The European Commission’s latest rule of law report urges Estonia to adopt legislation to improve the regulation of political party financing, BNS reports. The report raises concern that there are no transparent and objective rules on the financing of civil society organisations by the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, from the state budget. Also, the report…
Due to a budgeting mistake, Estonia’s Ministry of Education and Research will have insufficient funds to finance the transition to Estonian-language education in Russian-language schools in 2024 and beyond, ERR reports. The former government allocated the same amount of funds (EUR 41mn) for switching to Estonian-language tuition for each year in 2024-2026 as for September-December…
Finland’s new defence minister, Antti Häkkänen, visited Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, to meet with his Estonian counterpart, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur, on 6 July 2023, ERR reported. The two ministers discussed bilateral defence cooperation, regional security, the NATO summit in Vilnius, assistance to Ukraine, and EU defence support. Pevkur said that Finland’s accession to NATO opened…
Inflation continues to fall in Estonia, Rasmus Kattai, economist at the Bank of Estonia, said, BNS reports. Kattai said that the drop was mostly due to the fact that prices for energy and most agricultural commodities were coming down. However, he noted that it took time for the effect of the lower prices to pass…
The Estonian government has transferred 12 state-owned enterprises under the management of the new Ministry of Environment, ERR reports. The companies were previously managed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. The Ministry of Environment will manage Eesti Raudtee, Elering, Elron, Nordic Aviation Group (Nordica), Operail, Port of Tallinn, Rail Baltic Estonia, Saarte Liinid,…
The advertising revenues generated by multinational digital corporations like Facebook (Meta) and Google (Alphabet) in Estonia are unknown and untaxed, ERR reports. Karin Ulvik, media specialist at the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA), said that tax authorities had “no aggregated information on such a narrowly defined group of companies.” Collecting such data would require…
Estonian ticket sales platform Piletilevi Group will acquire majority ownership of Romania’s oldest ticket sales company, Departamentul Logistic Event (Bilete.ro), BNS reports. Under the deal, Piletilevi Group will acquire 80.2% of shares in Bilete.ro, with current shareholders retaining 19.8% ownership. Andreea Pop will continue as CEO of Bilete.ro, which employs 40 people. The company, which…
The speakers of national parliaments of the Baltic States, Poland, and Ukraine will meet in Latvia’s capital, Riga, on 9-10 July 2023, LSM reports. The speakers will discuss political and practical assistance to Ukraine, including support for the country’s membership of the EU and NATO. The speakers plan to adopt a joint statement at the…
The number of new passenger cars and commercial vehicles sold in Estonia totalled 14,076 in the first half of 2023, which was 6.5% more than in the same period of 2022, according to data from the Estonian Transport Administration (Transpordiamet), Postimees reports. The number of passenger cars sold amounted to 12,236 (up 10%) and commercial…