democratic transition and anchoring our countries in NATO and EU. A new generation of leaders is emerging who do not have these memories and follow a more "realistic" policy. At the same time, the former Communist elites, whose insistence on political and economic power significantly contributed to the crises in many CEE countries, gradually disappear from the political scene. The current political and economic turmoil and the fallout from the global economic crisis provide additional opportunities for the forces of nationalism, extremism, populism, and anti-Semitism across the continent but also in some our countries.

This means that the United States is likely to lose many of its traditional interlocutors in the region. The new elites replacing them may not share the idealism - or have the same relationship to the United States - as the generation who led the democratic transition. They may be more calculating in their support of the United States as well as more parochial in their world view. And in Washington a similar transition is taking place as many of the leaders and personalities we have worked with and relied on are also leaving politics.

And then there is the issue of how to deal with Russia. Our hopes that relations with Russia would improve and that Moscow would finally fully accept our complete sovereignty and independence after joining NATO and the EU have not been fulfilled. Instead, Russia is back as a revisionist power pursuing a 19th-century agenda with 21st-century tactics and methods. At a global level, Russia has become, on most issues, a status-quo power. But at a regional level and vis-à-vis our nations, it increasingly acts as a revisionist one. It challenges our claims to our own historical experiences. It asserts a privileged position in determining our security choices. It uses overt and covert means of economic warfare, ranging from energy blockades and politically motivated investments to bribery and media manipulation in order to advance its interests and to challenge the transatlantic orientation of Central and Eastern Europe.

We welcome the "reset" of the American-Russian relations. As the countries living closest to Russia, obviously nobody has a greater interest in the development of the democracy in Russia and better relations between Moscow and the West than we do. But there is also nervousness in our capitals. We want to ensure that too narrow an understanding of Western interests does not lead to the wrong concessions to Russia. Today the concern is, for example, that the United States and the major European powers might embrace the Medvedev plan for a "Concert of Powers" to replace the continent's existing, value-based security structure. The danger is that Russia's creeping intimidation and influence-peddling in the region could over time lead to a de facto neutralization of the region. There are differing views within the region when it comes to Moscow's new policies. But there is a shared view that the full engagement of the United States is needed.

Many in the region are looking with hope to the Obama Administration to restore the Atlantic relationship as a moral compass for their domestic as well as foreign policies. A strong commitment to common liberal democratic values is essential to our countries. We know from our own historical experience the difference between when the United States stood up for its liberal democratic values and when it did not. Our region suffered when the United States succumbed to "realism" at Yalta. And it benefited when the United States used its power to fight for principle. That was critical during the Cold War and in opening the doors of NATO. Had a "realist" view prevailed in the early 1990s, we would not be in NATO today and the idea of a Europe whole, free, and at peace would be a distant dream.

We understand the heavy demands on your Administration and on U.S. foreign policy. It is not our intent to add to the list of problems you face. Rather, we want to help by being strong Atlanticist allies in a U.S.-European partnership that is a powerful force for good around the world. But we are not certain where our region will be in five or ten years time given the domestic and foreign policy uncertainties we face. We need to take the right steps now to ensure the strong relationship between the United States and Central and Eastern Europe over the past twenty years will endure.

We believe this is a time both the United States and Europe need to reinvest in the transatlantic relationship. We also believe this is a time when the United States and Central and Eastern Europe must reconnect around a new and forward-looking agenda. While recognizing what has been achieved in the twenty years since the fall of the Iron Curtain, it is time to set a new agenda for close cooperation for the next twenty years across the Atlantic.

Therefore, we propose the following steps:

First, we are convinced that America needs Europe and that Europe needs the United States as much today as in the past. The United States should reaffirm its vocation as a European power and make clear that it plans to stay fully engaged on the continent even while it faces the pressing challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the wider Middle East, and Asia. For our part we must work at home in our own countries and in Europe more generally to convince our leaders and societies to adopt a more global perspective and be prepared to shoulder more responsibility in partnership with the United States.

Second, we need a renaissance of NATO as the most important security link between the United States and Europe. It is the only credible hard power security guarantee we have. NATO must reconfirm its core function of collective defense even while we adapt to the new threats of the 21st century. A key factor in our ability to participate in NATO's expeditionary missions overseas is the belief that we are secure at home. We must therefore correct some self-inflicted wounds from the past. It was a mistake not to commence with proper Article 5 defense planning for new members after NATO was enlarged. NATO needs to make the Alliance's commitments credible and provide strategic reassurance to all members. This should include contingency planning, prepositioning of forces, equipment, and supplies for reinforcement in our region in case of crisis as originally envisioned in the NATO-Russia Founding Act.

We should also re-think the working of the NATO-Russia Council and return to the practice where NATO member countries enter into dialogue with Moscow with a coordinated position. When it comes to Russia, our experience has been that a more determined and principled policy toward Moscow will not only strengthen the West's security but will ultimately lead Moscow to follow a more cooperative policy as well. Furthermore, the more secure we feel inside NATO, the easier it will also be for our countries to reach out to engage Moscow on issues of common interest. That is the dual track approach we need and which should be reflected in the new NATO strategic concept.

Third, the thorniest issue may well be America's planned missile-defense installations. Here too, there are different views in the region, including among our publics which are divided. Regardless of the military merits of this scheme and what Washington eventually decides to do, the issue has nevertheless also become -- at least in some countries -- a symbol of America's credibility and commitment to the region. How it is handled could have a significant impact on their future transatlantic orientation. The small number of missiles involved cannot be a threat to Russia's strategic capabilities, and the Kremlin knows this. We should decide the future of the program as allies and based on the strategic plusses and minuses of the different technical and political configurations. The Alliance should not allow the issue to be determined by unfounded Russian opposition. Abandoning the program entirely or involving Russia too deeply in it without consulting Poland or the Czech Republic can undermine the credibility of the United States across the whole region.

Fourth, we know that NATO alone is not enough. We also want and need more Europe and a better and more strategic U.S.-EU relationship as well. Increasingly our foreign policies are carried out through the European Union - and we support that. We also want a common European foreign and defense policy that is open to close cooperation with the United States. We are the advocates of such a line in the EU. But we need the United States to rethink its attitude toward the EU and engage it much more seriously as a strategic partner. We need to bring NATO and the EU closer together and make them work in tandem. We need common NATO and EU strategies not only toward Russia but on a range of other new strategic challenges.

Fifth is energy security. The threat to energy supplies can exert an immediate influence on our nations' political sovereignty also as allies contributing to common decisions in NATO. That is why it must also become a transatlantic priority. Although most of the responsibility for energy security lies within the realm of the EU, the United States also has a role to play. Absent American support, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline would never have been built. Energy security must become an integral part of U.S.-European strategic cooperation. Central and Eastern European countries should lobby harder (and with more unity) inside Europe for diversification of the energy mix, suppliers, and transit routes, as well as for tough legal scrutiny of Russia's abuse of its monopoly and cartel-like power inside the EU. But American political support on this will play a crucial role. Similarly, the United States can play an important role in solidifying further its support for the Nabucco pipeline, particularly in using its security relationship with the main transit country, Turkey, as well as the North-South interconnector of Central Europe and LNG terminals in our region.

Sixth, we must not neglect the human factor. Our next generations need to get to know each other, too. We have to cherish and protect the multitude of educational, professional, and other networks and friendships that underpin our friendship and alliance. The U.S. visa regime remains an obstacle in this regard. It is absurd that Poland and Romania -- arguably the two biggest and most pro-American states in the CEE region, which are making substantial contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan -- have not yet been brought into the visa waiver program. It is incomprehensible that a critic like the French anti-globalization activist Jose Bove does not require a visa for the United States but former Solidarity activist and Nobel Peace prizewinner Lech Walesa does. This issue will be resolved only if it is made a political priority by the President of the United States.

The steps we made together since 1989 are not minor in history. The common successes are the proper foundation for the transatlantic renaissance we need today. This is why we believe that we should also consider the creation of a Legacy Fellowship for young leaders. Twenty years have passed since the revolutions of 1989. That is a whole generation. We need a new generation to renew the transatlantic partnership. A new program should be launched to identify those young leaders on both sides of the Atlantic who can carry forward the transatlantic project we have spent the last two decades building in Central and Eastern Europe.

In conclusion, the onset of a new Administration in the United States has raised great hopes in our countries for a transatlantic renewal. It is an opportunity we dare not miss. We, the authors of this letter, know firsthand how important the relationship with the United States has been. In the 1990s, a large part of getting Europe right was about getting Central and Eastern Europe right. The engagement of the United States was critical to locking in peace and stability from the Baltics to the Black Sea. Today the goal must be to keep Central and Eastern Europe right as a stable, activist, and Atlanticist part of our broader community.

That is the key to our success in bringing about the renaissance in the Alliance the Obama Administration has committed itself to work for and which we support. That will require both sides recommitting to and investing in this relationship. But if we do it right, the pay off down the road can be very real. By taking the right steps now, we can put it on new and solid footing for the future.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Minister to make border queues for trucks priced

2009-06-29

Last week Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications introduces an idea at the government, according to which long queues in the border points would be replaced with paid booking, E24.ee reports.

Rasmus Ruuda, the PR-advisor at the Ministry said that first border point to get such an order would be Luhamaa. Things will change as soon as the parking lot will be ready-

"New order means that carrier may book border-crossing time before, cross it on agreed time and save time and money," Ruuda said.

Next it will be in Narva border point, but that assumes that a parking lot will be ready in Sillamäe. The parking lot will be built by the state and Port of Sillamäe.

The parking lots will be managed by a private company, but state supports construction process. Booking a border-crossing time is charged for the company.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Veskimägi: The government is not cutting the budget, but thinking of new incomes

2009-06-01

Currently the government is not cutting the budget, but is thinking of ways to get new incomes, Taavi Veskimägi, the former Minister of Finance told ERR News.

"Estonia should cut about EEK 7.5-8 bln in addition for first, EEK 6.8 bln budget cut, to meet Maastricht budget deficit criterion. And I emphasize, to cut, for what government does today is not cutting, but thinking of ways to get new income," Veskimägi said.

He said that there can't be a single area left out when discussing budget cutting options.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Mart Laar’s chances to become the new PM are improving

2009-05-22

IRL chairman Mart Laar who has already been the PM twice could be heading for the job again, writes Äripäev.

The statement made by President Toomas Hendrik Ilves yesterday in which he said that after accepting to recall three cabinet ministers of Social Democrats, he would like to see a new government and a new PM.

This shows that there is no quick fix for the government crisis and with all likelihood current PM Andrus Ansip must make way for a new head of government.

The worst case scenario is that the Reform Party will go into opposition after 10 years on power. If this happens, they should blame only themselves for it.

In the opinion of Äripäev, the best positioned for becoming the next prime minister is Mart Laar, chairman of IRL.

IRL may get new energy from President's statement and look for new partners. In effect, the end result now depends on IRL and Centre Party.

It may well be that the President spoiled the clever scheme of the Reform Party that hoped to quietly replace Social Democrats with People's Union in the three-party coalition. This has given IRL the opportunity to say that even the President wants to see a new head of government.

The big question now is whether IRL is interested and motivated enough to take the leadership in these tough times.

To have a majority government, IRL needs either Reform Party or Centre Party. The big question is whether IRL is ready to team up with Centre Party and its leader Edgar Savisaar. If Centre Party wishes to add more partners there are Social Democrats and People's Union.

Source: www.balticbusinessnews.com

Parts: investments are necessary

2009-05-08

Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts said that investments into Estonia are necessary at the moment, as a rebuttal the news that the Finnish energy company Vapo might choose Estonia as a location for building a big biodiesel plant, aripaev.ee writes.

At the same time Parts admitted that he heard about Vapo's plan for the first time. "Nobody has contacted the ministry directly," he said.

Parts assured that the ministry is trying to encourage such foreign investments. "If they needed any kind of support then there are things that the government can offer from our side," said Parts and admitted that countries investing into neighboring countries don't often need help.

Parts added that since he's going to be at the annual Estonia day in Helsinki tomorrow then he might get a chance to enquire about Vapo's plans. "I'm going to have several work-related meetings in Helsinki and I'm also participating at a conference that deals with the economic situation both here and over the Finnish Gulf," said Parts.

Kauppalehti wrote that Vapo is planning to build a 500 billion kroons biodiesel plant and that one of the location under consideration is Estonia.

Sirley Salk
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Laar: by supporting entrepreneurship we’ll keep jobs

2009-05-07

The leader of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union Mart Laar said today during a parliament session while the draft bill for changing the law concerning the support for entrepreneurs and the government being the guarantor for loans , that by supporting entrepreneurship and keeping jobs enables us to come out of the crisis and not forcing new payments on entrepreneurs, postimees.ee writes.

"I'm glad to say that the other side of the packet of livening the economy that has been discussed for a while now, has reached the final stretch in the government-after violent but constructive arguments it is agreed that it will be accepted in the near future," said Laar.

He expressed his happiness for the government being able to continually make the right decisions in hard times.

According to Laar, facing a global financial crisis, growing unemployment and the difficult situation families are in, creates a possibility for the economy and entrepreneurship to renew.
“For that to happen, Estonia must find the inner strength and determination to balance the state budget and to support entrepreneurship,” he said.

Sirley Salk
www.balticbusinessnews.com

EPP-ED Presidency, Tallinn: Security and Solidarity key messages for Estonia and the Baltic Region

2009-04-17

"The security of our citizens and solidarity, especially in this time of financial crises, must remain our core objectives", declared Joseph Daul MEP, Chairman of the EPP-ED Group, at the concluding press conference of the EPP-ED Group Presidency and Heads of National Delegations meeting in Tallinn this morning. "Europe showed its practical support during the cyber attacks in April 2007 on Estonia, which was a real attack aimed at damaging Estonia and its economy, and Europe will continue to support its Member States against any such attacks in the future", declared Chairman Daul.

Joseph Daul congratulated the Estonian Government Ministers present at the meeting on their decision to continue on the road to join the Eurozone. This decision is certainly in the best interests of the Estonian people and the government must be congratulated for its courage to continue on this road despite the current unprecedented financial crisis.

In his remarks, Tunne Kelam MEP said that the main conclusion of the debates was that the success of the Baltic Sea Strategy needs the active participation of Germany and Poland. "I would like to also stress my support for the idea of creating a world class Baltic region university. As for relations with Russia, the EU should become more aware of its own potential and values. The problem lies not in Russia. The problem to be solved is to agree on a united EU policy towards Russia, which should insist on Russia fully meeting its international commitments and turning more attention to contacts with Russian civil society".

Click here to read the conclusions of the meeting.

Robert Fitzhenry, Head of the EPP-ED Press Service, Tel: +32-475-493356

Notes to Editors:
The EPP-ED Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament with 288 Members from all 27 Member States.

EPP-ED Presidency, Tallinn: EU-Russia relations - ''We must be firm but open''

2009-04-16

Opening the session of the EPP-ED Presidency meeting in Tallinn on EU-Russia relations, Gunnar Hökmark MEP, Vice-Chairman of the EPP-ED Group, said that relations with Russia need to be both firm and open. He said that Russia had changed much since the days of the Soviet Union preferring soft power to hard power. However, Russia was still prepared to use hard power as demonstrated in Georgia last August.

The Director of the Baltic Centre for Russian Studies, Vladimir Jushkin, outlined the substantial influence of the Russian Secret Service in the government of Russia. Former Secret Service agents are present and active in the major power centres in Moscow. Some analyists claim that the current leadership will be in power in Moscow until 2024. He also dealt with the problem of Russian immigration - about 100,000 Russians, mostly highly-educated, are leaving every year and the Russian populations in the Baltics, for example, are not returning to Russia despite the pleas of the Russian leadership. They feel that their civil and human rights are better protected in Estonia and in other EU countries than in Russia itself. In conclusion, he said that many Russians shared our European values and we must encourage them to promote these values.

Mart Helme, Former Estonian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, said that Russia treats the EU as a minor partner and tries to deal with the individual states rather than the EU as such. Russia sees itself as being different and wants to be treated differently. The EU response must be to have a common Russian policy - a full European Foreign Policy is not possible unless we have a clear and common approach to Russia and strengthen the Euro-Atlantic relationship. We must stop making exceptions for Russia and make sure that it fulfills its international obligations.

Mr Helme considered that the current financial crisis presents Russia with a great problem and that there are also huge demographic and infrastructure problems. Whilst the EU must be ready to cooperate and help Russia, we cannot be dominated by Russia and allow them to set the agenda. We must use the experiences of Russia's near neighbours including Estonia, Poland and others to guide us in the development of a common policy towards Russia.

Chairman of the EU Affairs Committee in the Estonian Parliament, Marko Mihkelson, said that relations over the last 20 years with Russia had not been easy. However, five years of EU Membership has improved the confidence of Estonia and the aim now is to create normal relations with all neighbours including Russia. We must at all times seek a relationship based on trust and mutal interest. We must develop this relationship based on full respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law - our values. He concluded that Europe must be united and consistent in its policy towards Russia.

Following a lively debate, Jacek Saryusz Wolski MEP, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the European Parliament, summed up the debate by saying that we need a pro-Russian policy, pro the Russia of Sakharov and Politkovskaya. He too felt that the European Union has to succeed in its Russian policy which he described as a keystone of European Foreign Policy. A great number of Russians share our values and belong to our civilisation and therefore we need a policy that is both realistic, compassionate and long term. Saryusz-Wolski reminded his audience that we must engage with the democratic and civil society. The Solidarity Movement in Poland was started by only 17 people but turned into a movement of 10 million people and changed Poland forever. He called on the EPP political family to be at the forefront of Russian policy and not leave this key responsibility in the hands of the Left.

For further information:
Robert Fitzhenry, Head of the EPP-ED Press Service, Tel: +32-475-493356

Notes to Editors:
The EPP-ED Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament with 288 Members from all 27 Member States.

EPP-ED Presidency, Tallinn: Security, EU-Russia, Baltic Sea Strategy, Cyber Defence on the agenda

2009-04-16

The meeting of the EPP-ED Presidency and Heads of National Delegations opened this morning in Tallinn with welcome messages from Joseph Daul MEP, Chairman of the EPP-ED Group, Tunne Kelam MEP, Head of the Estonian Delegation, and Mart Laar, Chairman of the Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit (IRL) Party and former Prime Minister of Estonia.

Joseph Daul said it was symbolic that this meeting was taking place 5 years almost to the day of Estonian accession to the European Union and 60 years after the deportation to Siberia of some 100,000 Estonian and other Baltic country citizens. Referring to the current economic crisis, he said that Europe must protect without becoming protectionist and we must promote the social market economy to bring Europe through this crisis.

Tunne Kelam MEP welcomed the EPP-ED Members to Tallinn and recalled the spirit of solidarity that the EPP-ED political family has always shown towards Estonia; he referred in particular to the support of the EPP-ED two years ago during the foreign-inspired riots in Estonia and more recently when the EPP-ED successfully promoted a Resolution, adopted by the European Parliament, on the crimes of criminal dictatorships. Concluding his remarks, Mr Kelam said that in all areas of policy - security, economic and social - the EPP-ED was best equipped to lead Europe out of the economic crisis.

Mart Laar, Chairman of the IRL, welcomed the Members of the European Parliament and said that the continuing solidarity of Europe's largest political family was much appreciated in Estonia. Looking back, he said that the EPP-ED Group was almost the only political group to defend human rights and democracy and work for the reunification of Europe. Without this support, EU enlargement could not have taken place so quickly and successfully. The EPP-ED has shown its solidarity in real concrete acts over the years. "The EPP-ED is still the driving force of Europe", he concluded.

The meeting continues in Tallinn with debates on Europe's external borders and relations with Russia today and sessions on the Baltic Sea Strategy and Internet Security on Friday.

For further information:
Robert Fitzhenry, Head of the EPP-ED Press Service, Tel: +32-475-493356

Notes to Editors:
The EPP-ED Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament with 288 Members from all 27 Member States.

EPP-ED Presidency meets in Tallinn

2009-04-15

The EPP-ED Group Presidency and Heads of National Delegations will meet in Tallinn, Estonia, from 16-17 April 2009 on the invitation of Tunne Kelam MEP, Head of the Estonian Delegation of the EPP-ED Group. The main debates will focus on the security of citizens; the EU's external borders, EU-Russia relations, the Baltic Sea Strategy and cyber defence.

The Presidency, including the Group Chairman Joseph Daul, and the Heads of National Delegations will be addressed by the former Prime Minister and current Chairman of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, Mart Laar. The debate on Thursday will focus on EU-Russia relations.

The first debate on Friday will discuss the perspectives of the Baltic Sea Strategy which is of the utmost importance for the region's development. The Baltic Sea Strategy will also be one of the priorities under the Swedish Presidency. The Estonian Minister for Economic Affairs and Communications, Juhan Parts, will be among the key speakers on this panel.

The second panel on Friday focuses on cyber defence. Estonia, as one of the leading Internet countries in Europe, was heavily hit by the massive cyber attacks two years ago. Estonian Minister for Defence, Jaak Aaviksoo, is among the key speakers on the issue.

The meeting will be open to the media. Journalist accreditation will take place from 08.30 hrs on Thursday morning (16 April) at the entry of the Swissotel (Tornimae 3, Tallinn).

For further information:
Joseph Daul MEP, Tel: +32-2-2847525
Antoine Ripoll, Chairman's Spokesman, Tel: +32-475-856290
Kaja Sorg, EPP-ED Press Service, Tel: +372-533-08148; +32-475-6541013

Notes to Editors:
The EPP-ED Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament with 288 Members from all 27 Member States.

The street is no place for constitutional democracy

2009-04-15

The week-long protests in Moldova and Georgia - the latter in particular - should compel us to ask hard questions about the substance and aims of street politics. Even a cursory glance tells us that there is a world of difference between these protests and Estonia's Singing Revolution and their multihued brethren. Back then and in movements such as the Orange Revolution, people were protesting against illegitimate powers or stolen elections, but what is the target now?

Georgians are simply calling for the president to resign. In Moldova, the bone of contention is the recent election results. Very well - in Moldova at least a recount can be held, and thus the question hanging in the balance is whether the communists will be able to elect the president in parliament from their own ranks, or whether they will fall one vote short. In Georgia, the issue does not rest on votes or the elections, as the last elections are long past and there is plenty of time until the new ones.

Mass demonstrations can help countries on to the path of democracy, if the old regime is in spiritual and moral decay. But imagine if the Singing Revolution in Estonia had been followed by additional political shifts supported by large popular gatherings. Where would we be then? In the European Union? More than doubtful. In the Republic of Estonia? Perhaps, but even that is no certainty.

Popular movements and street-level protests may result in changes - after an occupation that has lasted half a century. But if such tactics begin to be employed as a universal method for regime change, something is out of whack. In a democracy, a change of government occurs through free and fair elections. Â If elections were clearly stolen, then there is a burden of proof. If people are discontent with their president, then they must either wait until the next elections or resort to parliamentary action.

I must say I am very surprised by Nino Burjanadze. For years she was seen as the one person who could, in an opposition role, become a balancing force between the impetuous president Saakashvili and an overly radical opposition. But now it is former speaker of parliament Burjanadze who says that dialogue is impossible and that politics must remain out on the street. Former Georgian Ambassador to the UN Irakli Alasania is more open to dialogue. The actual parliamentary opposition represented by the Christian Democrats has refrained from any support for the politics of the street.

The situation is more complicated in Moldova. The young people who attacked the government buildings in Chisinau would leave a more credible impression if they had served as election-day observers, doing the kind of work that was done in Georgia prior to the Rose Revolution. Each ballot was recorded, and at the end of the day it was known how many slips were cast in a givenÂ precinct, and this made the fraud obvious. But no such effort was mounted in Moldova. Why? Now there is a choice: politics of the street, a constitutional crisis (which will not be resolved by newÂ elections, either) or a political dialogue.

Anyone who thinks that Estonia (or some other country) should support a specific party or specific politician in transition countries, is in error. It is not at all a good idea to compartmentalize the political landscape of other countries, viewing the "colour-coded" revolutionaries Saakashvili and Yushchenko as good to the core and the others as "bad". Neither is it a good idea to think that anyone who organizes a demonstration or issues an incitation to civil disobedience is a noble flagship of freedom of speech and a bard of freedom.

Estonia must support the democratic process and free societies. Naturally we can use development aid to support the governments of both Georgia and Moldova. This sort of cooperation will continue on condition that a change in government can take place as a result of free and fair elections.

Street riots cannot be the mechanism for such change. It should also be borne in mind that Russian interests play a role in both countries and that internal unrest can be exploited for unsavoury purposes.

Juhan Parts: single stock exchange for Baltic States

2009-04-08

During the Estonian-Latvian enterprise forum held by the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Economics Juhan Parts suggested that the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian stock markets could join in order to generate liquidity, postimees.ee writes.

Parts said that the price of shares in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius’s stock markets have decreased 70 pct from the start of last year because the markets aren’t liquid due to their small size.

This is why something should be done to enhance the liquidity and to preserve the businesses’ interest in keeping their shares on the stock exchange and in adding extra capital into fighting against share emission.

Parts suggested that maybe considering joining the three exchanges would be a valuable idea.

Sirley Salk
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Laar: we’re unable to fulfill the duties we took on when times were better

2009-04-08

The leader of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union Mart Laar said that the government isn't able to fulfill the duties they took on when things were better, postimees.ee writes.
"We preferred economic growth over Euroization. So, we decided to take on tremendous duties which we now can't fulfill, and because of that we decided that reforms to modernize Estonia overall have no point as they will be unpopular," said Laar.

He added that in order to get out of the current situation we will have to start using the Euro as well. "It wouldn't save anything but it is quite an important for us to be able to restore the trust," he said. However, the politician noted that for Euroization we would have to cut down some of the duties the government has taken on.

Laar continued that it is vitally important to stick to the 3 pct deficit of the budget. "It would take one single moment for it to cross the 3 pct line," he noted and added that in that case we can say "bye-bye" to the Euro.

Laar said that at the moment we need to make the right and necessary decisions before it's too late. It's taking quick actions in a crisis that gets you out of it.

Sirley Salk
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Open market is the answer

2009-04-02

The annual Lennart Meri conference organized by the International Centre for Defense Studies gathered in Tallinn last week, bringing together a large amount of foreign political experts and thinkers, journalists, ministers and politicians from around the globe. Over the years, the Lennart Meri conference has become a major event not only in the Baltics but in European politics as a whole, where the people from whom foreign political decisions depend can discuss the most intriguing questions in a free atmosphere.
While in earlier conferences the target was mostly on foreign policy, this time it was not possible to avoid the economy - especially economic crises currently ravaging the entire world.

The main reason for such interest was a question asked in one plenary of the conference - would the current economic crises lead to the same result as the Great Depression in 1930s, to the fall of democracy and rise of totalitarianism, which at the end would lead the world to a new devastating war?

This is a serious question. To answer this question we must first look at the real situation in the Central and Eastern European countries, declared by the world press as the main source of instability in Europe. Actually the picture is more diversified.

First, while in the short term new member states can really be in trouble, in the longer term it is not so clear - if the "old European" countries don't actually have even bigger problems. Their response to the crises, to print more money or to let countries fall into a deep deficit, is a dangerous gamble with the European future, which can at the end threaten us all. It might be soon clear that several Western European countries are actually in more trouble than Central and Eastern European countries.

So we reach the second point - the situation is bad in some new member states, but the majority of them are doing not so badly. When Eurostat finds that the economic growth in "old Europe" will be -0.1 percent, then in new member states it will be nearly 2.5 percent. In 2008 Eurostat found that one of the most radical reformers in CEE, Slovakia, had the highest economic growth rate in Europe at 4.9 percent. The biggest economy among the new member states, Poland, is also doing well, which is good news to all its trading partners among new countries.

At the same time countries in the region that are not yet members of the European Union are in trouble. Especially dangerous is the situation in Ukraine, which has failed to pass necessary reforms and concentrated instead on internal political fighting.

Looking at some countries that are in trouble among the new member states, we may say that often this is the result of their own mistakes. The Hungarian socialist government has made some of the most devastating mistakes during their eight years in power, transforming Hungary from one of most developed countries in CEE to one of the most problematic. Hungary needs elections quickly - otherwise the economic crises could grow into a political one. Unfortunately, it seems this will not happen as the socialists are trying to remain in power as long as possible.

Another country in trouble, Latvia, has also made mistakes. Weak governments, political instability and a high level of corruption - combined with high spending and Russian influence in economic matters - has created a very difficult situation. There is a new government in power in Latvia and we must wish them the best of success.

But freedom still works. This must be the main message of the G20 gathering. When we come out of this crisis, the world will need less protectionism and more free trade. When we stress the importance of freedom only in words and not in real acts, we may all go down.

On the European level this means that the rules must be the same for everybody. Countries in the eurozone can let their budgets dip into deep deficits, then for the applicant countries there is a deficit limit of 3 percent - and I must say, for good reasons. At the same time, all of us know that huge deficits are some new kind of protectionism, targeted at spending more and supporting falling economies. This is not a fair game and can lead Central and Eastern Europe into a real crisis.

Finally, we must ask ourselves the question: do we have a single market in reality or not? We know that the market is actually only partly open. The best thing one can do for Europe is to help new member states overcome the crises by letting the market free, introducing a single market in reality and overcoming protectionism. This is the real way out of the crisis.

Mart Laar, a historian and statesman, served as Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 - 1994, and from 1999 - 2002. He is currently chairman of the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica Party (IRL). He wrote this article for The Baltic Times.

Crimes of Communism and Totalitarianism condemned - victims to be remembered.

2009-04-02

The European Parliament has proposed August 23 as a common remembrance day of the victims of totalitarian regimes in a Resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism which was adopted today by a very large majority. The Resolution, which was originally initiated by EPP-ED Members Jana Hybáškova (Czech Republic ), Tunne Kelam (Estonia ) and József Szájer (Hungary ), is an historical breakthrough. Following the plenary debate on 25 March 2009, the adoption of this Resolution is the first formal and full acknowledgement of the evils of communism by the European Parliament.

The Chairman of the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament, Joseph Daul MEP, recalled: "2009 is a deeply symbolic year, since we celebrate both the 60th anniversary of the creation of NATO and the beginnings of the cold war, and the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which ended it. This is why we have proposed to launch a Europe-wide day of remembrance which will help Europe reconcile its totalitarian legacy, both from the Nazis and the Communists. I am disappointed though that the Socialists, because of the un-reconstructed Left, seem to be opposed to such a declaration. If we do not understand our past, we run the risk of repeating it in the future", said Joseph Daul.

"Europe will not be united if it will not learn about and from the crimes against humanity and horrors of the past, and if it doesn't recognise the common history. These horrors have to be studied and acknowledged. This is why we ask the Council and the Commission to mark August 23, the anniversary of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, as a European Day of Remembrance of the victims of Nazism and Communism and to contribute financially and politically to the establishment of a Platform of European Memory and Conscience", declared Jana Hybášková MEP, one of initiators of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and communism.

József Szájer MEP emphasised that there are two standards in this question: human dignity and unquestionable respect of life based on the Christian tradition and universal human rights which originated at the time of the Enlightenment. József Szájer MEP condemned the practice of estimating which inhuman dictatorships killed, or humiliated more people.

Estonian MEP Tunne Kelam, one of the authors of the Resolution, concluded that in parallel to economic and political enlargement, Europe needs enlargement of its consciousness of the terrible crimes that were committed by totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Our ultimate goal is reconciliation which can be achieved by admitting responsibility, asking for forgiveness and fostering moral renewal, Kelam concluded. Kelam was especially satisfied that the EPP-ED Group showed genuine European solidarity. "It is important and symbolic that among the co-initiators of this Resolution there were not only MEPs from Eastern Europe, but also German, British, Swedish Members of the EPP-ED Group Presidency, two EP Vice-Presidents from Spain and Italy and also MEPs from France and Germany ", Kelam said.

"The European Union was forged out of the horrors of the Second World War and is the most successful reconciliation project in history. We are now a Union of twenty-seven Member States and in order for this project to continue being a success; we have to understand each other's pasts. I am very glad that the Czech Presidency, both in this case and in other initiatives, such as its international conference in June on Holocaust era assets, has shown a willingness to confront the darkest chapters of our common history", concluded Joseph Daul MEP.

Press release:
26/03/2009 Europe needs an integrated perception of its common history. Tunne Kelam MEP

Written record of the debate on European Conscience which took place on 25 March 2009 in the European Parliament

IRL made a plan to create 20,000 new jobs

2009-03-30

Pro Patria and Res Publica Union's new work plan sees establishing 20,000 new investments by bringing foreign investments to Estonia, Postimees reports.

For that the IRL wants to reduce tax loan on companies and lose specific benefit tax on health care costs by July 1 this year.

In addition they aim to start a project to help apartment houses become more energy saving by making the loan cheaper. The program wouldn't only give saving in energy consumption, but to give work to builders and construction material producers.

The party wants to bring more investments to the economy and decrease the banks' obligatory reserve to 12 pct in case they spend free money to borrow it to Estonian companies.

50 pct more investments from 2 pension pillar should be directed to Estonia. So in 2009 there would be new broad-band strategy which should make our companies more competitive and the party also supports establishing international IT-academy to Estonia.

Tax-free limit should be lowered to support tourism and trading.

There should also be a program to improve competitiveness of Estonian maritime and guarantee local municipalities a change to co-finance EU funds. That is why the tax burden to local municipalities cannot be lowered anymore.

The party aims to lower bureaucratic regulation of selling self-produced goods and make establishing company cheaper and getting starting capital easier.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Europe needs an integrated perception of its common history. Tunne Kelam MEP

2009-03-27

The first debate on the topic 'European conscience and totalitarianism' took place during the plenary session of the European Parliament this week.

The debate, as well as a Draft Resolution, was initiated by Members of the EPP-ED Group Jana Hybáškova, Tunne Kelam and József Szájer.

Estonian MEP Tunne Kelam concluded that in parallel to economic and political enlargement, Europe needs enlargement of its conscience and awareness of the terrible crimes that were committed by totalitarian regimes of the 20th century.

"In order to complete the building of our common European house, we need to create a balanced and integrated perception of our history", said Kelam. "Only overcoming regional thinking, ignorance and different prejudices will lead to an all-European understanding that all historic events, tragedies and crimes are part of our common European heritage for which we as EU citizens bear responsibility".

In Kelam's words, such an understanding which includes an enhanced reciprocal interest, awareness and empathy towards all member nations and their destinies will constitute a guarantee that horrible crimes of the totalitarian regimes will never be repeated.

The EPP-ED initiators of the debate asked the Council and the Commission to mark August 23 as a European Day of Remembrance of the victims of Nazism and Communism and to contribute financially and politically to the establishment of a Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra expressed his conviction that the regimes of Hitler and Stalin were essentially similar. He declared that the Czech Presidency will lead the way in starting to mark August 23 as a common remembrance day.

Tunne Kelam expressed his regret that some socialist leaders opposed the idea in principle of a parliamentary Resolution on totalitarianism. All other political groups agreed on Wednesday evening on a joint Draft Resolution which will go to the vote on April 2.

In the words of the EPP-ED Group Member from Hungary, György Schöpflin, "Without a thorough scrutiny of its past, the left in some post-Communist countries compels itself to live with a false past, screening out all painful events. As the Western left seems to fully accept this unreconstructed post-communist left, it too finds itself obliged to defend an indefensible past".

Estonia still interested in participating in Ignalina nuclear plant project

2009-03-17

Estonia is still interested in participating Lithuanian Ignalina nuclear plant project, Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications said after the meeting with new Lithuanian government, Postimees writes.
The press has written that recently Lithuania made a contract with Russia to buy electricity for ten years. And it's known that Russia plans to establish a nuclear plant in Kaliningrad. Two big nuclear plants so close to each other would be a questionable solution.

Parts said that Lithuanian government hasn't made any agreement with Russia, but one private company did.

The Minister said that he can confirm: Lithuanian government is not interested in participating in Kaliningrad nuclear plant project.

"I'm perplexed, how Russia can talk seriously about that project without its closest neighbour, Lithuania," Parts said.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

The Council of Europe: a sleeping beauty

2009-03-16

Sometimes it is said, that the Council of Europe is Europe's only value-based organisation. The assertion is based on the fact that the Council of Europe's competence is restricted to the most traditional value spheres: human rights, democracy, free elections, gender quality, rule of law and due process. Other organizations have their own concerns, such as security and economic cooperation. True, adherence to values is also among the prerequisites for becoming a member of the European Union, and in fact experience shows that it is actually the European Union that holds the bar as high as it is. Going by the European Union's yardstick, a number of Council of Europe member states are about as far from EU membership as the moon is from the sun. The European Union gave its biggest discount in admitting Bulgaria and Romania, even though in the context of the Council of Europe, these countries were either partially or completely exempted from monitoring long ago.

However, the most striking characteristic of the Council of Europe is the fact that Russia is a member of the organization and an unceasing source of problems. This is the real source of the devaluation of standards and the constant internal strife that leaves no time for focusing earnestly on serious work toward strengthening democracy.

I would argue that the Council of Europe has gave a discount both by admitting Russia and the countries of the southern Caucasus, and by ending monitoring in Turkey. In spite of the fact that Belarus has not met the acceptance criteria due to Lukashenka's dictatorship, "better in than out" arguments have never ceased and internal pressure for a détente with Belarus continues apace. Among other things, this stems from the fact that the organization includes, alongside Russia, members such as Armenia, Azerbaijan. The two latter countries may have irreconcilable differences over Karabakh, but in other questions they might form a united front of countries that have a controlled democracy. A popular notion in recent times is the idea that smaller countries should not be called to order for lack of democracy, because the situation is worse in Russia. But this leads to a vicious circle - Russia cannot be taken to task just because it is Russia. Let us recall that military aggression against another member state - Georgia - and the subsequent failure to comply with the peace plan did not result in any sanctions.

Thus the Council of Europe is the only organization that according to the letter of the law is based purely on values, yet at the same time these are values that have been on a clearance sale for some time. When Russia became a member of the Council of Europe in winter 1996, Mart Nutt wrote in Postimees that it was the end of the Council of Europe - that in other words, it would soon become a powerless organization, much like the UN or the OSCE. The inconvenient question of whether the Council of Europe has influenced Russia in the direction of democracy or whether Russia has instead influenced the Council of Europe toward less democracy is clearly a salient one. In my opinion, resolving this question in accordance with values will be the number one task facing the incoming general secretary of the Council of Europe, whether his name is van den Brande, Eörsi , Jagland or Cimoczewicz.

The full structure of the Council of Europe consists of a number of interrelated bodies: the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly, the European Court of Human Rights and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. Adjacent buildings house the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the so-called Venice Commission, charged with the task of providing advisory opinions to member states in matters of constitutional law. The organization's secretary general, elected by the Assembly, is a political "steward" who has the sole right and duty to speak on behalf of all bodies - i.e. the Council of Europe as a whole.

Actually, the Council of Europe's architecture is fairly well-designed. My experiences as a rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly in Azerbaijan confirm that, in the presence of good will and cooperation, various substructures are able to operate effectively and send uniform signals to problem countries. The Assembly's rapporteur exchanges information on a running basis with the secretary general's Special Representative, who keeps his finger on developments at all times. The Assembly's reports set the tone for the diplomats representing the member states in Strasbourg, who visit monitoring subjects periodically accompanied by delegations. If disputes arise within a country with regard to electoral laws, freedom of speech and limits on presidential powers, they go before the Venice Commission, which issues its opinion. If a given member state does not itself request an expert opinion, the Assembly does so at the behest of the rapporteurs. For example, I am currently waiting for an opinion from the Venice Commission regarding the content of a referendum to be held in Azerbaijan, where tens of questions at a time will be brought up before the people, including abolishing the restriction on the number of consecutive presidential terms, currently set at two.

Again, based on my personal experience, I must say that even harder than creating a working atmosphere between the substructures of the Council of Europe is achieving political unanimity on how to evaluate and treat the issues facing a country that is subject to monitoring. My latest experience with presidential elections in Azerbaijan last autumn was that a number of Assembly members displayed a frightening readiness to disregard the general situation with freedom of speech and human rights and focus solely on observation of the procedural flow on election day. In my opinion, this is an extremely dangerous development, for in this way we would quickly find ourselves giving the Assembly's blessing to authentically Soviet-style elections . The only difference is that in the interests of greater credibility, they are no longer chasing 99.9 per cent turnout and as overwhelming a level of support for the "official" candidate. No, it is much more smarter to show Europe 60-70% turnout and support, which in a closed society and controlled democracy can be achieved without resorting to major fraud. Before Azerbaijan, such an election model was employed by Russia - exactly a year ago, Dmitri Medvedev was placed on the presidential throne in the stead of Vladimir Putin.

The other example is how the agenda for Assembly sessions is developed and how quickly initiatives are transformed into reports. In the case of monitoring, a simple rule applies: a major comprehensive report is prepared once every two years. Based on necessity and the discretion of the rapporteurs, supplementary reports may be produced in the interim period, focusing on a more specialized area such as freedom of speech, rule of law, elections or political prisoners. Yet the reports are distributed very unevenly. In a speech given last year, I presented a summary in which I stated that while three monitoring reports had been released on Russia since it became a member in 1996, but other countries with major problems have received much more attention. Seven reports have been issued on Armenia and Azerbaijan, but this occurred in a much shorter period of time - from 2001, when they became members of the Council of Europe.

Russia is not only a country that faces more serious problems, but it also has the greatest population and its territory extends through 11 time zones. How can it possibly be viewed in the same category as microscopic Monaco, which has only one strike against it - a constitutional defect that favours princely rule and a lack of parliamentarism?

Special reports would help focus attention on major human rights problems in large countries. From time to time, such reports have been prepared on persecuted journalists. The main characters in such reports have included the journalist Grigori Pasko, who was convicted of treason in Russia (2003) and the investigative journalist Georgi Gongadze who was murdered in Ukraine in 2000, the investigation of whose case has been bogged down, even after the Orange Revolution. Special reports have been released on the Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yukos affair in Russia (2005) and on the situation facing the Finno-Ugric peoples (Katrin Saks, 2006). The human rights situation in Chechnya has not received attention from the Assembly since 2005 - although a new report covering the human rights situation in the entire Northern Caucasus is being prepared in the Legal Affairs committee .

In many cases, the initiative for preparing a special report covering one country has been rejected on the grounds that the problem must be included in the supervision committee's general report. For example, the general report on Russia from 2005 is thorough and it is a good document, but four years have passed with no follow-up report. True, in the more charitable view, the last two reports on the Russia-Georgia war could be viewed as special reports on Russia - i.e. a critical alibi for the fact that the primary report was postponed yet another time.

If there is political resolve, the Assembly and the Council of Europe as a whole are capable of very good work. Unfortunately political resolve is not determined only by values but also by the interests of the member states and readiness to stand up for the values. The Assembly operates on the principle of a political parliament, and therefore it is no wonder that in the wake of admitting problem states, the nature of the values itself becomes a matter of heated debate. For example, what is a human rights violation and what is not? Or can a controlled democracy and the imitation of democratic institutions be considered compliance with obligations assumed before the Council of Europe? At critical junctures, sometimes conscience can prevail as in the Assembly's last winter session, when all of the strong formulations dropped by rapporteurs due to Russian back door diplomacy were inserted into the Russia-Georgia resolution in a round of amendment proposals. Unfortunately such a concentrated effort is not made very often.

The Committee of Ministers, which operates on the basis of consensus, has for the most part a weaker grip than the Parliamentary Assembly, and the attempt made by Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt to prove that the opposite was true - undertaken in sorting out the Russia-Georgia conflict - did not meet with the hoped-for success.

***
To this point, I have discussed the Parliamentary Assembly, since this is the institution that I have direct experience with. Still, I consider the Council of Europe's most effective tool to be the European Court of Human Rights, established in 1959. The court issues its rulings; this is above dispute on the political level. At the same time, there is greater interest in turning to the Court to seek justice, a major part of the increased interest stems from countries where democracy is shackled. There is currently a backlog of 100,000 unresolved court cases. It will thus take years for a ruling to be issued. In the case of the war crimes committed by Russian authorities in the beginning if the second Chechnya war, it would undoubtedly be practical for rulings to be handed down rapidly by the Court. But in fact it took years. Acts that were for the most part committed in 2000 or 2001 were classified by the Court as war crimes only starting in 2006. And the docket is only getting longer.

In 2004, Protocol No 14 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights was drafted, its primary goal being to simplify the work of the court - i.e., to clear the proverbial desk of matters with repetitive or clearly inappropriate content. For example, the protocol would allow a single judge and an assistant to carry out an initial examination instead of using a committee of three judges. The President of the Court, Jean-Paul Costa, has expressed an opinion that implementing Protocol 14 would reduce the case load by about 25%. Currently, for the third year in a row, there is a situation where ratification of the protocol requires a decision by Russia to proceed. This is intentional sabotage of Court of Human Rights reform process. On what motives is this being done? I think that putting the brakes on court cases that are inconvenient for Russia is only one part of the reason. In fact, this foot-dragging is hampering the functioning of the entire organization. If Russia would take it upon itself to ratify protocol 14 after all at some point, we could predict a "long-term sense of gratitude", that would help drop other issues related to Russia from the agenda for some time.

It is naïve to think that Protocol 14 alone would help resolve the problems that have come up before the Court of Human Rights in the last few decades. In addition to the sheer quantity of appeals, the court is also facing essential dilemmas. In the vision of Old Europe, the Court of Human Rights exists as a beacon to shine light into grey areas that are intellectually interesting and where international jurisprudence is lacking. After the energetic enlargement of the organization, it now finds itself having to deal with defects in the domestic judicial system. It turns out that the judiciary is not independent in all countries, after all; it can be bought or used by the executive branch as a tool for political repression. In such a situation, the European Court of Human Rights is actually the only place where some sort of justice can be had.

The two abovementioned contexts for intervention could not be more unlike each other. One case might involve a very complicated and, for Western Europe, sensitive issue concerning morality, such as euthanasia. Another case might be a simple fabrication where the court must substantiate that the accusation brought against a journalist who was critical of a government was a sham or improper in form. Thus the court has to operate according to two different paradigms - handing down substantive law, and performing supervision in order to keep legal nihilism in check. It will undoubtedly become clear in the course of this activity how different our continent really is.

The importance of the time factor cannot be greater. In April 2006, leading Azeri journalist Einulla Fatullayev was given a long prison sentence. He was accused of incitement to terrorism after he speculated in an newspaper editorial about a possible role for Azerbaijan in a war against Iran. Fatullayev was also convicted of defaming the state and defiling the memory of those killed in the Karabakh conflict. In a series of articles based on refugees' recollections, called "A Karabakh Diary", he mooted a version that Armenians were not the only ones to blame in the killing of a number of civilians in the Hodzhaly tragedy in 1992 (which the Azeris often call a genocide). If Fatullayev's article is to be believed, partial responsibility also resides with Azerbaijan's armed forces, who conducted themselves poorly and disseminated misinformation to the population. In September 2006, Fatullayev sought recourse from the European Court of Human Rights.

As a rapporteur, it is not possible for me to neglect to give my own evaluation of the Fatullayev case. Besides the Council of Europe, his imprisonment has been criticized by the OSCE, Reporters without Borders and a number of human rights organizations. Fatullayev is a symbol of freedom of speech denied. In reality, he penned a number of articles that were significantly more critical of the authorities than the ones for which he was convicted. Yet nothing will have been settled with finality until the Court of Human Rights has issued its ruling. In such a situation the logjam at the Court is very unpleasant. Delaying the work of the Court certainly does not interfere with the work of just one rapporteur, but the activity of the Council of Europe as a whole.

New measures are also being implemented in order to further entrench the logjam. Last autumn, the Court was flooded with around three thousand complaints against Georgia, all in the same content and style, all tied to alleged human rights violations in South Ossetia. As noted above, all of these cases must be examined by a three-judge committee. On one hand, it is difficult to hold anything against anyone, as everything conforms to procedure. Yet it is obvious that the large number of petitions was something achieved by a well-directed campaign. This is very different from the complaints brought against Russia in the second Chechnya war, where people risked their own and their relatives' lives and safety. The reports issued by the Assembly and other human rights organizations have also detailed cases in which an appellant to the Court of Human Rights or their relatives have had to endure repressions and persecution.

In short, the problems facing the Court of Human Rights can be likened to two knots in need of unravelling. The system was created half a century ago for an organization with few member states, and now it has clearly outlived its usefulness. The number of court cases was fairly small decades ago, but today, it is a different picture. It is actually the second coming of the same problem, as a reform carried through in 1998 installed permanent judges for the first time. The goal was the same - to cope with a growing number of appeals. The other problem is directly related to Russia. It is likely that Russia wants to belong to the Council of Europe but not be a member of the European Court of Human Rights system. Because this option is not possible, they have resorted to torpedoing the work of the court.

***
If we generalize the comments made regarding the Court, we come to the conclusion that the Council of Europe has long ceased to be the organization it was created to be in 1949. Back then, it was a community of democratic countries that adopted a stance in opposition to another bloc of countries with an undemocratic system. After the Berlin Wall came down, there was an illusion that the spread of democracy would be painless, and that countries cold be admitted at a discount in order to accelerate democratization. But in fact it was this very discount, offered to Russia in 1996, that has proved the source of great problems. Back then, it was expected that Russia would resolve the Chechnya question in a peaceful manner, but in fact a new, even bloodier war ensued, and fragile democracy took a major step in reverse in the Putin era.

Yet it cannot be said that the Council of Europe has been painted into a corner. The structure is in working order; there just needs to be the political will to implement the structure more effectively. The current situation is characterized by the fact that a number of countries are opting for the use of political tactics to deflect criticism. Work toward better compliance with standards human rights and democracy is relegated to the background. The battle for conformity to standards has largely been supplanted with the fight for standards as such. This is overtly a political battle, where geopolitical interests and other such considerations are being pitted against values.

It is for this reason that the Council of Europe is reminiscent of a sleeping beauty, not to mention the Frog Prince, waiting for a kiss to re-awaken it to life.

Published in Diplomaatia, March 2009

Estonian Minister: There is no need for my post

2009-03-04

The law of administrative reform sees that county governors will be abolished from next year and the post of the Regional Minister from 2011, Eesti Päevaleht writes.

The Minister, Siim-Valmar Kiisler explained that if the state was able to make that administrative reform, there would be no direct need for a post of the Regional Minister.

"If there has been an administrative reform at the level of local municipalities and the county governments have been reorganized according to new needs, the next step will certainly be amendments at the government level," Kiisler said.

He had offered three-step administrative reform. Local municipalities should merge into 20 municipalities and in the middle of October will be elections of councils, according to the new borders.

The next step would be abolishing county governments. Bigger part of their tasks and finances would go to local municipalities from next year.

Third phase would be abolishing the post of the Regional Minister after the Parliament elections in 2011.

Kiisler said it doesn't mean that all county governments would end their activities.

"Development functions could and should be given to local municipalities, but one can't delegate supervisory functions," the Minister noted.

Therefore there would be four county governments, one in each region - East, West, South and North.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

MPs from IRL to pay their wage growth back to the state budget

2009-02-26

Mart Laar, the chairperson of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union said they'll pay the salary growth back to the state budget, ERR News writes.

“The members of our fraction have decided to pay their salary growth, depending on how big it is, back to the state budget and I think this is a decision which is our moral obligation at the moment,” Laar said.

Other parties didn't come along with the idea.

MPs earn four median salaries and since Estonian median salary rose by EEK 847 in the Q4 and therefore MPs’ salary increase was EEK 3388.

The chairpersons of commissions and fractions earn five median salaries and their income increased by EEK 4235.

Deputy chairpersons earn 4.5 median salaries, which means their income increased by EEK 3811.

The chairperson of the Parliament earns six median salaries, which means EEK 5082 salary increase.

Today the reimbursement of expenses was cut by 2/3.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

MPs from IRL to pay their wage growth back to the state budget

2009-02-26

Mart Laar, the chairman of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union said they'll pay the salary growth back to the state budget, ERR News writes.

"The members of our faction have decided to pay their salary growth, depending on how big it is, back to the state budget and I think this is a decision which is our moral obligation at the moment," Laar said.

Other parties didn't come along with the idea.

MPs earn four median salaries and since Estonian median salary rose by EEK 847 in the Q4 and therefore MPs' salary increase was EEK 3388 (roughy 216 EUR).

The chairpersons of committees and political groups earn five median salaries and their income increased by EEK 4235 (270 EUR).

Deputy chairpersons earn 4.5 median salaries, which means their income increased by EEK 3811 (244 EUR).

The chairperson of the Parliament earns six median salaries, which means EEK 5082 (325 EUR) salary increase.

Today the deputies' reimbursement of expenses was cut by 2/3.

Based on the news by www.balticbusinessnews.com

Future and disharmony

2009-02-19

At the Munich security conference, US Vice-President Joe Biden signalled that the new administration wants a fresh start to Russia relations. While important as a message, giving substance to this desire will be a complicated task.

Consider the kinds of fresh starts we have seen from Munich in recent years. Two years ago, then Russian president Vladimir Putin surprised even the greatest Russia sceptics. delivering a vitriolic presentation full of sharp contrasts and references to Cold War and geopolitical imperialism.

Last year in Munich, Vice Premier Minister Ivanov provoked the West, declaring that recognizing Kosovo would open a Pandora's box. If we consider Russia's aggression against Georgia and Moscow's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be the opening of that box, then we can say that Russia made good on its promise, half a year later.

Thus the pressure policy seen in Munich in the past three years can be seen as fairly worrisome. In 2007, Russia had an verbal attack, in 2008 it threatened, and now America is offering an olive branch. True, Biden did clearly indicate that the US does not ever intend to accept the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

And while some analysts thought that the new vice-president might also disown the Eastern European missile shield Moscow opposes, this did not happen, either. Biden was heralding the beginning of a new presidential era in America, one that will offer new opportunities - for Russia, Europe and the United States.

The Russian media covered Biden's proffered hand in friendship as a triumph for the current pressure policy, but it is far from certain that the future will bear out such a facile interpretation. It was actually more as if Biden was giving the Kremlin a chance to get off to a new start, so that it could move away from the confrontationism expressed by Putin to a more open dialogue.

Now that the economic crisis has deepened, it may be better understood in Moscow that any new flexing of geopolitical muscles (Chechnya, Georgia) will prove a Pyrrhic victory. But we can't hold our breath, either, for common sense to return.

As for assessing various development scenarios, it is a very unfavourable time to predict anything. The crisis is creating its own harsh realities, and predictions made on the basis of what we know today have a short shelf life.

Indeed, Western politicians were not able to draw adequate conclusions from the geopolitical message in Putin's Munich speech, even though there was a year and a half in which to do that. Then came the August war and - maybe even a greater factor - the economic crisis and collapse in the price of oil.

Analyzing Putin's Munich speech spawned conclusions, of course - take for instance Edward Lucas's The New Cold War, a book that has received good reviews in Estonia as well. Of course, Lucas examines Russia's development over a longer perspective, and Putin's aggressive language only gives credence to his observations that Russia has dug in for a Cold War.

But when the architect of Kosovo's independence Martti Ahtisaari came to Estonia several months ago as a fresh Nobel laureate, he asserted that talk of a new Cold War is "utter nonsense". It might have been more accurate to say that talk of Cold War no longer made sense, as the price of crude oil had started dropping during this time and Russia's capability to play the leading role in the global conflict declined with each day.

We should also take note the so-called power audit conducted by Mark Leonardi and Micu Popescu regarding EU-Russia relations at the behest of the European Foreign Relations council in November 2007.

Yes, it is true that even some of the positions in what is otherwise a brilliant analysis have become dated in just a short period of time.
For example, Leonard and Popescu argue that while in the early 1990s Russia depended on Western credit, now Russia has one of the largest currency reserves and the West depends on Russian gas. Gas dependence still persists, but Russia's cash reserves are bring depleted at an unforeseen rate. Leonard and Popescu say that Europe must be able to get its position across, too, by making clear that not only is Europe dependent on Russia, but that Russia is dependent on the possibility of selling energy to Europe.

Now, 15 months later, Russia is seeing what the dependency on the European market actually means. However severely the crisis will hit the West, it isn't likely that its impact on the West will be quite as extensive as it will be for the Russian economy. Even if the oil price were to hold steady at an optimistic level of 50 dollars per barrel, some estimate Russian export revenue would be halved. We haven't even reached the drop in the price of gas; it still lies ahead.

Other problems include bad loans, decaying infrastructure and capital flight. In a general depression, everyone suffers and no doubt Estonia will suffer more than the average, but the tragedy facing our big eastern neighbour is that their entire economy is built on raw material and energy prices.

At the same time, we cannot be too optimistic that the West will be able to take advantage of a weaker Russia in global competition or call it more forcefully back to the fold of democracy and rule of law, as Leonard and Popescu recommend.

Instead, a second Great Depression will force countries to become more introverted and adopt protectionist measures. President Obama's administration is shying away from the US's role as global policeman created by Bush - an image that has in many respects been a failure,

Let us recall that during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the democratic form of government tended to be supplanted by an authoritarian regime even in some "normal" countries. I wouldn't want to forecast such a dark scenario for our near future, but the question of the future of "semi-free" countries and societies is certainly relevant.

The hope that the loss of oil revenue could make Russia a more liberal country would seem credible if the West were a more open and stronger role model than it is capable of being in the years to come. The FSB and Putin faction have achieved such sovereign control of power that it would be naïve to hope for a peaceful easing based on simple politico-economic expediency.

In the long term, I side with the theoreticians who note that Russia has always had repeated periods of authoritarian mobilization but that the repressions are always followed by a new thaw. This was the case after Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and Stalin. No doubt a thaw will arrive after Putin.

At the same time, I am not at all sure that we have seen everything yet from the latter -- the war in Chechnya, muzzling of the opposition and destruction of the free press and civic society. Cynically speaking, this is child's play next to the large-scale repressions seen earlier in history. But when the economic collapse is really upon us and power is put to the test, this regime could go much further.

Thus the question is whether Russia's depression will prove to be also full of repression or - in the best case scenario - whether depression will itself be considered sufficiently repressive. No doubt it will last a fairly long time, and if radical reforms are reached, it will only be through great hardship. Yet if Russia completes this torturous and long cycle, it can be much stronger than before and hopefully more democratic as well.

***

I find myself leaving aside the wisdom in hindsight - that all this was inevitable in light of all the bad loans and global pyramid schemes - and thinking increasingly about the crisis in terms of a purifying force. The rhetorically noble part of the international system that protects freedom and humanistic values has long been rusty - or rather, it has run up against opposing forces that are too strong.

Actually, by August of last year, Russia's development had become a threat to the humanitarian aspect of the international cooperative system as a whole. The August war simply put the formal seal on the geopolitical hegemony. The Estonian, Lithuanian and Polish presidents are not enough to stand up against it.

At the same time, a new, unforeseen and, for players on the political spectrum, undesirable force began exerting an influence - the global crisis. It will change the world significantly, but we do not yet know how. It's a matter of guesswork. I concur strongly with David Vseviov, who said in Postimees on 10 February that the current crisis cannot be seen narrowly in terms of weighing its economic root causes or conclusions. It is a crisis of values.

I would add here that it also appears that way in the international perspective. Only that we are dealing with different types of societies and value systems that are all entering a change phase at the same time.

And to come back to Biden's speech, what America was saying, in all its new openness, is that it actually has no idea as to what colour the light will be when it appears at the end of the tunnel.

Freedom Is Still the Best Policy

2009-02-13

Eastern Europe won't be looking for government-led recovery.

It is said that the only thing that people learn from history is that people learn nothing from history. Looking at how the world is handling the current economic crisis, this aphorism appears sadly true.

World leaders have forgotten how the collapse of Wall Street in 1929 developed into a world-wide depression. It happened not thanks to market failures but as a result of mistakes made by governments which tried to protect their national economies and markets. The market was not allowed to make its corrections. Government interventions only prolonged the crisis.

We may hope that, even as we see several bad signs of neo-interventionist attitude, all the mistakes of the 1930s will not be repeated. But it is clear that the tide has turned again. Capitalism has been declared dead, Marx is honored, and the invisible hand of the market is blamed for all failures.

This is not fair. Actually it is not markets that have failed but governments, which did not fulfill their role of the "visible hand" -- creating and guaranteeing market rules. Weak regulation of the banking sector and extensive lending, encouraged by governments, are examples of this failure.

At the same time, it is clear that the invisible hand still points the way out of crises. It is easy to see when we look at how the postcommunist transition countries are tackling the economic crisis. After the collapse of communism, Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries launched several radical reforms and achieved remarkable economic growth. Some of these countries have trusted the invisible hand more, others less. As a result, not only have the results of reforms been different, but the impact of economic crises as well.

During the 1990s, the most radical and successful reforms came from the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Open markets, economic liberalization, fast privatization, stable currencies, flat tax rates -- all of these became the trademark of the "Baltic Tigers." Early in the new millennium, the Baltic countries started to enjoy the fruits of their reforms. Economic growth reached 11% to 12% per year. Living standards rose to 60% to 70% of the European average from 15% to 20% in 1992.

Yet times of rapid growth are unfortunately not always times of good decisions. Governments thought they could afford a Western-style welfare state because the economy was doing so well. Conservative financial policy was weakened, lending was encouraged, chances to join the euro zone were missed, and social expenditures rose beyond the economy's ability to bear them.

Combine these mistakes with corruption, weak government and loose control of the banking sector, and the results can be very difficult -- as in Latvia, which had to take out a loan from the IMF. Countries with a more effective visible hand, such as Lithuania and Estonia, are doing much better. Estonia is cutting nearly 10% of its government budget, relying more on the market than on state intervention, and hoping to keep its finances under control so that it can join the euro zone by 2011.

The situation is even better in some parts of Central and Eastern Europe. While the European Commission last month projected the euro-zone economy to contract by 1.9% this year, most new member states' economies are forecast to grow. The most positive developments are in countries that have learned from the Baltic experience and introduced radical economic reforms. They have even learned from the mistakes of the Baltic States -- and not tried to become too rich too fast. The "best" reformer in Central and Eastern Europe, Slovakia, introduced a flat 19% universal tax rate and launched other reforms, allowing Slovakia to join the euro zone last month. The Commission predicts that Slovakia will have the highest economic growth rate in Europe this year, at 2.7%. At the same time Hungary, which has been very cautious on reforms, has been hit harder by the crisis than the more radical reformers, and like Latvia is now dependent on the IMF.

The same experience is seen in former Soviet republics. Russia has been slow in its economic reforms and built up an authoritarian state; it was hit especially badly by the economic crisis. Russia's aggression against Georgia last August and its gas war with Ukraine this January have made the crisis only worse for the Russian people. The trust of foreign investors is gone, and capital is quickly escaping Russia.

Georgia, on the other hand, has followed a very different policy. It has fought against corruption, is building up stronger democratic institutions, and has supported a good business climate, which the World Bank ranks 18th in the world. Making the visible hand more effective has allowed Georgia to trust the invisible hand of the market. This in turn has helped Georgia -- against all odds -- overcome the results of Russian aggression with surprising ease so far. Like the rest of the world, Georgia was hit by the recession. But the response of its government was not to increase taxes, but to cut them and continue with reforms. Georgia's response to the crisis has, according to the IMF's latest report, been more successful than anybody hoped.

So as we see, freedom still works. Moving the world away from free choice and restoring the power of Big Brother is not the right answer to our current problems.

Mr. Laar was prime minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002. He has advised the Georgian government on economics.

Estonian mission ends in Iraq

2009-02-11

BY SPC ERIC J. GLASSEY
13TH PUBLIC AFFAIRS
DETACHMENT

After almost six years of successful combat operations in Iraq, Estonia's troops concluded their tour with coalition forces and transitioned to the NATO training mission in Iraq. Multi-National Corps-Iraq held an end-of-mission ceremony for Estonia on Camp Victory Feb. 7.

Estonian troops performed many security operations to help provide the people of Iraq with a safe and secure environment.

"Since 2003, they have been involved in 350 operations and 2,300 patrols," said Maj. Gen. Paul Lefebvre, deputy commanding general, Multi-National Corps-Iraq. "This diligence resulted in the discovery of several hundred caches and the confiscation of over 1,000 small arms and rocket propelled grenades, and more than three tons of pure explosives and thousands of rounds of ammunition."

Iraq's defense minister also was on hand to recognize Estonia's contribution to peace and stability in the nation.

"We recognize and honor what you gave Iraq," said Minister Abdul Qader Mohammad Jassim. "Last elections, there were 300 attacks with 150 of those being effective. This election, there were only 11 and of those only two were effective. We will always remember the sacrifices the Estonians made for us."

The Estonian minister of defense, Jaak Aaviksoo, said his country's support of freedom would continue.

"International support is of fundamental importance," Aaviksoo said. "What is equally important is that we continue to cooperate despite that our mission with Multi-National Force is over."

Estonia will continue providing officers for the NATO training mission in Iraq. The nation also has forces in southern Afghanistan.

Read the Pdf »

Source: Victory Times

Laar: we’ve survived crises before

2009-02-10

Chariman of Pro Patri and Res Publica Union Mart Laar reminded that there have been at least two crises as tough as the current one and Estonia overcame both of them, postimees.ee writes.

Laar said in "Terevisoon" that most of the budget cuts were looked through and the missing amount of money isn't that substantial anymore, uudised.err.ee writes.

The way how the ministries' pays and economic expenses are cut have been determined alongside with all the protests and wishes that will be discussed soon.

According to Laar, the pay for teachers and police officers isn't just one party's problem and in that sense we can't talk about a fight.

" We can't have one party fighting for the police officers pay and another one for the pay for teachers," said Laar. "I don't believe there is a single party in the government who would oppose either one of them. We just need to find a solution that would cover as many problems as possible and would also be less harmful for Estonian concerns, because the aim of this budget cut is to create a basis for the economy that would lead us out of this crisis."

Sirley Salk
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Minister: Europe has not yet done enough on cyber-defence

2009-02-05

Europe-Defence/Internet/

Brussels (dpa) - Europe has not yet done enough to protect its internet and communications systems from web-based attacks, the politician whose country fought the world's first-ever cyber war told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Wednesday.

"A lot has been done, but whether enough has been done or not, I hesitate: most probably not," Estonian Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said in an exclusive interview with dpa.

Estonia's famously internet-based government fought off a major cyberattack in April 2007 as pro-Russian hackers targeted the country in retaliation for the government's decision to relocate a Soviet-era war memorial from central Tallinn.

Aaviksoo, who was defence minister at the time, has since emerged as a leading authority on the issue, delivering the keynote speech to an EU cyber-defence seminar in Brussels on Wednesday.

But while the Tallinn incident kick-started a global debate on internet security and galvanized individual countries to strengthen their web defences, the European Union has not yet reacted with sufficient coordination, he said.

"For the time being, Europe's capability to defend itself from cyberattacks is on the level of some of the capabilities of member states. Little value-added on the European level has been developed: we need to do more," he said.

In particular, the 27-member bloc must work harder to coordinate the efforts of various national defence and law-enforcement agencies and push for better cooperation with third countries which can serve as a safe haven for web-based attackers, he said.

"In more developed countries, some of the rules are present and we can prosecute (cybercrime) to a certain level, but in some countries it is not a concept at all," he pointed out.

Such "failed states in cyberspace" are as much a security threat as was the Taliban regime in Afghanistan which sheltered al-Qaeda after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he said.

While NATO has already set up a cyber-research centre in Tallinn and called for alliance-wide cooperation on the issue, Aaviksoo said that its approach was tightly focused on military defence, leaving it up to the EU to confront more general information-security issues.

But he acknowledged that the bloc is already moving in the right direction, having included cyber-defence in the latest update of its common security policy.

The EU's executive, the European Commission, has called for an EU-wide policy on protecting "critical information infrastructure," such as communications networks and air traffic control systems. EU states are set to debate the proposals at a meeting in Tallinn in April.

And the Council of Europe, whose 47 members include all the EU's member states plus neighbours from Russia to Iceland, passed a convention on fighting cyber crime as long ago as 2001 - but it has so far been ratified by only half the body's members, with key states such as Russia and Turkey still outside.

Aaviksoo said that Estonia had had particular problems with Russia after his government traced some of the 2007 attacks to internet addresses which were registered as Russian state servers.

"Unfortunately, there has been no willingness to cooperate from the Russian side ... There are formal excuses presented by the Russian side hinting that this is unregulated, and that cyber-crimes are not covered by (current) legal-assistance agreements," he said.

This highlights the need to remove ambiguities in international cooperation agreements, he said.

But he stressed that it is "not 100-per-cent clear" that the attacks came from Russian government computers, "because (internet) addresses can be faked in the process of transmission," he said.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Time to Take the Riddle Out of Russia

2009-02-03

The Moscow Times » Issue 4077 » Opinion

Europe's view of Russia frequently reflects misconceptions. Some Europeans hide behind Winston Churchill's famous -- but often misrepresented -- comment that Russia is a mystery, riddle and an enigma. Others adhere to a naive, visionary optimism about Moscow's understanding of democracy and the rule of law.

But neither view reflects the true nature of Russia. What Europe needs is a healthy and robust realpolitik, one that is free from illusions about the giant next door. Past experience shows that there is nothing mysterious or enigmatic about Russia's pursuit of its national (even imperialist) interests. The trick for Europe is to counterbalance Russian self-interest, and this means the EU has to agree on -- and jointly promote -- Europe's own interests and channel relations with Moscow into an international framework that upholds the rule of law.

The danger of taking Churchill's phrase at face value has been clear enough for some 80 years, especially at times of crisis. Western leaders have used it as an excuse for making ignoble compromises that undermined Western values, and Eastern Europe suffered the tragic results of these compromises after World War II. The "Russian-riddle" mindset is still to be found in the confusion and hesitation of Western policymakers who often desperately try to reconcile their strategic and pragmatic interests with a democratic code of conduct, even though Russia mostly ignores such international standards.

Viewing Russian behavior as a riddle also reinforces Moscow's traditional position of being a country with a unique role in history -- one that is allowed to function outside any existing political or national models. Moscow expects people to make an exception in Russia's case, and its refusal to ratify and implement the Energy Charter was just one example of this conduct.

It would be far better if Europe rigorously applied internationally recognized standards when judging Moscow's actions. These standards should include reciprocity based on common democratic values and the rule of law. There was a chance to start implementing such a policy in 1991, when the West had "won" the Cold War. Instead, the West fell for the second great illusion about Russia -- that provided the opportunity, and enough freedom and plenty of Western goodwill, it would transform itself into a democratic society and respect the rule of law. This optimistic view ignored the question of whether post-Soviet Russia had sufficient goodwill of its own to make such a transition, even when it refused to make moral or political judgements about its totalitarian past.

Deluded by its own mistaken views of Russia, Europe has failed to find a coherent and realistic strategy on how to deal with its biggest neighbor.

Anti-democratic developments in Russia make it essential to understand where in real terms we stand vis-a-vis Russia. This is all the more urgent as spin doctors are busy creating new illusions around the personality of President Dmitry Medvedev. Depending on who you listen to, Medvedev is either a new John Kennedy or he's a harmless technocrat with no KGB background. Western leaders who buy into such illusions and race one another to the gates of the Kremlin demonstrate a classic case of European confusion regarding Russia.

What, then, are the current realities that should inform a more accurate EU analysis of Russia? First, we have to acknowledge that Russia is not a democracy. In fact, the policy of building a "normal" society that respects the rule of law has been reversed. Under the guise of "sovereign democracy," Russia openly and defiantly abandons the goal of becoming an advanced open society, marked by political liberty and the rule of law.

That does not mean that Russia is the same as the Soviet Union, but Europe must stop thinking of Russia as a "normal" strategic partner. While the EU-Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement declares common values as the basis of a partnership, this is deceptive. We can speak about common interests, certainly, but not common values. Russia no longer aims to integrate with the West under Western terms and conditions.

The European Union should forget any notion that Russia is a friend, ally or reliable partner. Russia's strategic interests in Europe directly oppose those of the EU. Moscow wants to split the EU apart and is trying to set old and new member states against each other. The former Soviet-occupied Baltic states are the main target and testing ground for these divisive policies. Russia combines political and economic pressure on the three Baltic states with disinformation campaigns and the exploitation of Soviet-era immigrants. Russia has also tried to turn these EU members into bargaining chips in possible future deals with the EU.

Energy is a sector where the EU needs to get a real grip on today's realities. The EU is increasingly dependent on Russian oil and on gas, but a more sober economic analyses show that Russia needs the EU more than the EU needs Russia.

European companies continue, meanwhile, to do business with Russia despite its flagrant disregard for Western norms, its dramatic lack of reciprocity and its general disdain for legal guarantees. They rush into Russian markets in search of short-term gain and accept the crippling moral price of having to share their profits with the ruling elite. The business practices involved cast aside most EU principles of fairness and transparency. This sort of systematic disregard for the rules of fair play undermines the credibility of our own value-based, free-market economy.

The EU's weakness extends beyond economic and commercial relations and into the political sphere. Russia's Council of Europe membership is a case in point. In 1996, Russia was accepted as a member only after lengthy debate and in return for a long list of democratic commitments which were to be met in the shortest possible time. The decision was purely political: The majority concluded that Russia was "better in than out." The justification was that membership would speed up Russia's democratic transformation. Sadly, the opposite is true.

So where do we go to from here? An intriguing analysis by Mexican political scientist Fredo Arias King compares Russia to a person with the psychological condition known as borderline personality disorder. This involves a split cultural identity, unstable self image, black-and-white thinking and difficulties of perceiving one's own responsibilities. Sufferers often have bursts of anger and aggressiveness and attempts to appease and indulge them are counterproductive. The way to handle them, it is said, is to be stable, polite and firm, defining non-negotiable rules that are then stuck to.

Applied to Russia-EU relations, this formula could be the best remedy. The EU should set clear rules that are not subject to change as a result of whim or exceptional circumstances. They must be based on the international standards for the rule of law. Europe's working relationship with Moscow should start afresh on the basis of friendly -- but firm -- reciprocity.

The mission of a united Europe should be to speak the truth, set boundaries and underline that our Western principles and values are not up for negotiation. Such a common and unwavering EU policy would help Russia to differentiate between normal national interests and imperial ambitions, eventually resulting in a Russia that is less unpredictable and more cooperative.

Russia is not a mystery. When people quote Churchill's celebrated 1939 remark, "It [Russia] is a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma," they unfortunately leave out the phrase's essential continuation: "but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."

Tunne Kelam, an Estonian member of the European Parliament, is part of the delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. This comment will be published in the spring issue of Europe's World (www.europesworld.org).

Minister goes to London to promote Estonian companies

2009-01-29

Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications goes to London to meet representatives of financial institutions to discuss Estonia's immediate future on European money markets, aripaev.ee reports.

"We discuss Estonia's current situation with some banks, how do we seem from abroad and how to improve," Parts said, adding that it's very important that foreign countries had adequate overlook of what's happening in Estonia. Parts is also searching if, who and on which conditions would foreign institutions bring their money here.

"We have to plan big investments when we're talking of Estonia's energy plan for instance. For that one must sense what has happened in the financial sector past couple of months when looking from businessmen's side," the Minister said.

The other main subject of the meetings is Eesti Energia's investment possibilities, Parts noted.

He said he is not going to London to see whether the state could get a loan.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Estonian exporters’ aid package got green light from entrepreneurs

2009-01-22

The aid package worth EEK 4 bln got approved yesterday and Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications will take it to the government in February, Äripäev reports. Aivar Rehe, the CEO of Sampo bank, who represented Banking Association at the meeting said, he endorses and praises the prepared package.

"We got surety that the parties are ready to value and revalue the existence of monetary resources," Rehe noted.

Parts said that all parties are interested and now one has to make sure, which companies need help.

"It's pointless to hope that troubled entrepreneur gets support that would save the company that has lost competitiveness. The main thing is to support adaptability and to see whether there are such market errors in which additional state's or Kredex' guarantee can be of help," Parts said.

The help plan:

* Current help: operating loan, loan guarantees and export guarantees.

* Possible additional help: state's guarantee to banks' loans, financing the banks (getting the resources from the financial market together with state financing), re-financing bank loans, own capital loan (for the companies, who don't have enough own capital for the banks).

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Minister of Economic Affairs to consider giving state aid to ailing exporters

2009-01-09

Estonian exporters that are experiencing financing problems could soon receive state aid, according to the Minister of Economic Affairs Juhan Parts.

Eesti Päevaleht writes that the ministry has prepared an analysis and a list of recommendations for assisting exporters in securing financing now that banks are reluctant to finance industry.

According to the document that was obtained by Eesti Päevaleht, the state could make up to four billion kroons available to exporting companies.

Parts himself confirmed that the ministry was working on the plan. He said in comment that it was important that exporters have access to ongoing financing since otherwise they would be automatically in trouble. "We don't want to see development of any exporter suffering from the reluctance of banks to lend them money," he said.

Parts said that he planned to consult with the country's larger banks to find out their possibilities to continue financing the exporting industry.

According to the plan, the state would be offering through the export credit agency Kredex guarantees for bank loans or for loan refinancing arrangements.

Representatives of the larger banks say that they are slightly surprised about the plan since the banks have sufficient capital to continue providing loans to strong companies.

However, banks said that because of the macroeconomic situation, there were few projects that are eligible for financing. Allan Parik, deputy head of corporate financing department of SEB, said that this was the biggest problem in financing at present.

Artjom Sokolov, head of the corporate banking division of Swedbank, said that the problem was finding out which projects are sustainable and which are not. "The global and local economic climate has changed so rapidly that it is difficult for companies to define sustainable strategy," he said.

Banks said that even if the government's plan is implemented, four billion kroons would be a drop in the sea. Banks have issued a total of over EEK 250 billion in loans in Estonia.

Toomas Hõbemägi
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Laar: make 2009 the year of the visible hand

2009-01-05

Ex-PM and chairman of IRL Mart Laar says that Estonia needs a strong, decisive and resolute government to overcome the crisis.

Eesti Päevaleht quoted Laar writing in his Internet blog that this is the so-called visible hand that has helped Estonia overcome earlier crisis.

"Let the year 2009 be the year of visible hand in Estonia. This means that we, but especially the government must have the guts to make decisions that may be unpopular, to choose between the important and unimportant and boldness to admit that mistakes have been made or something has been left undone."

According to Laar, otherwise Estonia faces a risk of entering the kind of crisis that Latvians are in at present.

"Why the Estonian situation is different from many other countries is that the crisis of 1992-1993 and 1999-2000 were overcome with the help of a strong and decisive visible hand," writes Laar.

He adds that the role of the government, the so-called visible hand, is to create a favourable environment for the invisible hand, the people who think and act freely. "The two need each other since it would be foolhardy to believe that the invisible hand can automatically solve all problems."

Toomas Hõbemägi
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Laar: Estonia wouldn’t get into NATO today

2008-12-09

Mart Laar, chairperson of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union told ERR News that if Estonia didn't have the chance to join NATO in 2004, we wouldn't be able to join today.

Laar agreed with Urmas Paet, Foreign Minister that NATO's member action plan (MAP) is a mythologized phenomenon and stops semantic agreement.

He said that Eastern and Central European countries have joined NATO by force.

"They created MAP to keep us out, but we still were able to join NATO. Now they thought of something for Ukraine and Georgia," Laar explained.

He didn't agree that Estonia has made enemies by supporting Georgia.

"The events in Georgia only strengthened positions both, NATO and EU had about Russia," Laar noted.

He said that before the conflict in Georgia the world wasn't willing to believe that Russia could attack with such strength, aimed to change the regime.

The politician believes that the conflict between Russia and Georgia could've been avoided with much smaller intrusion from Europe and partly the event is Europe's fault.

"It wouldn't have happened if there was same number of peacekeepers then and if Europe would've intruded faster and bolder into mediation," Laar said.´

Laar doesn't feel himself guilty for the conflict.

"I was an economic advisor. Economically Georgia has come out of it better than I would've expected at that time," Laar said.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

The dangers of 'business as usual' with Russia

2008-12-02

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - With EU-Russia talks now resuming, it appears that the European Union's Council and the European Commission are not willing or prepared to draw long term conclusions from Russia's large-scale use of military force against a sovereign neighbouring state.

As EU high representative Javier Solana declared: "Although we are at a critical juncture with Russia, there is no alternative to a strong relationship. We need Russia as much as Russia needs the EU and that is why contacts are ongoing."

At the same time, Russia's military invasion and occupation of large parts of Georgia presents a conscious challenge to the fundamental principles upon which international relations and security have been based. This challenge has apparently not been addressed by the EU leading institutions with all seriousness.

While the EU, led by the French presidency, should be commended for its rapid reaction to the Georgian crisis and its effective mediation of ending the hostilities, Europe's current position looks alarmingly ambivalent.

The crucial point is that the EU's approach to the aftermath of the invasion of Georgia has not been credibly balanced between what Javier Solana called the rational and the principle component.

With values and principles left at the level of declarations and their full implementation referred to future conferences, the rational arguments exercise heavy pressure on the practical level of interdependence. This means that while EU leaders declare there is no business as usual, in reality business as usual continues because "there is no alternative".

The Nice summit confirmed the latter approach. While President Sarkozy thanked the Russian counterpart for his willingness to participate and advanced the need for further consolidation and unity, President Dmitri Medvedev pointed out that there was, in fact, no reason at all for suspension of talks as "Russia has never taken unilateral decisions." All had just been "reaction to the steps taken by certain European countries."

And while the EU Presidency declared his commitment to the Georgian territorial integrity, Mr Medvedev offered a truly Orwellian answer: "Russia recognises absolutely the territorial integrity of Georgia, taking into consideration South Ossetia and Abkhazia as subjects of international law".

Russian nationalism

Looking aside from these blatant moral and political contradictions will be a risky and short-sighted policy by which the EU will deprive itself of respect as a serious and independent actor in international affairs - an ambition the EU has officially proclaimed.

Furthermore, EU hesitancy to set clear limits to such a pre-planned violation of the norms of international conduct will in all likelihood encourage future assertiveness of revanchist Russian nationalism.

There remains a basic question to be answered: What is the reason to assume that both strategic partners are sharing the same goals, not to speak of the same values?

In his memoirs, former external relations commissioner Chris Patten speaks of a fundamental difference - while Europe wants stable, well-off neighbours, Russia does not.

Mr Patten writes: "Russia wants weak neighbours and a sphere of influence inhabited by dependent supplicants". Since August 2008, the latter approach is being demonstrated not just by declarations and diplomacy but by military actions.

The effect of the EU's feebleness in handling Russia is as bad for Russia as it is for us.

In the last century, the Western democracies' desperate attempts to cling to the continuation of a strong relationship with Adolf Hitler failed. Indeed, the paradigm of international security is not the same after 8 August, 2008. The longer the formally united but internally disunited Europe hesitates to demonstrate that the unilateral change of this paradigm will have serious consequences, the higher the price to be paid for continuing business as usual.

There is still a chance to avoid paying this price. Chris Patten points out that the arrival in the EU of "former Soviet satrapies ... firmed up our policy. An ounce of their experience was worth several tonnes of humbug from Paris, London, Berlin and Rome."

In the new situation, taking use of this resource is more expedient than ever.

Tunne Kelam is an Estonian MEP and member of the EU-Russia parliamentary co-operation committee.

Mart Laar: delay with eurozone entry cost Estonia dearly

2008-11-27

Former Prime Minister Mart Laar believes that the government’s decision not to enter the eurozone in 2007 had a high price for Estonia.

Laar who attended a TV show for former PMs said that the mistake was to consider that economic growth was more important than reducing inflation and ensuring that Estonia is accepted to the eurozone.

Speaking of the future, Laar said that he expected problems to pile up. "If the government earnestly wants to achieve eurozone-capacity by 2011, it will be very painful."

Also another PM and current vice president of the European Commission Siim Kallas admitted that Estonia was very close to entering the eurozone in 2007 and that it was a mistake not to push for it.

"I have always been in favour of speeding up the eurozone entry, but a question is what the government could have done at those times when Estonia still have a budget surplus," said Kallas.

Third former PM Juhan Parts said that the eurozone issue is a huge political topic, but suggested to focus more on the future instead of analyzing mistakes made in the past.

Toomas Hõbemägi
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Mart Laar has taken Georgia ahead of Estonia

2008-11-21

Advisor Mart Laar has taken Georgia 97 places higher in the World Bank's business climate index - when Gerogia placed 112th in 2005, then three years later Georgia has 15th place, Õhtuleht writes.

Estonia is ranked 22nd.

“When I went to Georgia I set myself a goal, how to measure my work. When international monetary specialists thought that Georgia would get USD 250 mln foreign investments per year, then I was able to notably grow that number,” Laar said.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

MP: Nochnoi Dozor may turn Estonia into new South Ossetia

2008-11-17

Estonian MP Marko Mihkelson says that the poll made by pro-Kremlin movement Nochnoi Dozor in Estonia is very worrying.

Mihkelson told Eesti Päevaleht that activists of the movement that severely opposed the removal of the Bronze Soldier monument have now been polling Russians living in Estonia, asking them questions whether they would like to see territorial Russian autonomy within Estonia.

"They have been polling Russians living in Estonia in the last week in Tallinn, Kohtla-Järve and Narva and claim that people are actively participating. I don't know the responses they are getting, but the whole ideology of the question is very suspicious," the MP who is also chairman of the parliamentary EU committee wrote in his blog.

"Why are they asking such a question? What is the purpose? Is it improving the life of Russians living in Estonia or is it destabilising the country? Are they creating preconditions for Russia to take similar actions as they did in South Ossetia?" asked the MP.

Mihkelson said that in the Ossetian crisis the President of Russia promised to use military force to protect all citizens of Russia, no matter where they live.

Toomas Hõbemägi
www.balticbusinessnews.com

AGRA FOCUS interview with Helir-Valdor Seeder

2008-11-15

This month's Interview on the future of EU farm policy is with the Estonian Farm Minister Helir-Valdor Seeder. As probably the most liberal of all of the New Member States in its attitude to public agriculture policy, Estonia is not representative of the countries that joined the EU in 2004 (or 2007) - other than in its call for uniform aid across the EU based on area, rather than on historic receipts - but Seeder's contribution to last month's Informal Council debate in Annecy on the future of the CAP underlined that the government in Tallinn is about the only NMS government with a clear and concrete for how policy should evolve. Read more

Business as usual?

2008-11-05

Europe really has a very short memory. After the Russian aggression against Georgia on Aug. 8, 2008, European leaders stood up and promised to make it absolutely clear to Russia that such behavior could not be tolerated in Europe. To demonstrate that they were serious with this message, Europe decided to cancel - or postpone as it was officially said - the negotiations with Moscow on a new "Partnership and Cooperation Agreement." Europe insisted that Russia must obey a six-point ceasefire deal, which ended the Georgia war on Aug 12, before any talks on the partnership agreement can start again. The restart of negotiations depended on Russian compliance with those commitments that it made in August.

Unfortunately the Russia has not done this. It has actually broken most of points of the ceasefire deal by failing by example to withdraw its forces to their pre-war positions. Russian troops have left most of the so called buffer-zone, but are still occupying parts of territories controlled by Georgia till the start of the military conflict. European observers are not having access to the territories of South-Ossetia and Abkhazia, as a result of this the provocations, bombings and conflicts are continuing in the border area. Russia is having significantly more troops on the territory as before the conflict.

Some European leaders have nevertheless decided to close their eyes to all this. They say that Russia is doing everything it's supposed to do, so it is time to restart the negotiations. This would amount to a return to "business as usual" and sends a signal that Russia had escaped any lasting diplomatic penalty for invading Georgia. Such of decision would show Russia that aggression pays off; that Europe is incapable of holding a firm line against aggression and that Russia's neighbors cannot rely on the EU to protect them from Russian bullying. Even as Moscow has declared that it is actually "not so interested" on these negotiations, the restart of the talks would be an important symbol. Russia would claim a victory if they started, getting signal: "We did it!"

This is very bad message not only for Europe but for Russia itself. The war with Georgia has been for Russia both geopolitically and economically very costly. Economist Andrey Illarionov, a former adviser to Vladimir Putin and now an outspoken critic of the Russian authorities, has described the conflict with Georgia as a "geopolitical catastrophe for Russia" since it destroyed the delicate geopolitical balance that Russia established in the South Caucasus over two centuries in alliance with Georgia. It turned Russia also to the conflict with CIS members and Asian countries. Collapse of the Russian stocks after the invasion was dramatic, helping Russia to become "worst performer" during world-wide economic crises. "Victory" over small Georgia has helped Putin to bolster support to its totalitarian policies inside of Russia. When West now accepts such behavior and returns to "business as usual" the democratic forces, protesting against the invasion, would get another hit.

These are reasons why Poland, Baltic and most of Nordic countries with Great Britain have opposed the proposal to restart negotiations with Russia. How long they can resist the pressure of "old Europe" will be seen. In this moment it is nevertheless necessary to look back to the history, which teaches us that appeasement of aggressor never pays off.

Tunne Kelam MEP: EU - Russia relations: preceding the November 14 Summit in Nice

2008-11-05

After hearing the presentations by Mr. Javier Solana and Mrs. Ferrero-Waldner before the AFET Committee November 5, 2008, my concern that on the eve of the planned Nice Summit the Council and the Commission are obviously not willing or prepared to draw the proper conclusions from the Russian large-scale use of military force against a sovereign neighbouring state has only increased.

The fact that the Russian military invasion and occupation of large parts of Georgia presents a deliberate challenge to the fundamental principles upon which international relations and security are based has not been seriously addressed by the Commission.
While the EU, led by the French presidency, should be commended for both its rapid reaction to the Georgian crisis and its effective mediation leading to the ending of armed fighting, the EU's current position is alarmingly ambivalent.

The EU's High Representative Javier Solana declared, "Although we are at a critical juncture with Russia, there is no alternative to a strong relationship. We need Russia as much as Russia needs the EU and that is why contacts are on-going."

The crucial point is that the EU's approach to the aftermath of the invasion of Georgia is not credibly balanced between what Mr. Solana called rational and principled components.

With values and principles left on the level of declarations and their full implementation indefinitely postponed to future conferences, rational arguments end up dominating. This means that while EU leaders declare that there is no business as usual; in reality business as usual will be continued because "there is no alternative".

This is a risky and short-sighted policy by which the EU deprives itself of respect as a serious and independent actor in international affairs. It will be a dangerous slippery slope. If after Russia's blatant use of force and dismembering of an independent state, the European Community finds that it can afford no principled alternatives at all; this will be interpreted by Kremlin militant leaders as opening the way to further intimidation and demonstrations of force.

I wonder if similar declarations about there being no alternative to continuing business as usual will be made after Russia has invaded Crimea to "protect" its newly-created citizens there to whom Russian passports with EU visa facilitation opportunities are currently being distributed. What are the guarantees that the Kremlin hawks, emboldened by the absence of any concrete consequences to their actions will not try their luck again in Ukraine or elsewhere?

Unfortunately, EU hesitancy to set clear limits to such a pre-planned violation of the norms of international conduct is in all likelihood going to encourage further assertiveness of revanchist Russian nationalism. The authoritarian Russia of today has an alarming resemblance to national-socialist Germany 70 years ago, trying to compensate its humiliation of a lost empire and using the pretext of defending its compatriots abroad (Sudeten Germans) to justify military expansion. Western democracies' desperate attempts to cling to the continuation of a strong relationship with Hitler failed.

Since August 8, 2008, the paradigm of international security is no longer the same. The longer united Europe hesitates to make clear that there will be serious consequences resulting from the one-sided change made to this paradigm, the higher the price will be for continuing business as usual.

Brussels, 5 November 2008

Mart Laar: ousting of Andrus Ansip will not help

2008-11-03

Former Prime Minister and leader of IRL Mart Laar believes that resignation of PM Andrus Ansip is not a solution.

Laar writes in his blog that recently businessmen Tiit Vähi and Oliver Kruuda and Centre Party leader Edgar Savisaar have publicly demanded Ansip’s resignation.

“It may be nice to know that Savisaar is modestly prepared to become PM tomorrow, but it will not bring a single cent extra to the budget,” writes Laar, according to Eesti Päevaleht.

According to Laar, a government crisis and domestic political instability that it would create would not help Estonia come out of the hole it is in.

“Ansip has been a Prime Minister during a boom and has no experience about how to lead during an economic crisis,” writes Laar.

He adds that Ansip’s position has become more stressful since his personal popularity and support to the Reform party have been falling. “I know from personal experience that low popularity is not an obstacle for a PM to make decisions. And we need decisions and reforms today. Opposing or postponing reforms is not an answer. Estonia needs courage to make decisions.”

“The government has been looking at the situation through rosy glasses and keeps saying that next year’s budget deficit will be “only” three billion. This must stop. The deficit could be much higher and even exceed the Maastricht criteria. The government must act now.”

Laar said that the coalition partners Reform Party, IRL and Social Democrats have passed an unrealistic coalition agreement. “Now is the time to admit our mistakes and find a solution that would help Estonia to reach its main goal – to join the eurozone in 2011.”

Toomas Hõbemägi
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Mart Laar: where are the reforms?

2008-10-23

Ex-PM Mart Laar writes in Eesti Päevaleht that one of Estonia's biggest problems right now is that after years of rapid growth it has practically stopped reforming its economy.

Laar writes that instead of being at the forefront of reforms, the Estonian state has become a by-stander.

"Estonia would not have succeeded in transforming to the market economy if the government had not imposed tough rules and policies. Privatization and several others reforms were carried out under strict instructions of the state. One example of such tough measures were the solutions that the government and the central bank imposed on ailing banks in the 1992-1993 banking crisis. All this helped Estonian economy to grow faster than any other emerging nation." According to Laar, such success caused overoptimism and the government started to think that its work was done. "Such thinking was especially prevalent during the right-left coalition of Centre Party and Reform Party. Looking back to these years, it is clear that Estonia made many big mistakes at those times that are now costing us dearly."

Laar said that the four mistake was failure to enter the eurozone in 2007. "Our inflation rate was only 0.3 percent higher than the limit and it could have been reduced if the government had acted decisively. Unfortunately, PM Ansip said then that he would not sacrifice rapid economic growth to bring down inflation."

Second mistake was that the government then started to both lower taxes and increase social spending. "Traditionally, rightwing government lower taxes and leftwing governments increase social spending. Our government mixed a lethal cocktail that caused such hangover that we are still suffering from it."

Third problem was stopping to implement new reforms and letting things take their own course. "It is sad to see that Estonia is falling in several international indices. For instance, it fell 5 places in the World Bank's business climate index. World Bank said in its comment on Estonia's poor ranking simply: "No reforms!"

"What to do? I would recommend five steps. First, the government must adopt as its objective that Estonia must enter eurozone in 2011 at the latest and do everything to achieve this, including a balanced budget and stopping introducing or raising taxes. Second, the state must start to function efficiently. This can be achieved through administrative reform and public service reform."

Laar says that third proposal is to improve Estonia's business climate. "Stop changing the taxation system, reduce bureaucracy and help companies develop. There must be a strong export subsidy system and attract more smart capital to Estonia. Adopt new employment legislation."

Fourth, Estonia must invest in its education system. "Our higher education system must be focused at quality and not quantity."

Fifth, Estonia must by the end of this year decide what will happen with our energy sector including whether we will develop nuclear energy in the future.

Toomas Hõbemägi
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Estonian minister invites foreign investors to second round

2008-10-20

Since transitional period to next growth cycle is the best time for investing, Juhan Parts, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs invites foreign investors to the second round, aripaev.ee mediates New European Economist.

After couple of years doubled economic growth Estonian economy faces cooling and blooming of domestic economy is ending, writes Parts in the article.

"Still it is great time to invest into next economic growth and positive business cycle in Estonia. Money of EU funds is also available to make transition to next growth cycle more smoother," said Parts.

He added that more specialized sectors are broadening investors' possibilities to choose most suitable field.

"Estonians are experts on getting used to new conditions. From Soviet times to choppy ‘90s to technology-oriented situation today, Estonians have always adapted and re-found themselves," noted Parts.

Since being in transition phase, Estonia is ready to go into next economic blooming.

"This time our IT-sector and manufacturing are dominating. There is no better option to take part of it than now and also benefit from it," the minister wrote.

"Look, what we have to offer and don't wonder what could've been," Parts is inviting foreign investors.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

MP: power of politicians will grow

2008-10-13

Countries don't dare to let competition be free in financial system and they reply to downturn with restrictions and control, which will bring larger power to politicians in the near future, Member of Estonian Parliament Taavi Veskimägi writes in today's Postimees.

The following is his column:

In recent weeks and months nothing has happened in financial sector without government's direct or implied participation.

By today the practise has proved government has no political capability to bear applying of the rules of competitive economy - governments don't risk and can't to let markets move endlessly downwards.
The nerve of governments is shorter than markets. Countries save their own real economy through banks.

What's happening in financial markets is already noticeably influencing real economy through smaller values of assets and fewer credit options.

Today's message has been: fruits are shared between private persons, losses we share jointly and severally.

The market has ignored government's actions. Market's emotion is masochistic.

The economy is primarily faith and emotions. And nothing has broke that emotion that far.

Government's expansive interruption has had very strong and long-term influence to whole global financial system, in some ways market has totally discredited itself in front of publicity.

We probably don't see a financial system as it was before. In some ways it's similar to time after 9.11.2001 when the answer was regulations, restrictions, control. Same thing's happening now.

When global markets isn't managed to handle in conditions where information is moving globally night and day, people are truly negative which means continuous negative over boost, then answer is restrictions and more restrictions.

With today's interruption governments and central banks have taken more powerful role than so far. It's doubtful they can carry that out.

Can government be wiser than markets? I doubt.

Anyway this crisis is global revision of assets, when governments have the main role, which means noticeable growth if importance of politics/politicians.

Marge Tubalkain-Trell
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Economy Minister: Estonian energy sector needs 100 billion

2008-10-09

Estonian energy sector is facing a life an death battle and needs to invest around 100 billion kroons in the next 10 to 15 years.

Speaking at the energy conference from Vision to Action, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs Juhan Parts said while until now the state has been behind most of the investments in the energy sector, it is now time for the private capital to start playing a bigger role.

"The changes that are facing this field are enormous," said Parts speaking of the energy development plan that the Ministry of Economic Affairs drafted this summer.

"The electricity sector needs to invest 50 billion kroons
Among others, the price of oil shale energy is going to double in 2013 which means that all businesses are facing changes," said Parts.

A key issue in the energy development plan is nuclear energy. According to Parts, Estonia will draft legislation to regulate nuclear energy by 2012 and determine whether Estonia needs to invest in its nuclear power plant or not. According to Einari Kisel, Ministry's deputy general secretary in energy matters, Estonia could theoretically start producing nuclear energy not before 2023.

Among others, Parts proposed to set up an Energy Agency in Estonia that would be responsible for implementing development plans and manage investments. "The agency will not put firewood in your fireplace, but act like a thinktank," said Parts.

Toomas Hõbemägi
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Estonia's Investment Frontier

2008-10-01

Words: Juhan Parts, Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia

Walking down the streets of Tallinn is like seeing a modern medieval age. Strolling through old Tallinn, the stone streets feel slightly uneven below you as you navigate through a throng of tourists. Passing by a cafe you notice a businessman typing away at a laptop while sipping a latte. High castle walls tower over you like stone giants while colorful garments, displayed in nooks along the street, beckon you. The flavors of restaurants dance through the air and wet your appetite. Cell phone chatter, the calls of street vendors, and the chirping of birds fill the air with life. Turning a corner, you stumble upon a gallery of fresh flowers, vibrant with color and intoxicating with fragrance. This is Tallinn, the cultural capital of Europe for 2011.

Still shrouded by the history of the Soviet occupation, Estonia's revolutionary transformation is relatively unknown but significant. Over the last 17 years of independence, Estonia has gone from an economically stressed Soviet republic to an emerging high-tech and financial
center of the wider Baltic Sea Region.With a population of 1.4 million people, Estonia is a small but dynamic community. Situated as the center of the Baltic Sea Region, Estonia is an access point to 93 million sophisticated customers - the most dynamic market in Europe, ranging from Scandinavia to Russia to Poland to Germany.While being in a pivotal position regionally, Estonia attracts around three million foreign tourists per year, which is considerable considering its population size.

Like many other countries, Estonia boasts itself as an oasis for foreign investment. Unlike many other countries, Estonia is more walk than talk and able to demonstrate many necessary qualities for this claim. Recently ranked by Forbes as the number 10 country to do business,
Estonia is clearly a focal point in the Baltic Sea Region.With high rankings in economic freedoms (#12 by the Heritage Foundation), world competitiveness (#23 by IMD), and network readiness (#10 by the NRI institute), Estonia is outpacing its Baltic neighbors in both growth and potential.

The Estonian success story is based on a firm political commitment to stable and liberal economic policies. Some simple but important facets of our macroeconomic policy include: a fixed exchange rate system, balanced budget of the central government, unrestricted free movement of capital, a simple tax system, and liberal trade and price policy. These basic tenants create the positive investment climate that so many countries strive to achieve but rarely can. The success in Estonia can be partly attributed to our small, but efficient and determined population.

There are many reasons why Estonia is well regarded. The foreign investment code is transparent and treats all investments equally, whether foreign or domestic. Opening new businesses is easy and clearly defined, fastest time being 9 minutes and 25 seconds when application was filed online. Partly due to our ICT investments, Tallinn was named one of the top seven most intelligent regions of the world by the Intelligent Community Forum for the second consecutive year in 2008.

Logistics in Estonia are well developed. Our ice-free port allows for the continuous movement of goods by ship. Container traffic going through Estonian ports is growing steadily towards creating a regional hub, especially with direct container ship lines to coastal China being planned. A highly developed logistics system enables Estonia to host companies that are part of global supply chains, taking advantage of the global division of labor. We are good at working on more complicated phases of production, which need speed and proximity to the market. The past focus for Estonian manufacturing was based on putting together products from imported goods, such as cell phones by Elcoteq. This is shifting toward more advanced and skilled manufacturing as Estonia is more competitive on fulfilling smaller, high quality and just-in-time orders than on simple operations requiring only cheap labor. Manufacturing saw significant growth in 2007 with 24 percent growth in apparatus industry and 19 percent growth in machinery and metal processing.

Now, Estonia's relatively inexpensive labor compared to the rest of Europe (€10.000 avg. per year in Estonia vs. €30.000 avg. per year in Germany) and ability to produce more advanced and complicated goods is a foundation for great growth. The high quality of Estonian labor is based on a competitive education system producing results that ranked Estonian schoolchildren as 5th highest in sciences in the world by a PISA study in 2006.

Estonia is a highly digitized and modern country. It is a place where cell phones can buy lunch or purchase parking. The government has adopted online voting on local and national elections and over 90 percent of bank transactions occur over the Internet. Interaction with the government is very easy with this focus; over 80% of citizens file taxes online. Innovations such as Kazaa and Skype can claim Estonia as their birthplace.

As a demonstration of how important e-business is to Estonia, one only needs to look at the cyber attacks on Estonia that occurred in April and May of 2007. Estonia successfully thwarted an all out attack on Estonia's cyber-infrastructure. This attack which targeted Estonian government, banking, and media websites was the first of its kind. One result of this event was the creation of NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, which is situated in Tallinn. Also, cyber security is rapidly emerging in Estonia as a new IT sector, with companies like GuardTime creating internet security solutions.

One advantage of Estonia's small size is its ability to act as a test market for new products. Estonians are very open to new ideas and technologies. Entering into the rest of the region and Europe is very easy from Estonia as well. Although Estonia is an energy-independent country, alternative energy sources are constantly considered. We aim at working out new technologies to make our oil shale based energy production cleaner while increasing the share of renewable energy is also a firm priority. In order to help support new markets, the government has specific R&D grants for technology programs in sectors like ICT, biotech, and energy technology.

After a few years of double digit GDP growth, Estonia is facing a cool-down due to the global economic downturn and the end of the domestic boom. Yet, it is now a great time to invest in the next expansion and positive business cycle of Estonia. Along with our recent growth, EU funds are also available to make this transition the next growth cycle much smoother. The increased specialization of sectors only expands the opportunities for investors to choose areas that most suit them.

The Estonian people are experts in adapting to new conditions. From the Soviet era, to the tumultuous 90's, to the tech-oriented situation today, Estonians are always adapting and reinventing themselves. While going through a new phase in transformation, Estonia is poised to enter a second blooming. This time, dominated by our IT and manufacturing sector. There is no better time than now to take part in this opportunity and reap the rewards that will come. See what we have to offer and don't wonder what could have been.

Coalition waters down idea merging local governments by force

2008-09-29

Social Democrats and Reform Party do not support the idea of IRL to start merging local governments by force.

Postimees writes that the plan was coined by minister of regional affairs Siim Kiisler (IRL) who was seeking support of coalition partners to his idea.

Kiisler said that he proposes to carry out an administrative reform where current counties and five largest towns would remain local governments and current local governments could become parts of large local governments such as city districts in Tallinn.

In Kiisler's opinion, Estonia should have no more than 60 to 80 local governments.

His plan backfired yesterday when Social Democrats announced that forced merger of local governments was unrealistic.

Also Reform Party did not support Kiisler's ideas and suggested that he continues implementing the administrative reform launched by former minister of regional affairs Vallo Reimaa that urged local government themselves to seek partners.

Kiisler has said that Reimaa's plan is too superficial and fails to reform the administrative governance of Estonia.

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Mart Laar: Estonia wouldn’t survive the same budget twice

2008-09-26

Mart Laar, chairman of IRL, writes in Delfi that Estonia wouldn't survive the same state budget process twice. Laar writes that it is deeply abnormal that the state budget was approved three days before submitting and it was closed in the government an hour before submitting. "It is good that the government coalition was able to remain calm and work constructively. Otherwise the consequences would have been very difficult," he added.

According to Laar, drafting state budget of 2010 with the same methods would definitely end up in impasse.

Laar added that we have built up a country that we are not able to maintain. "If we want to construct the budget of 2010 then we have to have boldness to make the decisions - and begin discussing them straight away."

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Otto Tief's government: Independence, 47 years in the making

2008-09-25

On Sept. 18, 1944, the last legal prime minister of the Republic of Estonia, Juri Uluots, acting president, summoned Otto Tief and said, "It is time! The Germans are withdrawing from Estonia. Summon the members of the government and get to work." It was time, indeed. The German forces were leaving Estonia, the front at Emajogi River had been broken, and the Red Army could have reached Tallinn at any moment. Just like in 1918, the moment in which those who are small in number proclaim their will had to be taken advantage of in the battle between two great powers.

The preparations for the government of the republic had been made long ago - in fact, this was the objective of national resistance from the very beginning. If at some moments, the hope was cherished that the government to be created could manage to hold power in its grasp for a longer period, then it was clear in September 1944 that Estonia had been left alone, and the government would be short-lived. Nevertheless, for the future of Estonia, it was regarded as decisively important whether in this war too, the Republic of Estonia would manage to confirm its continuation and its will to stand for the independence of Estonia, instead of bowing to the Nazi or Communist terror.

As the composition of the government had already been agreed upon in August, it did not take much time to form it. The government included J. Holberg (later still left out of the government), R. Penno, H. Partelpoeg, J. Klesment, H. Maandi, A. Susi, A. Rei, O. Gustavson, J. Pikkov, E. Inglis, J. Kaarlimae and V. Sumberg. Colonel J. Maide was appointed commander-in-chief of the armies.

At a government meeting on Sept. 19, in the Eesti Maapank building at Sakala Street, Tief announced the assumption of office of the new government. Troops known as the Pitka boys, led by Adm. J. Pitka, assumed authority in several parts of the city, preventing the Germans from blowing up strategic objects. The 2nd battalion of the Finnish boys, brought in front of Tallinn for defense, prevented the Germans from attacking the plants in Maardu, engaging in a skirmish with the German units that were sent to "call them to order." In the afternoon of Sept. 20, a blue, black and white flag was hoisted atop the Pikk Hermann Tower. This enthralled the people but angered the Germans. In the city, conflicts arose between the Estonian and German soldiers.

Soon, the Germans withdrew to the port and devoted their attention to the evacuation of their units.
Regardless of the rise in spirits that accompanied the hoisting of the blue, black and white flag, the situation was hopeless. At the government meeting held on the evening of Sept. 20, Tief announced that the government would begin performing its duties. Tief regarded it important to print and distribute an issue of the State Gazette with the composition of the government and the declaration, thus making the formation of the government legal. At the same time, Tief found that since the government did not have the power to protect Tallinn, he would have to leave Estonia to continue the fight for Estonian freedom abroad.

The assumption of office of the government of the republic was also declared on the radio, and foreign countries were informed. With that, the government had achieved its goal. Some of the modern Russian historians have found that it was "too little." Such an attitude is all the more cynical in that without the intervention of the tanks of the Red Army, the government would have lasted a lot longer. Tief's government would have been able to cope with the German forces; it was the Red Army invading the country that brought an end to its activities. It must be remembered that in February 1918, the activity of the Rescue Committee was not much more comprehensive, but it was enough to establish a foundation for the independence of Estonia.

Aleksandr Djukov, who has examined the activities of Tief's government in more detail, presents some clear falsifications in his approach (Velikaja Obolgannaja voina - 2. Moscow 2008, pp. 269-276, which, however, are not hard to expose. To show that it was an institution established by the German occupation forces and following the orders thereof, Djukov states, for example, that Tief's government was formed on Aug. 18, not Sept. 18, 1944. Second, Djukov declares that Tallinn was "liberated" in battles with the German units who had lost up to 600 men who fell here. Actually, the Red Army did not have any contact in the form of battle with the German units in Tallinn; on Sept. 22-23, the Red Army was faced by Estonian units around Tallinn. Djukov also ignores the evidence of the conflicts between the Estonian and German soldiers.

On Sept. 21, most of the members of Tief's government left Tallinn. Only Tief, along with a few closer colleagues, remained, and then left the city the next morning, right before the arrival of the tank units of the Red Army. The Red Army occupied Tallinn without much resistance and replaced the blue, black and white atop the Pikk Hermann Tower with the red flag - a fact that Djukov still ignores, regardless of numerous testimonies. According to Djukov, the Estonian flag was waving atop the tower along with the German flag - so it was indeed hoisted on the morning of Sept. 21, but not on Sept. 22.

Djukov does not write anything about the resistance to the Red Army of the soldiers under Tief, either. At Nomme, Paaskula, Keila, Harudevahe, Kose, Kumna intersection, Risti and Marjamaa, the Estonian soldiers fighting under the blue, black and white flag put up the last resistance to the Soviets, allowing tens of thousands of refugees to escape from their grasp. During the following months, the Soviet security units arrested most of the members of the government and closer colleagues. Some of them were executed, but most were sent to the prison camps in Siberia for a longer period. Today, the Russian public prosecutor's office still refuses to rehabilitate the members of Tief's government.

In 1918, it took nine months from the declaration of independence to the actual enforcement. This time, it took 47 years: the moment arrived in 1991. It would hardly have gone that way if, in 1944, there had not been men who, in spite of the hopeless situation, did something simple and clear for the Estonian state: performed their duty. This is the history that we have no reason to be ashamed of. This is the history that we have to tell the world. Because if we do not, no one will.

From Russia with love: beware of accepting strange gifts

2008-09-25

German Trojan horses are dangerously increasing the EU's dependence on Russian energy.

According to the myth, the Trojans "joyfully dragged" the wooden horse left by Odysseus into Troy, believing the ten-year siege was finally over. Some warned them not to. In vain.

In its 2007 report on EU-Russia relations, the European Council on Foreign Relations refers to this episode, flatly stating that Greece and Cyprus represent Russian interests in Europe. Cyprus, it noted, is officially the biggest investor in Russia, since its banks launder so much Russian money.

In the nearly 18 years since Europe joyfully embraced the end of communism, several other Trojan horses have emerged. The most insidious are the politicians increasing the EU's dependence on Russian energy.

Russian energy is now an essential part of Moscow's armoury, as shown in its strategic blockades against Ukraine and Georgia, the years of "repairs" to the Lithuanian gas pipeline and the repairs to the pipeline to Georgia ahead of this month's extraordinary EU summit on Russia.

But the most blatant Trojan horse is the ever-smiling Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor and now the chair of the Nord Stream gas pipeline consortium, which for no operational reason will at huge cost - not least to the environment - bypass the Baltic states and Poland, as well as Belarus and Ukraine.

The deal was signed days before Schröder was ousted in elections in September 2005 and, just before he stepped down, his outgoing government guaranteed €1 billion of the pipeline's construction costs. Then Schröder took Gazprom's shilling, a move that provoked Tom Lantos, chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, to call him a "political prostitute". Harsher things have been said of him since, but not harsh enough to discourage him from continuing the seven years of pro-Russian cheerleading that characterised his chancellorship.

On Georgia he has also been helpful. It was hardly a surprise, he remarked, that Russia reacted to being encircled by the West. "We shouldn't confuse things," he added. "The starting point of the military confrontation was Georgia's march into South Ossetia."

Nord Stream's managing director is Matthias Warnig, a former Stasi officer and intimate since the 1980s with another Dresden secret-service figure: ex-KGB agent Vladimir Putin. Like Schröder, Warnig is reportedly a regular at Putin's birthday parties.

Soon, there may be the perfect Trojan triumvirate. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, for years Schröder's right-hand man and now Germany's foreign minister, was last week chosen as the Social Democrat candidate for chancellor in 2009.

Even if Steinmeier loses, Russia has locked many German politicians into personal and business relationships that are hard to unpick. (That is true even of deeply conservative Bavaria and its former leader Edmund Stoiber: the Bavaria-based chemicals giant BASF, which is close to Stoiber's party, is part of the Nord Stream consortium, with long-term gas contracts with Gazprom.)

"What is good for Russia is good for Germany," Warnig said in an interview published on Nord Stream's website. It was an odd comment - unless he takes a 1939 view of Molotov's and Ribbentrop's pact - but it was also wrong. The West is so hungry for profits, Lenin once noted, "that they will sell us the rope to hang them with."

Mart Laar was prime minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002.

Estonian Minister of Education promises wage growth for teachers

2008-09-24

After a tense state budget discussion it seems unbelievable at first glance that somebody dares to talk about wage increase, but Estonian Minister of Education and Research, Tõnis Lukas, promises to raise the wages of teachers by 8 pct, Postimees writes.

In overall, Lukas is satisfied with the final budget. “The reached agreement is favorable, expenses-revenues are in balance and the last division of expenses is the best that Estonia can reach,” Lukas said.

He added that there are plenty of areas where financing is cut but science’s part is increasing and other improvement in the budget is teachers’ wage growth. “I propose the government to raise teachers’ minimum wage by 8 pct which would exceed the forecast of average wage growth,” Lukas said.

Teachers’ wage growth is the only expense article in the Education Ministry that will gain.

Sandra Taimre
www.balticbusinessnews.com

IRL: budget deficit would have endangered Estonian currency

2008-09-23

It is important that the state budget wasn't let into deficit, otherwise it would have endangered Estonian currency kroon and also joining the eurozone, secretary general of IRL, Margus Tsahkna, said.

"I am pleased that we didn't give up! That we keep the budget in balance. It would have been the worst if we would have so called let the belt loose and said, ok let's let into a small minus," Tsahkna said.

Tsahkna added that if they would have gone into minus with the government's plans, they would have endangered Estonian kroon's future and switching over to euro.

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Politicos call for Russia out of CoE

2008-09-17

TALLINN - Prominent Estonian politicians Mart Laar and Andres Herkel have called for Russia to be kicked out of the Council of Europe.

The two politicians, both of whom are among the country's most high-profile lawmakers, made the comments in an article published in the German newspaper Die Welt and the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda on Wednesday.

"Russia's membership of the Council of Europe may have made some sense in the early days, when there was still some political pluralism. A few independent politicians, such as Sergey Kovalev, the eminent human rights activist, represented the country in the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly," the article said. "But that time is long past."

"Of the many ways in which Russiais exceptional, its membership of Europe's premier human rights body, the Council of Europe, is perhaps the most embarrassing," it said.

The Baltic Times in cooperation with BNS

Read the text of the article »

IRL: state budget has to support Estonian economy’s competitiveness

2008-09-16

IRL's Parliament faction decided today that when drawing the state budget for 2009, Estonian economy's competitiveness has to be preserved and no decisions, which would damage the export, shouldn't be made, postimees.ee writes.

“Estonia cannot saw through the branch it is sitting on while drawing the state budget, the state has to draw the budget also in 2010 and 2011. In case we are damaging the economy now then we have nothing to do next year,” Mart Laar, chairman of IRL, said.

IRL is continually convinced that Estonia has to keep the budget for 2009 in balance, he added.

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

The balance of power

2008-09-15

The Energy and Climate Package would challenge several current principles in the energy market and would also drive member states to reconsider national energy strategies.

The issue of electricity imports from third countries in the context of the planned emission trading system is currently particularly significant in the Baltic region, but is also as topical in all member states of the EU neighbouring with non-EEA countries.

It is vital to find solutions to all concerns of the member states; Estonia sees that the parties can come to an agreement on the way forward. The Commission and also Slovenian and French Presidencies have made impressive efforts to move towards a solution in the process of development of the energy and climate package.

Estonia is especially concerned of potential effects of the energy and climate package on the Baltic power market. At present, Baltic countries have already got extremely strong interconnections, which could supply over 80 % of total need of electricity into Baltic market area.

The importing of electricity produced outside the European Union can significantly influence the electricity industry in the Baltic countries. At the same time, there are only very limited interconnections between the Baltic market and the rest of the European Union electricity market.

Considering the needs for energy security and security of supply, it would be unacceptable to make electricity supply dependent on extensive electricity imports from third countries.

So, how to avoid the EU companies' motivation to transfer their production into third party countries? Estonia strongly believes that unfair competition should be avoided in the internal market of the EU. If from 2013, the European Union electricity producers have to start to buy their entire CO2 quota from auctions but third country producers are not be obliged to do the same, the third countries' power producers would have an unfair competitive advantage. Thus, to prevent market failure and support fair competition in the European Union energy market, electricity import has to be part of the emission trading system.

The first reason for electricity import regulation is to champion the cause of fighting against climate change.

Currently, drafted regulations could lead to a situation where a neighbouring non-EU state creates an unknown amount of greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production that is sold to the internal market. This could also motivate EU companies to transfer their production into third party countries, which would increase carbon leakage.

Market distortions

The second reason for creating a demand for electricity import control is market distortion.

Electricity produced in third countries under lower environmental requirements is likely to be cheaper compared to electricity produced in the internal market. Producers that are obliged to meet environmental requirements and EU climate policy can not compete on equal grounds with those who have no such obligations. It would be unfair to give third country producers with lower environmental and production quality standards an advantage over producers within the internal market.

The third reason for import regulation is the potential danger to national security. Energy issues today have to be considered in accord with security as far as some third countries are using energy supplies again as a measure for political influence. The energy and climate package should not degrade the conditions for investing into electricity production facilities inside the internal market. Estonia would like to see a balance between consumption and production capacity within the internal market of the EU.

Estonia has made a proposal that also the electricity importers would also be required to obtain CO2 allocation from the EU market equal to the amount that would be emitted from a coal plant to produce this electricity. This would create an equal grounding for the same power producers and would remove a major part of the unfair competition.

Currently, there is no common regulation in the EU on how to approach the issues of electricity imports from third countries.

Liberalisation of power markets and emission trading schemes have made it very attractive for the third countries' power producers to enter these markets with their power supplies and have made it difficult for member states to apply any measures against such imports.

Estonia hopes to co-operate in this topic and is looking forward to reaching an agreement on the energy and climate package by the end of the French Presidency.

Estonia is also concerned about state aid and auctioning rules. Potential state aid for using indigenous fuels is limited in the Electricity Directive to 15% of the electricity production of a member state. If, for national security reasons, a member state would be interested in supporting its local power production, then, in some cases, the need for support in the light of the climate package could be even higher.

Revising the principles of limitations to state aid in the Electricity Directive could also solve the issue of free allocations for a power sector for majority of the member states.

There are several concerns also from the member states that any kind of manipulation with auctions should be avoided. As long as not all member states have auctioning rules on the table, it will be extremely difficult to say that these threats are minimised. Therefore, the commission and presidency should draft detailed rules for the auctions that would address all of the issues raised by the different member states.

Russland ausschließen! / The Council of Europe Must Act

2008-09-15

Please find the original English version below.

Trotz einer fragilen Demokratie und Menschenrechtsverletzungen im Nordkaukasus trat Russland dem Europarat 1996 dessen ungeachtet bei. Das Beitrittsdokument verwies zwar besonders auf die Situation in Tschetschenien und forderte die Russische Föderation auf, nach einer friedlichen Lösung des Konflikts zu suchen. Seine Versprechen in Bezug auf Tschetschenien hat Russland aber nie eingelöst. Stattdessen entschied es sich 1999 für einen zweiten blutigen Krieg in Tschetschenien, was im Jahr 2000 die Aussetzung seiner Stimmrechte in der Parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarates zur Folge hatte. Aber selbst diese schwache Sanktion wurde schon nach sechs Monaten aufgehoben, lange bevor der Krieg, der letzten Endes 150 000 Zivilisten das Leben kostete, abgeflaut war.

Natürlich registrierte Moskau den ängstlichen Umgang des Europarates mit der Situation in Tschetschenien. Zum ersten Mal in der Geschichte des Rates wurde nun ein Mitgliedsstaat unter fadenscheinigem Vorwand von einem anderen Mitgliedsstaat angegriffen, auseinandergerissen und besetzt.

Georgien ist sicherlich nicht schuldlos an der Situation. Aber die Schuld gleichermaßen auf beide Schultern, die des Aggressors und des Angegriffenen, zu verteilen ist scheinheilig. Schlimmer noch, es besteht die Gefahr, dass der Europarat seiner Grundidee beraubt wird. Russland, in einer Art Siegesrausch, droht jetzt der Ukraine, Moldawien, Aserbaidschan, Polen und den baltischen Staaten. Ein stummer Europarat, der sich nicht zu diesen Provokationen äußert, würde Russland in seiner Sicht bestätigen, dass Europas älteste Menschenrechtsorganisation eine zahnlose Institution ist und dass es ganz nach Belieben handeln kann.

Die Mitgliedschaft Russlands mag in der Vergangenheit, als noch ein gewisser politischer Pluralismus vorhanden war, sinnvoll gewesen sein. Aber diese Zeit ist längst vorbei. Die Situation hat sich grundlegend geändert. Russland hat zur Genüge seine Verachtung für den Europarat und alles, wofür er steht, bewiesen. Es gefällt sich als Sieger. Es fordert uns durch sein Verhalten heraus, endlich etwas gegen seine ablehnende Haltung gegenüber den europäischen Werten zu tun, denen es sich damals durch Beitritt in den Europarat verschrieben hat.

Russland hat sich für seinen Weg entschieden. Es ist ein gefährlicher Weg und sicherlich nicht der von Europa! Es ist an der Zeit, Russland aus dem Europarat auszuschließen.

Andres Herkel ist Berichterstatter der Parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarates, Mart Laar war Ministerpräsident Estlands.

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THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE MUST ACT

by

Andres Herkel, Head of the Estonian delegation in the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly
Mart Laar, Former Prime Minister of Estonia

Of the many ways in which Russia is exceptional, its membership of Europe's premier human rights body, the Council of Europe, is perhaps the most embarrassing. Countries are usually admitted into the club only once they fulfill numerous pledges, including a commitment to an open democracy, the protection of human and minority rights, guarantee of free speech, and so on. It is on this basis that Belarus and Kazakhstan, for example, have not yet been accepted.

Yet Russia joined early in1996, despite a fragile democracy and widespread human-rights abuses in the North Caucasus. Its accession document drew special attention to Chechnya, encouraging the Russian Federation to seek a peaceful solution there.

Unlike other members, Russia was granted membership in Europe's oldest pro-democracy and human rights organization before fulfilling the main criteria for membership.

Russia never fulfilled its Chechnya commitments. Instead, it opted for a second murderous war in 1999. Its voting rights in the Council's Parliamentary Assembly were duly suspended in 2000. But even that mild sanction was lifted six months later, long before the war - which ultimately killed about 150,000 civilians - subsided.

At any given time, a number of countries are under close monitoring to ensure they respect their commitments to the Council of Europe (the list currently includes Ukraine, Georgia, Albania and Armenia). Yet, despite a dramatic degradation in its track record, the monitoring of Russia in effect appeared to stop in 2005, when the last report concerning its performance was published. Russia has only been investigated in three reports during its 12 years of membership. Armenia and Azerbaijan, both members for six years, have already been subjected to eight reports each.

Russian cases are flooding the European Court on Human Rights, the Council's main adjudication tool. And Russia is doing its utmost to ignore and cripple the court. The first rulings regarding Chechnya, made in 2006, were simply ignored; and the reforms needed to help the Court cope with a drastically increased workload are being blocked.

The Council's timid handling of the Chechen situation, mostly ignored in the West, was duly noted in Moscow. The permissive message it sent to Moscow was reinforced by the Council's handling of increasing Russian provocations against Georgia. Russian passports were illegally distributed in the ethnically cleansed territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from 2004. In 2006, an economic blockade was complemented by pogroms against Georgians in Russia. In 2007, a Russian fighter dropped a missile onto a Georgian radar station. Earlier this year, the provocations mounted: Russia absorbed the territories into its legal space, regularly violated Georgian airspace, deployed offensive troops in Abkhazia and shot down at least one Georgian police drone.
Throughout, the Council stayed silent.

And now, for the first time in the Council's history, a member state has invaded, dismembered and occupied a fellow member state on the flimsiest of pretexts.

Georgia was not blameless. Its young leadership lacked experience and made mistakes, and its democracy is not up to Swedish standards. But trying to share the blame equally between invader and victim reeks of the crassest hypocrisy. Worse, it threatens to empty the very idea of the Council of Europe of any meaning. Russia, drunk on its "victory", is threatening the Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Poland and the Baltic States. A silent Council would merely confirm its view that Europe's oldest human rights institution is toothless, and that it can in fact do as it pleases.

For a number of reasons, many Western countries chose to ignore the ominous developments in Russia. Energy dependence plays a role, but by no means the only one: many of our colleagues genuinely believed that oil wealth, the need for western expertise and so on would positively influence the country and its leadership. That hope, shaken by the wars in Chechnya, the murders of Anna Politkovskaya and other critics, the muffling of the opposition, the control of the media by the state and the praising of Stalin's "achievements" in official textbooks, has been shattered in the mountains of Georgia.

And yet some prominent commentators refuse to accept this new, and decidedly unpleasant, reality. For them, Russia's grievances excuse all. The pesky little countries of its borderlands should not have sought refuge in the havens of NATO and the EU. The democratic wishes of their people count for little: they should be resigned to bed down with the Russian bear. Moreover, these aspirations were supported by America - surely enough of an indictment. And anyway, the West needs Russia's energy, so we have little choice but to accept Russia's land grab in the Caucasus.

This cold realism, which offers so little comfort to the countries on Russia's rim, has no place in the Council of Europe. This is not an organization devoted to pipelines and business, but to values which Europe takes seriously: democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and the rejection of force as a tool to settle disputes.

Russian membership may have made some sense in the early days, when there was still some political pluralism. A few independent politicians, such as Sergey Kovalev, the eminent human rights activist, represented the country in the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly.

But that time is long past. The situation has fundamentally changed. Russia has demonstrated its contempt for the Council and all it stands for. It smirks in its victory. And it challenges us to do anything about its rejection of the European values to which it once subscribed.

Russia has chosen its path. It is a dangerous one, and it is not Europe's. It is past time to suspend it from the Council of Europe.

Le néo-impérialisme russe plane sur l’Europe / The Russian neo imperialism glides on Europe

2008-09-12

The article is co-written by the Chairmen of the European Union Affaires Committees of the Seimas of Lithuania, Riigikogu of Estonia and Saeima of Latvia - Andrius Kubilius, Marko Mihkelson and Vaira Paegle. Please find the original English version below.

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Andrius Kubilius président du comité sur les affaires européennes au Seimas (1) de Lituanie, Marko Mihkelson président du comité sur les affaires européennes au Riigikogu (1) d'Estonie et Vaira Paegle présidente du comité sur les affaires européennes à la Saeima (1) de Lettonie.

C'est à la suite de l'invasion combinée soviéto-nazie de la Pologne, en octobre 1939, que Winston Churchill fit cette saillie décrivant la Russie, depuis restée dans les annales : «Une devinette enveloppée dans un mystère à l'intérieur d'une énigme.» Ce qui a pu être vrai au début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale a cessé de l'être avec la défaite du nazisme, lorsque le dessein de Staline pour l'Europe devint douloureusement clair et que les pays d'Europe de l'Est ont vu, l'un après l'autre, leur indépendance et leur démocratie succomber à la tyrannie soviétique. Churchill lui-même fut l'un des premiers à le comprendre, lorsque, en 1946, il invoqua la métaphore du «rideau de fer» pour décrire la division de l'Europe par la force. Aujourd'hui, certains se prétendent toujours perplexes face à l'attitude de la Russie et encouragent l'Europe à faire preuve de patience dans ses échanges avec Moscou. En fait, il n'y a rien de mystérieux dans l'attaque militaire brutale de la Russie en Géorgie, et rien ne peut justifier que l'on continue d'ignorer les véritables intentions de la Russie en Europe de l'Est. La posture nationaliste du Kremlin présente une menace réelle pour nos valeurs européennes.

Dans le contexte de l'histoire troublée de l'Europe, le système institutionnel européen moderne est une réussite extraordinaire. Après des siècles d'autocratie, de rivalité et de guerres, nous avons uni la majeure partie de notre continent dans la paix, la prospérité et la démocratie. L'Union européenne est la pièce maîtresse de ce système qui compte aussi le Conseil de l'Europe et l'Otan. Ces organisations sont à la fois l'expression et le garant de nos valeurs européennes essentielles qui incluent, le respect de l'Etat de droit, le rejet de la guerre comme instrument de politique entre leurs membres et le droit à l'autodétermination démocratique pour chaque nation en Europe.

Ce grand accomplissement historique fait désormais face à une provocation sérieuse et directe de la part d'un pays déterminé à réintroduire les techniques mêmes d'intrigues de pouvoir que nous avons cherché à bannir. Vladimir Poutine et l'élite russe au pouvoir ne partagent aucun de nos principes fondamentaux. Pour cette élite, la société ouverte et notre adhésion pleine et entière à la démocratie sont autant de signes de décadence et de faiblesse. Cette élite rejette aussi l'idée que les relations entre Etats puissent être arbitrées pacifiquement dans le cadre de la loi, plutôt que par le pouvoir et la coercition. Elle rejette le principe d'égalité souveraine entre Etats et cherche à le remplacer par un ordre néo-impérialiste reconnaissant la prééminence de la Russie au sein d'une sphère d'influence reconstituée.

Beaucoup d'Européens comprennent cette situation mais se confortent dans l'idée que les ambitions de la Russie sont limitées à son voisinage immédiat ; principalement les anciens pays soviétiques que sont la Géorgie et l'Ukraine. Or, toute analyse sérieuse du comportement russe au cours des dernières années démontre que le Kremlin aspire à créer une sphère d'influence s'étendant bien au-delà de ses pays frontaliers pour inclure ceux qui font déjà partie de l'UE et de l'Otan. Parmi les exemples de cette intimidation économique et diplomatique déployée contre d'autres pays, nous connaissons ceux de la Géorgie et de l'Ukraine, mais les mêmes techniques de coercition ont été utilisées contre un groupe plus vaste de pays européens ayant eu la témérité de défier Moscou.

La Lituanie subit un embargo pétrolier depuis deux ans parce qu'elle refuse de vendre sa raffinerie de pétrole Mazeikiu Nafta à une entreprise russe. L'Estonie a fait l'expérience d'une campagne concertée de cyberterrorisme après avoir décidé de déplacer un mémorial de guerre soviétique. La Pologne est menacée par des armes nucléaires pour avoir coopéré au projet de défense antimissile américain. Même le Royaume-Uni voit ses investissements énergétiques et ses projets culturels passer dans la ligne de mire sous prétexte qu'il est l'hôte d'une nouvelle génération de dissidents russes - l'un d'entre eux ayant été tué sur le sol britannique.

Cette logique de comportements a pour objectif ultime de désorganiser et de subordonner le système européen lui-même. Les responsables russes sont assez intelligents pour savoir qu'ils ne peuvent construire leur nouvelle sphère d'influence par consentement. Aussi longtemps que l'Union européenne et l'Otan continueront d'attirer les pays frontaliers de la Russie avec la promesse de prospérité, de sécurité et de démocratie, le Kremlin verra son emprise impériale menacée. Il cherche par conséquent à diviser l'Europe en créant des relations de dépendance et de domination - utilisant les approvisionnements énergétiques comme principales armes - de façon à asseoir lui-même sa prééminence.

Le but stratégique du Kremlin n'est rien moins que la finlandisation de tout le continent. La réponse de l'Europe doit être une détermination nouvelle pour achever l'unification démocratique de notre continent. Il est urgent que l'Europe étudie les étapes nécessaires pour désamorcer l'arme énergétique russe et poser les bases d'une relation équilibrée fondée sur le commerce et la diplomatie plutôt que sur la coercition et le contrôle monopolistique. Elle doit réaffirmer sa croyance au droit de toute nation européenne à l'autodétermination démocratique en ouvrant les portes de l'Union européenne et de l'Otan à tous les pays européens qui remplissent les critères nécessaires et qui veulent les rejoindre. Mesurons le risque qu'il y a à se soumettre à l'intimidation et au chantage d'un gouvernement russe résolu à saper nos plus importants accomplissements européens. Plus la logique impériale connaît de succès, plus grand est son appétit de succès. Il y a désormais bien plus en jeu que l'avenir de l'Ossétie du Sud, ou même de la Géorgie.

(1) Assemblée parlementaire.

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In October 1939, following the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland, Winston Churchill offered his famous description of Russia as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma". What may have been true at the outbreak of the Second World War ceased to be so following the defeat of Nazism as Stalin's design for Europe became painfully clear and the independence and democracy of one Eastern European country after another succumbed to Soviet tyranny. Churchill himself was among the first to realise this in 1946 when he invoked the metaphor of the "iron curtain" to describe the division of Europe by force.

Today there are those who still claim to be puzzled by Russia's behaviour and urge caution and patience in Europe's dealings with Moscow. But there was nothing mysterious or enigmatic about Russia's brutal military attack on Georgia and there can be no excuse for continuing to ignore the reality that its intentions in Eastern Europe are once again aggressive and domineering. There are differences as well as points of comparison with the Cold War era. The Kremlin is no longer the standard bearer of an ideology with pretensions to global supremacy. Russia is also militarily weaker than it was in the days when its tank divisions lined up along the inner-German border. But the Kremlin's nationalistic and chauvinistic posture nevertheless poses a very real menace to our European way of life and it is time we grappled honestly with the implications.

In the context of our history, the modern European state system is an extraordinary achievement. After centuries of autocracy, rivalry and war, we have united most of our continent in peace, prosperity and democracy. We have done this within a network of rules and bodies that protects the rights of all nations while institutionalising cooperation between them. The European Union is the centrepiece of this system, of which the Council of Europe and NATO must also count as vital components. These organisations are both the expression and guarantor of our essential European values, the most important of which include respect for the rule of law, the rejection of war as an instrument of policy between its members and the right of democratic self-determination for every nation in Europe.

The importance of the war against Georgia is that it lays bare what should already have been obvious: that this great historical achievement now faces a serious and direct challenge from a country determined to reintroduce the very techniques of power politics we have consciously sough to banish. Vladimir Putin and the Russian governing elite share none of our assumptions about how the European system ought to be structured. It dismisses our embrace of democracy and the open society as signs of decadence and weakness. It rejects the idea that inter-state relations should be mediated peacefully within a framework of law, rather than by power and coercion. Most significantly, it rejects the principle of sovereign equality and seeks to replace it with a neo-imperial order that recognises Russia's pre-eminence within a reconstituted sphere of influence.

Many Europeans understand this point, but comfort themselves with the idea that Russia's ambitions are limited to its immediate vicinity; mainly the former Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine. This is a dangerous misreading of the situation. Any serious analysis of Russian behaviour in recent years demonstrates that the Kremlin aspires to a sphere of influence extending well beyond the exposed and institutionally detached countries on its borders to include countries that are already part of the EU and NATO. We are familiar with examples of economic and diplomatic intimidation used against Georgia and Ukraine, but the same techniques of coercion have been used against a much broader range of European countries that have had the temerity to defy Moscow.

Lithuanian has suffered an oil embargo for two years because it refused to sell its Majeikiu Nafta oil refinery to a Russia company. Estonia experienced a concerted Russian campaign of cyber-terrorism after it decided to move a Soviet war memorial. Poland has been threatened with nuclear weapons for cooperating with America's missile defence project. Even the United Kingdom has had energy investments and cultural projects targeted for playing host to a new generation of Russian dissidents, one of whom was murdered on British soil.

These are not isolated incidents, but part of a consistent pattern of behaviour that departs deliberately and aggressively from European norms. The ultimate objective is to disrupt and subordinate the European system itself. Russian leaders are clever enough to know that they cannot build their new sphere of influence by consent. As long as the EU and NATO continue to attract countries along Russia's border with the promise of prosperity, security and democracy, the Kremlin's imperial grip will be threatened. It therefore seeks to divide Europe by creating relationships of dependency and domination - using energy supplies as its main weapons - in order to cement its own primacy. The Kremlin's strategic goal is nothing short of the Finlandisation of the entire continent.

Europe's response must be a blunt rejection of this effort and a renewed determination to complete the democratic unification of our continent. It must urgently consider the steps needed to blunt the Russian energy weapon and create the basis for a balanced relationship based on trade and diplomacy rather coercion and monopolistic control. It must reaffirm its belief in the right of every European nation to democratic self-determination by opening the doors of the EU and NATO to all European countries that meet the criteria and want to join.

Sceptics ask us to consider the risk of provoking further Russian hostility by extending the boundaries of Euro-Atlantic integration in this way. Very well, but let us also consider the risk of submitting to the intimidation and blackmail of a Russian government bent on undermining our most important European achievements. The imperial logic has a momentum of its own and success merely enlarges its appetite for more of the same. There is far more at stake now than the future of South Ossetia, or even Georgia. It is time we awoke to that fact.

Back to Lenin

2008-09-11

There is a small village in Georgia, not far away from the city of Gori, that for centuries was called Akhalgori. After Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, some local activist decided to rename it Leningori. After the restoration of Georgian independence, the local people gave the village back its original name.

Peaceful life continued till Aug. 10 this year. When Georgian troops left South Ossetia, they were followed by Russian armor and soldiers. After the signing of the ceasefire, villagers hoped that the Russian army would leave and they could continue their normal life.

Unfortunately, this did not happen. The Russians declared Akhalgori to be part of the so called security or buffer zone, which was closed to Georgian authorities, thereby allowing the South Ossetian militia free reign to burn and loot Georgian villages. Most people had already escaped Akhalgori, and to those who remained, the Russian military commander gave two orders: First, take Russian passports or leave immediately, and second - the name of village from this moment on will again be Leningori.

So Russia is really returning back to its Leninist ways. In this context we can and must ask, what are Russia's next steps? The author of the bestselling book "The New Cold War" and one of the best experts on modern Russia, Edward Lucas has published his blog an "email from the policy-planning unit in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service HQ" to the Russian president and the prime minister. Lucas is given to such mystifications, and even as he declares that he himself is not author of this "email" and that it was send to him by a friend, it is easy to see Lucas' fingertips on it.

This makes it interesting to read. What, then, is OPK@SVR.RU reporting to VVP@GOV.RU
and DAM@KREMLIN.RU after a succesful operation in Georgia? It asks, where will Russia move next? "Where will the frontier of the Near Abroad be? The Atlantic? The English Channel? The Rhine? The Elbe? The Oder-Neisse? The Vistula?

If we rely on military force, it cannot be the Atlantic. If we act now, we shall be in Riga in hours; Merkel (Angela Mbeki) will say fierce things for public consumption, but will continue to build the pipeline, Sarkozy will negotiate a cease-fire between us and the Latvians, Mr. Obama will say that Russia must be taught a lesson, and the British public will ask where Latvia is. So far, so good. But then what? Logic suggests that we should take Estonia and Lithuania too. But Estonia has strong ties with Finland and Sweden. Estonia is not for them a 'far away country of which they know little,' and they might reckon our move to be a fundamental threat to their security. Victory could be delayed, and delay is dangerous. Even without the Americans, a British fleet in the Baltic, with overt support from Sweden, Finland and Poland, could deny us control of the sea and air, and enable some Estonian strongholds to hold out against us indefinitely."

So Option II is offered, which is targeted at Europe. "It will be largely a propaganda war, and we shall need to run several lines to prevent the issues becoming clear. There is a lot of ignorance and anti-Americanism, and we need to fuel both, the former by a steady stream of misinformation, the latter by trading on the Americans' ability to lose friends and antagonize people, and also by emphasizing their many defects." Europe must be divided, France and Germany offered special relationships with Russia and cut from Anglo-Saxon world. "Once we have Germany on board, we can digest the intervening countries gradually and quietly without the West noticing."

We can laugh at such mystifications, as it is funny to read C.S. Lewis' famous "The screwtape letters." But as in Lewis' book, there is lot of unpleasant truth to this Lucas satire. As Lewis - especially in "Screwtape proposes a toast" - warns the West on moral weakness and relativism which undermines its power, similar weakness can threaten the West now. It is so good to live a comfortable life and not worry about some countries so far away. Why can't they just live in peace with Russia, which is such an important country for Europe? Lenin noted ninety years ago that The West is so hungry for profits that they will sell us the rope to hang them with. Looking at Schreder and other like-minded politicians in the West, we can safely say that Putin is an excellent pupil of Lenin.

Juhan Parts: Estonia's economy is souped up to rebound from recession

2008-09-02

Business New Europe writes that Estonia has just become the first country in the Central and Eastern Europe to fall into recession. Could the country be swapping its classy consomme for a bit of a stew? the portal asks.

"At the end of the day, you can't cook a better soup in one part of the pot than the other," Minister of the Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts said when asked about the Estonian economy's prospects for recovery.

"This recession is showing that in the short term we have a problem, but I think in the long term the Estonian economical basis is very strong," Parts said. "We create a good environment for doing business."

"On the micro level, several things are possible, and the recession could even be viewed as positive. We have to use this momentum as, certainly, there was a bubble in the real estate sector. Now we see there are the same problems in different European markets such as Denmark and Ireland - and I'm not even talking about big economies like Britain and Spain. There is nothing catastrophic. It is giving good opportunities to find a fresh start for the Estonian economy."

Increased competition in the labour market is key to those new opportunities, Parts believes. "There have been a lot of claims for the last two or three years that there is not enough labour. Now it is becoming available. If there will be a certain flexibility from the private sector, there will be new opportunities for business," he says, while insisting, "We need quality investments, we are not like a kind of factory country for Swedish and Finnish companies."

Indeed, the theme of Estonia being far more than a Nordic makeweight is one he picks up again when asked about the ownership of state airline Estonian Air. Scandinavian airline SAS, which recently announced it was divesting itself of shares in Latvian airline airBaltic because it could not take a majority stake, owns 49 pct of Estonian Air. "Our interest in government is that there are more interconnections from Tallinn. They [Estonian Air] have to have their own business strategy, not to just be a back office flying to Stockholm and Copenhagen. That is crucial."

Parts acknowledges that the domestic market is not huge, but is insistent that citizens, tourists and businesses have to fly "so they don't have to wait six hours in Stockholm or Copenhagen to fly to Bucharest" - sounding very like a man who has had to wait six hours in Stockholm for a flight to Bucharest.

To up the ante, Parts then suggested a radical new scheme: "I have another offer - let's give 20 pct of SAS shares to the Estonian government. Let's do it in the same way that the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian governments are involved in SAS."

As if such issues weren't enough for your average economy minister to be getting on with, his ministry has also commissioned an intriguing document that is just landing on his desk. It's essentially a feasibility study looking at the potential to privatise various state-owned companies including gas, ports and the postal service. But, understandably, Parts is keen to clamp down on talk about a grand sell-off any time soon. "I just want to correct this version of it as 'privatization'," he explains. "What we are talking about is that these companies have to have their own very clear growth strategies - these are very infrastructural types of things. We are going to open the energy market so we need new investments. Why should energy production be owned 100 pct by the state?"

"If the market is good and there is enough political support, I think we can make decisions on the business level. That is the main thing. But if there is no need from the business point of view then we are not going to privatise just in order to privatise."

As for the borsch-eaters to the east, Parts says Estonia shouldn't lose too much sleep about the economic consequences of offering such staunch support to Georgia. "Of course, we saw a certain economic impact from the Russian side a year ago [following the 'bronze soldier' riots in Tallinn]. We always look at economic relations as a big opportunity for our businesses. Despite the political rhetoric, these economic connections are developing. That is the reality. We are very constructive and in any case the biggest loser is the Russian economy and Russian citizens."

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Marko Mihkelson: Moscow wants Baltic countries under its influence

2008-09-01

MP Marko Mihkelson writes in his blog that the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev five foreign policy objects, which he presented to the journalists yesterday, leave no room for doubts: Kremlin wishes to strengthen its influence at close quarters and further.

Moscow's game is based on hope that the West is more fragmented and easily influenced with "big money". In addition they beleive that the authoritarian power system is more effective and fast to react, postimees.ee writes.

Mihkelson writes that we should be ready that Kremlin is trying to increase its political influence in Baltic countries and unhook us form the western world groundsel.

He added that it is important for Estonia to collocate its foreign policy resources to assure national security.

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Estonian state invests in tourism

2008-08-25

Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Communication Juhan Parts has signed two regulations intended to support development of tourism services and objects until 2013, worth up to 400 million kroon, the Baltic Business Channel informs via Ariapaev.ee.

The first regulation supports entrepreneurs' investments in the development of major international interest-gaining tourism products, such as theme parks, and tourist-attraction sights based on national traditions.

The minimum sum of the subsidy is 30 million kroon, and the maximum reaches 50 million kroon. The self-financing of the enterprises involved has to be at least 70% of all the eligible expenses.

The second regulation supports the development of smaller tourism projects. The minimum sum of the aid amounts to 1.5 million kroon, and maximum - to 5 million kroon. Self-financing has to form at least 50%.

Source: The BALTIC Course

Stop that bear

2008-08-18

Though Russia has not yet achieved the main goal of its attack against Georgia - the removal of the democratically elected president and his replacement with somebody who would bring Georgia back under Russian influence - it appears that the fighting is slowly coming to an end. A cease-fire has been signed, though Russia and its allies are ignoring it.

Looking beyond the wreckage of Gori and Tskhinvali to the long-term implications for Europe's relationship with Russia, it is clear that there can be no return to the status quo.

Until Russian tanks rolled across the Caucasus it was common in parts of Europe to put tensions with Moscow down to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings. Warnings from new European Union member states on Russia's growing aggressiveness were not heeded. Prospects for an improvement in relations were talked up with reassuring phrases about "common values," "enhanced dialogue" and "strategic partnership," as if the only thing missing was a bit of diplomatic effort on our part.

For the sake of Europe, we must now dispose of these illusions. This was not an "accidental war," as some prefer to see it. It was the culmination of a deliberate strategy by Russia to undermine the sovereignty and independence of its neighbors and to begin to restore its former sphere of influence by force. It is wishful thinking to imagine that Russia's ambitions are limited to South Ossetia or even Georgia.

The Kremlin's "national greatness" project dictates that the whole of eastern Europe, including countries that are now part of the EU and NATO, should be subservient to the interests of Russia.

Nothing in the Western response to the attack on Georgia will convince Russia's leaders that this objective is beyond them. On the contrary, they are likely to feel emboldened by the experience to go further unless the West grasps what is happening and establishes clear limits.

It is quite wrong to see Russia's behavior as reckless and unpredictable. The ground for this war was carefully prepared over a period of years in which the Kremlin probed and tested the willingness of Western government to resist its encroachments.

It used energy cut-offs to intimidate Ukraine and Lithuania, waged cyberwar against Estonia, imposed trade sanctions on Poland and grabbed foreign energy investments at home.

In Georgia, Russia supported a build-up of separatist armed forces and provoked them to attack Georgia; introduced an aggressive economic blockade against Georgia; tried to undermine Georgia's Western-minded government; launched missiles against Georgian territory, and shot down Georgian reconnaissance planes.

Having failed to encounter a concerted pushback in response to any of these measures, it was inevitable that Russia would resort to hard military power. Russia calculated this step very carefully. Through our inattention and weakness, it is we in the EU who have been reckless.

It is time to face up to some uncomfortable truths about our relationship with Russia. The most important of these is to recognize that the current Russian political elite does not share our most cherished European values. It rejects multiparty democracy, human rights and freedom of speech as the basis of its domestic political system.

More important, it denies sovereign independence, self-determination, the rule of international law, peaceful diplomacy and voluntary integration as the basis of interstate relations. Since these principles form the basis of the modern European state system, we are faced with a fundamental clash of political values.

Russia's determination to reintroduce power politics, including the use of war as an instrument of policy, is a direct threat to the very foundations of the EU. We cannot afford to ignore that any longer.

We cannot reverse that impression and defend our value system effectively with the EU's existing approach to Russia. The selfish and short-sighted bilateralism by which certain European countries have put their own concerns before those of Europe as a whole needs to be replaced by a policy of real solidarity. We need to counter Russia's abusive use of gas and oil supplies by developing a single European energy system with a real external policy.

We should realize that the time is not right to extend the privileges of strategic partnership to the Russians or perhaps even allow them to benefit from accession to the WTO. Instead, we should focus on integrating with those democracies in Eastern Europe that share our values and want to be part of the EU. These measures are necessary for restoring the integrity of a European state system based on democracy and the rule of law.

Unfortunately, the EU's failure to act in a timely fashion means that such tools of "soft power" are no longer sufficient on their own. Russia has reintroduced military force into the equation, so the defense of democratic Europe needs to acquire a harder edge.

It would be sheer folly to conclude that Georgia and Ukraine should now be kept out of NATO. It was precisely the failure of the Bucharest summit to back the promise of membership with real substance that encouraged Russia to believe that it had an opportunity to prevent the inevitable. If we reward Russia's aggression by continuing to keep Georgia and Ukraine in the waiting room, we should not be surprised if the result is more aggression.

No one should be in doubt any longer about what is at stake in our relationship with Russia. This is a moment of danger and choice for Europe. Do we have the willpower to stand up for our way of life and everything we have built, or will we succumb to power politics and autocracy? If we remain paralyzed by indecision, the choice will be made for us.

Mart Laar was the prime minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002

Laar: Estonia has to be ready for cyber war

2008-08-18

Mart Laar, the chairman of IRL, said Estonia has to create national structures for holding a cyber war since Russia also used cyber and info war against Georgia.

According to Laar, Estonia has to learn from Gerogia's experiences and create national structures to forestall and fend off attacks, Delfi writes.

In addition to cyber wars, Laar directed attention to increasing Estonia's defense ability. According to him, IRL will not back down from keeping the current level of defense expenses.

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Security of Northern European sea borders

2008-08-18

Globalisation makes it impossible to distinguish between internal and external security, as many states depend on the same or similar security factors. The processes inside the European Union bring the economic, political and security-related interests of the Member States into an ever increasing correlation, since the security risks are widely overlapping.

Meanwhile, the security of every Member State is an issue of national sovereignty - from military, economic, ecological as well as demographical point of view. The security of every country is influenced by various domestic factors as well as developments in neighbouring countries and elsewhere.

Foreign security impact on internal security, domestic stability and safety knows no state borders, be they drawn on land, air or sea. Coastal countries are particularly susceptible to the impact of the multitude of activities carried out at their sea borders. If the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are mainly threatened by international organised crime - terrorism, drug and human trafficking - the sea borders of the Northern European countries are at risk from the deteriorating ecological situation brought on by the intense economic activity.

The ecological situation of the Baltic Sea causes particular concern as it adds pressure to the economy of many countries (drastic decline in fish stocks, negative processes among marine life forms, etc). The key issue of recent years in the Gulf of Finland is the massive increase of petroleum products transit from Russian ports (Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Vyssotsk).

Despite the complex navigational and meteorological conditions (shallow water, difficult ice conditions, frequent storms, limited visibility, etc), oil has long been transported in cheap single-hulled tankers. Frequent leaks and criminal pumping of bilge water from vessels into the sea has repeatedly caused extensive pollution on the Baltic coastline (particularly in the Gulf of Finland area). A case in point is the 2004 oil spill which killed tens of thousands of seabirds on the Estonian North-Eastern coast. The polluter was never identified. Such examples can already be counted in dozens.

It is plain and clear that the Baltic Sea is not an open sea. The water circulation pattern has its particularities. The Baltic is an almost closed off internal sea where the water circulates through the narrow Danish straits (i.e. Great and Little Belt and Oresund). This is why the ecological situation of the Baltic Sea requires closer international attention.

It is with unpleasant surprise that we recorded a new security risk in the Baltic Sea region - the Nord Stream gas pipeline - which has in actual fact reached construction phase. The planned pipeline would run on the bottom of the Gulf of Finland around the Western Estonian islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa and the Eastern coast of the island of Gotland. The route would pass through sites where thousands of WW I and WW II sea mines were buried, most of them anchor mines. In addition, 80,000 sea mines were scattered in the Gulf of Finland during the WW II, thousands of which are still in place and possibly active. Although Estonian navy has cooperated with fleets of other countries of the region (Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania), and also with those of the Netherlands, USA, Denmark, Germany etc, to locate and destroy hundreds of sea mines in the coastal sea of Estonia and Latvia, it is clear that these extremely dangerous activities could be continued for years to come.

However, the pre-eminent ecological threat to the Baltic Sea probably arises from the extremely toxic chemicals, such as chemical weapon components sarine, somane, yprite and others, buried by Russia and Germany in the centre of the Baltic Sea during and after the WW II.

The barrels are by now heavily corroded from decades of exposure to sea water, and any contact with them might result in a catastrophe of unprecedented scale to the Baltic Sea ecosystem as well as to the lives and health of everyone living in the countries around it.

These and other possible catastrophic consequences of building the underwater Nord Stream pipeline have been repeatedly highlighted by numerous governments: Polish, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Danish. The European Parliament has also woken up to the issue. Discussions on the topic in the relevant European Parliament committees lead to the general conclusion that if the Baltic Sea ecosystem and region should appear to be compromised by the planned pipeline, the Commission, the Council and the Member States must do all in their power to prevent the construction of the pipeline in the extent planned by Nord Stream.

The pressure on the marine bio-system of the Baltic is first and foremost the result of the general maritime policy of the European Union, which actively favours the development of maritime activities in the Member States. This has lead to a dramatic increase in the number of ships operating on the Baltic.

All this forces the countries of the Baltic Sea region to commit further to the protection of the ecological environment on legislative as well as practical level. The result is a gradually tightening cooperation between the competent authorities of various countries.

In this context, the deepening and purposeful cooperation between the Baltic Sea countries has an important practical and tangible significance for the whole EU. It is an example to be followed.

Source: Vision de la Défense Européenne / European Defence vision, September 2008
This article is also published in the "Défense" magazine of IHEDN, October 2008 edition: La sécurité aux frontières septentrionales maritimes de l'Europe

Statement of the Riigikogu on military aggression of the Russian Federation against Georgia

2008-08-12

On 12 August the President of the parliament of Estonia Ene Ergma convened, on the motion of 37 members of the parliament, an extraordinary session of the Riigikogu. The agenda of the session consisted of the draft Statement of the Riigikogu on Aggression of the Russian Federation against Georgia. It was adopted by 62 votes in favour, 20 against, no abstentions.

Statement of the Riigikogu on military aggression of the Russian Federation against Georgia

The Riigikogu condemns the military aggression of the Russian Federation against the Republic of Georgia and expresses deep-felt concerns about its eventual outcome.

The Riigikogu greets and supports the appeal of the international community and democracies to stop military activities immediately and to ensure the territorial integrity of the state of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders.

The Riigikogu stresses that peace can be restored in Georgia and the security of the neighbours of the Russian Federation can be guaranteed only if the global democratic community applies unified, forceful and consistent pressure to achieve this end. The aggressor must realise that an attack against a sovereign state leads to international sanctions. The Russian Federation must return to principles of cooperation and international law.

The Riigikogu points out that when the Russian Federation justifies the military aggression with the need to protect Russian citizens, it is using arguments identical to those used by the National Socialist Germany when it attacked its neighbours Czechoslovakia and Poland and crushed their independence. The return to such argumentation causes serious anxiety about world peace.

The Riigikogu calls on the United Nations, European Union, European Parliament, NATO, OSCE, Council of Europe, all democratic states and particularly their parliaments to assist Georgia in every way possible, in order to put an immediate end to the military aggression by the Russian Federation and to compensate for the moral and material damage caused.

The Riigikogu proposes to the Government of the Republic to allocate humanitarian aid to Georgia in order to repair war damages across the country.

The Riigikogu supports the application of new peacekeeping formats in Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia and calls on the European Union to participate in these. In case Russia continues the aggression, the Riigikogu considers it impossible to continue the Partnership and

Cooperation Agreement negotiations between the European Union and Russia.

The Riigikogu supports the accelerated accession of Georgia to NATO.

President of the Riigikogu
Ene Ergma

In Tallinn, 12 August 2008

Laar: cutting defence expenses would be insanity in the light of Georgia

2008-08-11

Member of Pro Patria and Res Publica Faction, Mart Laar, thinks that when looking at what's going on in Georgia, it would be insanity to cut down on defence expenses.

"When looking at Russia's aggression towards Georgia, the aim of which seems to be - according to signs and statements - to remove Georgia's president and parliament from their jobs and installing a puppet-government that obeys Moscow, it would be insanity to start cutting down on defence expenses," päevaleht online quotes what Mart Laar writes in his blog.

"The same is true about the sums needed to guarantee internal security. It's impossible to agree with limits that drastically reduce expenses on defence," thinks Laar.

According to him it's a question that can't be solved with a compromise. "The limit of defence expenses has to at least remain at the same level as last year."

"There are clear problems in other sectors of the budget as well, so possible choices should be reviews, without excluding politically unpleasant solutions either," writes Laar, noting that making such decisions is in the competence of the Prime Minister.

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Declaration of Presidents of Parliaments of the Baltic States

2008-08-10

With deep concern and anxiety, we are observing the events in Georgia which at this moment is under intensive attacks by the army of the Russian Federation.

We are calling on the international community to decisively condemn actions of Russia and to promptly take all necessary steps to stop the war and bring the parties to the negotiation table.

Justification of Russia's actions in Georgia by the need to protect its citizens is unacceptable. Alleged reasons for taking up a war against Georgia raise concerns about the future in every state with Russian citizens living on its territory.

We are concerned and disappointed with the actions and behaviour of Russia, as an important actor in the politics of the region and the whole world, which will inevitably have effect on further bilateral and multilateral relations with this country. Russia's military aggression against another sovereign state and actions contradicting the statements of its leaders raise serious doubts about the reliability and consistency of Russia as a partner.

Furthermore, we are convinced that the response of the international community to Russia's aggression against Georgia is at the same time a test for Euro-Atlantic security institutions of their reliability and solidarity. Therefore we are calling on our governments to discuss, in cooperation with NATO and EU partners, measures to prevent similar actions in future. NATO and the EU must assume responsibility for the security and stability of their partners to demonstrate Russia's leadership it cannot do whatever it wants with its neighbours that share the values and principles of the Euro-Atlantic community.

Russia's aggression against Georgia must be stopped, with the help of coordinated actions of the international community, immediately before all Georgian infrastructure and economy is destroyed which would bring about humanitarian catastrophe with long-term consequences in the entire region.

Ene Ergma, President of the Riigikogu of Estonia
Gundars Daudze, President of the Saeima of Latvia
Česlovas Juršėnas, President of the Seimas of Lithuania

Stalinism Was Just as Bad as Nazism

2008-08-07

Last week Russia furiously attacked President Bush for his proclamation on Captive Nations Week (July 20-July 26), which was established to raise awareness of countries living under communist and other oppressive regimes. Mr. Bush said that, "In the 20th century, the evils of Soviet communism and Nazi fascism were defeated and freedom spread around the world as new democracies emerged."

The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that treating Nazi fascism and Soviet communism as "a single evil" was an insult that "hurt the hearts" of World War II veterans in Russia and in allied countries, including the United States. "While condemning the abuse of power and unjustified severity of the Soviet regime's internal policies, we nevertheless can neither treat indifferently attempts to equate Communism and Nazism nor agree that they were inspired by the same ideas and aims," the ministry said in a statement.

Actually, the Bush statement is correct: There is really no big difference between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. When World War II began in September 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were allies; indeed Stalin and Hitler launched the war together.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty of Aug. 23 was a nonaggression pact between Germany and Russia; but a secret protocol in the treaty also opened the way for the division of Europe by carving Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania into spheres of influence. Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1 from the north, south and west; Stalin invaded Poland from the east on Sept. 17.

And this was only the beginning. The second campaign of the war was Soviet aggression against Finland in November 1939; only the third campaign, against Denmark and Norway (in April) was a pure German operation. The fourth campaign, the invasion of France in May 1940, was accompanied by Stalin's annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In this period, Stalin was a most devoted ally of Hitler. Without Soviet oil and grain, Hitler would probably not have survived the first year of the war. Stalin even ordered European communists not to help their governments fight against Hitler.

In occupied countries, Poland for example, the Nazi Gestapo and the Soviet NKVD worked hand in hand. Germany's secret police killed people in its zone of occupation according to racial criteria. In its zone, the Soviet secret police killed according to social or political criteria. The Nazi SS handed over Ukrainian nationalists to the Soviets; in return the NKVD handed over escaped German communists to the Gestapo.

Only when the two totalitarian leaders could not agree how to divide the world did war between them come. Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941; the resulting anti-Nazi coalition helped the West survive and come out of the war with half of Europe rescued from totalitarianism. But for the rest of Europe under communist control, World War II ended only in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet empire.

In his marvelous book, "No Simple Victory," British historian Norman Davies asks us to remember that "the war in Europe was dominated by two evil monsters, not by one. Each of the monsters consumed the best people in its territory before embarking on a fight to the death for supremacy. The third force in the struggle -- the Western Powers -- was all but eliminated in the opening stage, and took much of the war to reassert its influence."

This statement in no way insults the millions of people who fought against the Nazis. The victims of the crimes of Stalin and Hitler included the people of the Soviet Union. Soviet losses in World War II were very high, according to some estimates, including by Mr. Davies, 27 million soldiers and civilians. But these losses not only include those killed by the German invasion; they also include people killed by communist repressions and deportations, as well as the killings by the Soviets of their own soldiers. Mr. Davies thinks that the number of Soviet soldiers killed by the NKVD could exceed the total number of battle deaths of the British and U.S. armies.

So why, in some quarters, are the crimes of communism not yet condemned? There are still many people who say that, whilst the crimes of Nazism were proven and condemned in the Nuremberg Trials, the crimes of communism still need investigation. Others hesitate to condemn communism because, knowing that Hitler saw in Bolshevism its main opponent, they fear to share a common position with the Nazis.

This is not a logical position. If we find two gangsters fighting each other and one of them kills another, this does not make the first gangster less of a criminal.

Communist terror was in the same league of infamy as the crimes of the Third Reich. It actually lasted longer, killing significantly more people than the Nazis did. This does not make Nazis better than communists. They were both fighting against freedom and human dignity, and must be condemned in the same way as evils of the 20th century.

Mart Laar, a former prime minister of Estonia, is a founder of the Foundation for the Investigation of Communist Crimes.

Mart Laar to advise Davos economic forum

2008-07-22

Estonian politician Mart Laar was invited to the Global Agenda Council that was put together to advise and prepare Davos economic forum, writes postimees.ee.

The Council consists of 20-30 members, including the CEO's of world's largest enterprises, scientists, journalists, and politicians. The purpose of the Council is to discuss the problems and challenges the world is facing and in by doing that prepare for the Davos forum in the year 2009.

The Council will have four meetings this year, three of which will be held online, on a face-to-face meeting. This year the face-to-face meeting will take place in Dubai in autumn.

Commenting about his election to the Council, Mart Laar said that he has worked with the Davos forum for a long time already. "The chance to help prepare Davos forum is certainly a challenge, considering that currently no one else from the Baltic States and other new European Union member states has been asked to join it. I believe that this will give me an opportunity to turn attention to Eastern-Europe and the problems of newer member states," said Laar.

Davos World Economic Forum that takes place in a mountain resort in Switzerland every January is one of the most representative events of this sort, where the leaders of different sectors analyse developments in the world and try to solve global problems.

Source: Baltic Buiness News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Lessons for Europe from the first massive cyber-attack against a country

2008-07-09

By and large, a year has passed since Estonia suffered under an orchestrated and organized barrage of cyber attacks. The acts themselves lasted for weeks and targeted key governmental and private web sites, and selected critical information infrastructure while using a wide array of offensive techniques. At the highest moments, the amount of cyber traffic from outside Estonia targeting governmental institutions was hundreds of times higher than the "normal" levels.

Already in 2004, an idea regarding the foundation of the NATO Co-operative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence (CCD COE) was proposed in Estonia, to be conceptualized and developed during the coming year. However, it is only fair to agree in hindsight, that the general public and political awareness of cyber threats, both domestic and especially international, rose significantly after the described events took place and that in itself boosted the process of founding the CCD COE and gave it necessary momentum. The relevant memorandum of understanding between all the participating NATO member states (Estonia as well as "donor" countries, who contribute with brains as well as other resources) is due to be signed in May and optimistically, the NATO CCD COE could be accredited within the year. But as importantly, the attacks shed light on a subject that was for long regarded as an issue for scientists and geeks, rather than something, which might have a profound effect on the everyday life of any and every, citizen.

Understandably, it is still hard to place the new asymmetric threat of cyber-terrorism (I knowingly often use different terms for that something, which we still have not found a common definition for - that is one of the first and foremost challenges, i.e to define the terms of this brand new world) on top of our every-day agenda, especially in the realm of defence issues. Technological change and evolution is probably one of the most powerful drivers of change in our societies. Darwin's gradualist view that evolution is a continuous slow process seems to hold only to an extent - it is definitely continuous but not so very slow any more. Of course, whereas Darwin probably referred to mammals, I am referring to the fast development of technology. Ironically, when age and life-experience seemed to be the necessary criteria for mature decision-making, then the rapid speed of change seems to always favour the younger generation. Perhaps that is also one of the reasons why cyber-terrorism and cyber-crimes as credible threats have taken so much time to rise on to the table of political decision-makers. Self-critically speaking - we simply lacked the understanding and knowledge and to be sure, there must be a lot of relieved scientists and officials who are "thankful" for the Estonian cyber attacks as the threats that they have fumed about for years to their superiors have finally materialized. Luckily enough, despite enormously increased traffic in the Estonian case, critical infrastructure was not harmed and the attacks were absorbed and countered in a commendable fashion. So the cost of this lesson was within the boundaries of the acceptable.

On to the decision-making. NATO, among other institutions and stake-holders has responded most forcefully. We are expecting the NATO cyber defence policy framework to be endorsed at the upcoming summit in Bucharest this April. There is a common understanding to set up a body to share information and intelligence and co-ordinate our responses in a unified and standardized manner. It is the intention of the Estonian government, along with the to be founded NATO co-operative cyber defence centre of excellence, headquartered in Tallinn (Estonia), to be on the forefront of these changes to provide clarity and solutions in order to counter these new threats as well as learn and use the technological evolution to help guard our citizens and shield our critical infrastructure from outside manipulation, provocation and direct attacks.

However, we need to recognize, that as is the case with other capabilities, NATO as well as the rest of the international community of liberal democracies is only the sum of its parts. In other words, much of the realization of our common plans lies with the national governments. And the preparedness of national governments to tackle issues related to cyber defence vary, to say the least. Nevertheless we should relentlessly pursue the adoption of mid- to long-term national strategies in order to give our internal discussions and debates (which political budgeting definitely is and the cyber defence cause will prove worthless without the allocations of necessary funds) a framework to exist in. Indeed, framing the discussion, giving it proper definitions and starting out with the right questions is what Estonia has been doing since cyber attacks occurred in April and May 2007.

The Estonian government is shortly going to pass a Cyber Security Strategy for 2008-2013. We will share our findings and ideas with our partners and friends. The vulnerability of cyber space is an asymmetric threat to our security and one of the most important prerequisites for tackling it comfortably is the correct division of responsibility, which in itself demands a high level of and indeed, the willingness for inter-institutional co-ordination. Training issues, increasing the strength and resistance capabilities of our national critical IT infrastructure (how many national governments have already taken the step to define what that is in the first place? I imagine, not too many), increasing the safety and security of different management, control, oversight and support systems, filling today's legal void with the necessary definitions and regulation, spreading more information and fostering international co-operation are all part of the necessary minimum that we must all do in order to restore the confidence of our citizens in our ability to guard them from the very real virtual threats. Because in the age of the information society, that confidence has been severely eroded.

Security has become very much an issue of perceptions. When Estonia's banks, among other institutions, were subjected to cyber attacks, then the daily routines of Estonian citizens were effectively affected. In an age, where a piece of code can down airplanes or delete billions of euros of savings the public perception of security has changed. The actors that threaten state security are becoming less and less identifiable and this is having a deep effect on international relations as well. Also the public perception of national security shifts from outside threats towards internal security and the very credibility of national governments is at stake. It is also true that in our liberal democracies the state's role has been gradually scaled down and the responsibility of the individual has increased. It remains to be seen, how can we manage this "transfer of powers" in the realm of cyber space. When hundreds of thousands of computers of careless owners can be harnessed into botnets that are used to attack the critical it infrastructure of a given country - then what is the responsibility of the owner who's PC has been infected or used because of the owner's neglect? I understand the concern for civil liberties when national governments run to curb them in order to increase national security but I ask the liberal thinkers to help define the responsibility of the individual. This would also surely have to have implications in criminal culpability.

Despite our first steps, cyber security still remains as uncharted waters for many national governments as well as the international audience. The pressure exerted by different interest groups and the reality of politics in liberal democracies means that cyber defence is just one of many priorities for a government and usually becomes a priority for the electorate only when national security is penetrated or breached. So there is all the more reason to co-ordinate and consult each other, share experiences and form active and effective networks to pool our capabilities and resources together. This has to include taking the maximum out of the work of the different networks already at our disposal: international CERT (computer emergency response team) network, NATO Computer Incident Response Capability, Interpol, Europol, international Critical Information Infrastructure Protection network, International Standardization Organisation, International Telecommunications Union, European Network and Information Security Agency, the Common Criteria network. It is alarming that the terrorists and elements of organized crime find it easy to cross ideological chasms or different interests to co-operate whereas national governments seem to keep stumbling across the smallest of possible objects to derail good intentions. Many of the international institutions are already there - we must reach out and use them for our common benefit.

Parts wants waste quotas on Russia's electricity as well

2008-07-07

In the meeting of European Unions transport, communication and energy ministers in Paris, Estonia’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Communication, Juhan Parts, pointed out that waste quotas should also be established on the electricity imported to the EU, writes aripaev.ee.

According to Parts, Estonia is worried about the potential effect of the energy- and climate pack on Baltic electricity market and security, because while the Baltic States have large capacities to import electricity from third countries, connections with other member states of the EU are very limited. The aim in the currently discussed energy and climate pack is that starting from the years 2013 all EU's energy producers have to buy all of their waste quotas from auction, which gives a significant advantage to the electricity coming from third countries, where the producers don't have such additional cost. That gives the electricity producers of third countries unjust advantages, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication announced.

"So to avoid the market falling apart and to support just competition, the imported electricity also has to be a part of the trade system of waste quotas. Otherwise we'll create a situation where the EU's market will be dominated by electricity produced cheaply and while adding waste to the environment. It addition, the current version of the draft would motivate EU's entrepreneurs to take their production abroad, where expenses on environment are smaller," said Parts. "Adding the electricity imported from third countries to the waste trade is also important for the national security of the Baltic States, because we can't exclude the option of someone deciding to use electricity as a political tool."

As an other important topic for Estonia, Parts said that the currently limited state aid to electricity production has to be analysed. The current directive allows a member state to offer aid up to 15 pct of the states domestic consumption to the energy producer who uses domestic resources. From the point of view of energetic security, this limit might be too low for Estonia, which is why Parts thinks that this topic should be discussed further.

According to the draft of European Commission, starting from the year 2013 all electricity producers have to buy their waste quotas from an auction, the pack will also increase pressure on all member states to increase the use of renewable energy. Estonia supports the main goals of the climate- and energy pack, but wishes that the peculiarities of member states were considered more, especially from the point of view of energy and national security. The European Commission hopes to reach a final conclusion about the energy and climate pack by the end of the year.

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com

Communist crimes must be condemned

2008-07-03

Some weeks ago the Foundation for the Investigation of Communist Crimes (FICC) was officially launched in Tallinn. The purpose of the foundation is to diffuse knowledge and increase international understanding of the crimes against humanity conducted by violent communist regimes across the globe in different times. The goal of the foundation is to do away with the shockingly ubiquitous illusion that any "semi-good" violent regimes - based on torture, the violation of human rights and a constant threat to life - ever existed or could exist. communist crimes need to be understood globally, and they must be condemned the same way Nazi crimes were. There are still people in the world who think that mass graves in former communist countries are somehow different from mass graves in former Nazi countries. The crimes of Nazism are condemned; it's time to do the same with communist crimes.

The main priority of the foundation is to inform the general public of the crimes committed by communist and socialist regimes in the name of a communist utopia.

The foundation's Web page ( www.communistcrimes.org ) serves as a multilevel database and interactive portal providing easier access to various subjects related to communist regimes, communist ideology and post-communist studies. Besides dissemination and international research activities, the FICC promotes social, educational and advisory programs and specific projects developed with the support of institutional and private-sector partners around the world. The foundation takes measures to publicize and memorialize the crimes of former and contemporary communist regimes. With a series of programs and projects, the foundation seeks to raise awareness of communist crimes and support the democratic opposition of the last remaining communist regimes, transitional societies and post-communist states.

Over the last 15 years, many former communist and socialist states have debated their communist past and established parliamentary and academic committees or commissions, research institutes or independent groups to investigate the crimes of the past. Their immediate purpose was not to organize trials but to establish and acknowledge facts about their past. Such truth commissions have assessed evidence and put together authoritative accounts of the communist past.

Knowledge of the events of history and the recent past is vital, as it constitutes a factual basis for open debate on the protection of natural liberties and the responsibilities of the political community. Common acknowledgement of historical facts has been and shall be a precondition for liberty. These facts, however, cannot be established without an open discussion of past events and injustices.

Post-communist states willing to deal with political responsibility for past abuses must also decide on lustration, rehabilitation, compensation and the reassessment of history. But reconciliation with the past is not only a matter for state institutions, legislation, courts or truth commissions. The large amount of existing communist crimes' research must be brought to light and the public message conveyed more clearly. State-funded institutes, committees and commissions are conducting inquiries, exhaustive studies and archive research but are often unable to disseminate their conclusions. In this view, the FICC's mission is to spread existing knowledge and make a difference in global awareness and understanding of the crimes of communist regimes.

When we really want to condemn communist crimes, we must work together. So our foundation is looking for partners. Send your stories, materials, studies and documents to our Web page. Our goal is to create real partnerships among the people and organizations who are interested in restoring the truth and creating a better future - not only for their own countries, but for the world.

Mart Laar: Estonia can be successful in 20 years

2008-06-17

I believe Estonia has all possibilities to be successful in 20 years, Mart Laar, chairman of the Pro Patria/Res Publica Union, said in an online interview to aripaev.ee.

According to Laar, Estonia's success is based on the ability to make radical decisions during the economic crises and in case Estonia is able to repeat it, we are successful also in the future.

Laar said that Estonia could not hope success in 20 years without adopting the euro. This however assumes cutting and freezing governmental expenses and critical revising of several programmes.

In addition, the state should cut bureaucracy because the state is not able to carry it anymore. Cutting bureaucracy includes decreasing the number of state offices and officials, he said.

Laar said that the state should develop manufacturing targeted to export. This presumes greater attention on foreign trading, keeping taxes low and cutting bureaucracy.

According to Laar, Estonia should be turned into magnet of "smart people" and "smart money". The 21st century should be characterized by competition to smart people not to natural resources, Laar said. Estonia has to find a way how to attract those smart people, raise own human resources and use the resources maximally, Laar added.

You can read the whole interview in Estonian here.

Source: Baltic Business News
www.balticbusinessnews.com