Monday will mark the start of local government council elections in Estonia. There are no direct restrictions or obligations at the first elections to be held in Estonia in the conditions of COVID-19. Wearing a mask is recommended and people will not be asked to produce immunization certificates. “We willContinue Reading
As Latvia prepares to introduce a bottle deposit system in 2022, the first five bottle deposit return machines have been erected in five shops in Riga and Ventspils. This week, the company SIA Tomra Collection Latvia has begun setting up bottle deposit return machines called ‘taromāts’ in Latvian in theContinue Reading
Monday marks the start of the sixth session of the XVI Riigikogu. After successfully electing Estonia’s next president, MPs are now looking at the third readings of outstanding bills. President Kersti Kaljulaid’s speech will be followed by bill 392 aimed at boosting independence and transparency of communications data collected inContinue Reading
One should not be fooled by the meek disposition of Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Social Affairs Heidi Alasepp (49) who took office Wednesday – she is one of only a handful of Estonian women to have visited conflict zones in Afghanistan and Eastern Ukraine. What is yourContinue Reading
According to Estonian Minister of Defense Kalle Laanet, the European Union must be ready to support its member states if they are subjected to a hybrid attack. Laanet took part in an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Sept. 1-2 to discuss the European Union’s strategicContinue Reading
The National Audit Office report “Accuracy and legality of transactions in state accounting in 2020” that was published on Tuesday revealed that all summary accounts of costs, expenses, investments and financing transactions in the 2020 state budget that was approved by the Riigikogu are false because the Ministry of FinanceContinue Reading
Former Auditor General, Director of the Estonian National Museum Alar Karis was elected the next president of Estonia with 72 votes of the 68 required on Tuesday. Karis will take office as president in October. The second round of voting in the 2021 presidential election saw Karis elected president betweenContinue Reading
The 101-seat parliament was unable to elect the new president of Estonia on Monday as the sole candidate in the ballot, 63-year-old Alar Karis, failed to secure the necessary majority of votes. Karis, director of the Estonian National Museum, received 63 votes in the secret ballot. There were 16 emptyContinue Reading
Ukraine needs 20 years of work to become a full-fledged member of the European Union, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said in an interview to the Ukrainian online portal Yevropeiska Pravda (European Pravda). According to Kaljulaid, neither Ukraine, Georgia nor Moldova meet the requirements for EU membership yet. “There are aContinue Reading
Russian-speaking people in Estonia and Latvia live in the Russian world, writer and social anthropologist Erika Fatland writes in Norway’s largest daily Aftenposten. In an article entitled “Trapped in the Kremlin’s long shadows” (“Fanget i Kremls lange skygger”), Fatland says that thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union,Continue Reading