Estonia’s privately-owned gas company, Eesti Gaas (Elenger), posted revenue of over EUR 1bn in 2022, which was a triple increase from just over EUR 380mn in 2021, ERR reports. Sales of natural gas amounted to EUR 890.2mn (88% of total revenue) and of electricity to EUR 67mn (nearly 7%). Sales in Estonia accounted for 46%…
NATO’s new defence plans for the Baltic region mean that the Estonian people will “no longer have to wait to be liberated” if the country is attacked, Estonia’s Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, stated, ERR reports. Speaking at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Kallas said that NATO would be ready to fight back immediately, which should…
Estonia’s exports of goods totalled EUR 1.6bn at current prices in May 2023, which was down 15% from the same period of 2022, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Exports of goods of Estonian origin fell by 21% and accounted for 65% (69%) of total exports. Overall imports totalled EUR 1.9bn, which was…
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…
NATO allies have deployed additional capabilities to safeguard the NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital city of Vilnius on 11-12 July 2023, ERR reports. Germany has stationed 12 Patriot air defence batteries, Spain has sent NASAMS air defence systems, and France will deploy Caesar mobile artillery in Lithuania. Also, Denmark, Finland, and France will station fighter…
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…
Relations between Finland and Estonia are stronger than ever, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo stated, ERR reports. Speaking at a joint press conference with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in Tallinn on 5 July 2023, Orpo noted that the two countries had strong cultural ties, and that their values and understanding of reality were very…