Estonia needs proactive legislation to restrict “harmful foreign media outlets,” in addition to sanctions imposed on Russia, Andres Jõesaar, media adviser at the Estonian Ministry of Culture, stated, ERR reports. He conceded that the recent controversial proposal by the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) to monitor media bias was “badly worded.” However, Jõesaar…
Estonia’s Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, suggested that local businessman Parvel Pruunsild, majority owner of Bigbank, made major donations to opposition parties in order to break up the first coalition government that Kallas headed, ERR reports. In response, Pruunsild’s lawyer sent a letter to Kallas, demanding that she retract her statement and issue an apology. Kallas…
The Estonian government has announced an emergency situation in the country’s agriculture sector due to adverse weather conditions in recent years, ERR reports. The declaration will ease regulatory and contractual obligations for farmers and other agricultural businesses, but will not entail financial support measures. Estonia has experienced exceptionally low rainfall and high temperatures in recent…
The Estonian Business School (EBS) has obtained a planning permit for the construction of a new campus in central Tallinn, ERR reports. EBS will begin building the 44,000 m2 campus on Tallinn’s Ants Lauteri Street in the second half of 2023. The campus will include a 30-storey office tower, catering facilities, a sports centre, and…
Estonia does not need a permanent NATO brigade, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur stated, ERR reports. He noted that Estonia already has more than 2,000 allied troops permanently stationed in the country. Estonian society would not be prepared for the construction of another large military training area in the country, he argued. Also, an additional deployment…
Estonia’s parliament, the Riigikogu, will start processing hundreds of amendments submitted by opposition parties to block legislation if they are not withdrawn, deputy speaker Toomas Kivimägi (Reform) stated, ERR reports. Kivimägi said that he had asked the opposition’s Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond), and Fatherland (Isamaa) to withdraw their submissions…
Estonia’s privately-owned energy group, Utilitas, posted sales revenue of EUR 255.9mn in 2022, which was up from EUR 159.9mn in 2021, ERR reports. Production and sale of heat and electricity accounted for 94% of total revenue. The rest came from renewable energy subsidies and other sales. Utilitas produced 2.2 TWh of heat and electricity in…
Latvia’s new president, former foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics, made his first official visit abroad to Estonia on 10 July 2023, ERR reports. He met with Estonian President Alar Karis, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, and other officials in Tallinn. They discussed bilateral cooperation, regional cooperation projects, continued support for Ukraine, and the NATO summit in Vilnius….
The foreign ministers of the eight Nordic and Baltic countries (NB8) have signed a joint declaration in support of Ukraine’s membership of the EU and NATO, ERR reports. The ministers stated that Ukraine’s future was within the “Euro-Atlantic family.” The declaration said that it was time to use the “Baltic experience of the 1990s” in…