For a time this autumn, a discussion broke out in the Estonian media over the dearth of ethical and moral values in society. It struck me that I, too, have become more inured with each passing year where my social instincts are concerned.
Siim Kallas | Presentation in the Riigikogu at the 1st Reading of the Draft State Budget Act 2000 |
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Kalle Jürgenson | State Budget 2000, What and Why? |
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Olev Raju | Commentaries on the State Budget 2000 |
Madis Võõras | Estonia on the Way to Full Membership of the European Space Agency |
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Ene Ergma | Estonia Has Become a Space State |
Urve Läänemets | A Good Teacher Should Be Ready to Learn Also from the Pupils |
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Külli Eichenbaum | Using the Local Peculiarities of Old Võromaa |
Estonia´s economic success. Local elections. Estonia´s legal order. Ecological tax reform. Cultural policy. The European Commission. The activeness of European youth in social policy. State funding. Innovation policy. Civic education.
Summaries of articles are in English.
For a time this autumn, a discussion broke out in the Estonian media over the dearth of ethical and moral values in society. It struck me that I, too, have become more inured with each passing year where my social instincts are concerned.
The Riigikogu Toimetised gathered politicians and political scientists for a round table discussion on electoral behaviour of the Estonian people and political parties' place in politics, in light of the local government council s elections, held on 16 October.247
The article discusses Estonia's economic success and future prospects. In order to assess today's results, recollections, assessments and hopes are presented dating from the early 1990s, when Estonia regained its independence. It all began with economic crisis, modest skills and knowledge about market economy, and a considerably poorer situation than in the Central European countries.
There has been little talk lately of the general development and problems of our justice system, which cannot be considered right, since the transition period in the formation of the national judicial system is far from over, but rather has passed into a new, more complicated phase.
There has been little talk lately of the general development and problems of our justice system, which cannot be considered right, since the transition period in the formation of the national judicial system is far from over, but rather has passed into a new, more complicated phase.
One of the main trends of Estonian tax policy in the years ahead is to reduce labour taxes in order to support increased total employment, instead putting more taxes on consumption, use of natural resources, and environmental pollution.
There has been much big talk in Estonia on the topic of ecological tax reform lately.
The Estonian government cannot be accused of lacking a cultural policy. The problem lies above all in the fact that the elitist-conservationist culture policy followed to date does not conform to the needs of a dynamically developing community, which is why the aim of cultural policy is changing.
As of the commissioning of this article, there was a sneaking movement afoot on the home cultural front to bring back commercials to state television and radio.
Discussions over the future of Europe have been in a central position in sessions of the European Commission this year. For its part, the Commission is satisfied with its proposals to reduce the amount of legislation and regulation of European life from Brussels.
Estonia is only beginning to learn to sense the currents of power in the European institutions, which is quite complicated, as even the European Commission alone has many ostensibly contradictory dimensions.
Estonia has reached a stage of development in its legislative drafting where the laws for all the important walks of life appear to already have been adopted, several major legal acts being on the second time around.
Volatility indexes most often deal with the problems of democratic development and the stabilization of party systems.
Estonian innovation policy has primarily been aimed at commercialization of science and knowledge at scientific institutions: high technology.
Since mass layoffs are a fairly new concept in Estonia's regulation of working relations, we do not yet have practical experiences in this field.
Issues related to the funding of general education are very much the subject of debate not only in Estonia, but all over the world.
The opportunities of the system of local government financing currently used in Estonia have been exhausted.
The article provides an overview of one aspect of the project Political Participation of Young People in Europe (EUYOUPART) – the equivalency of data from international survey polls.
The role of environmental taxes and fees is small in Estonia compared to the member states of the European Union, and as a result, the influence on economic players is also small and does not motivate the latter to act in more conservationist fashion.
The article focuses on the relations between the legislative and executive powers in Estonia against the background of EU membership.
The aim of the article is to give a brief overview of the changes the CCEEs that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 made in their parliamentary EU scrutiny mechanisms. Most of these countries have opted for the so-called “Nordic Model” which means a strong parliamentary involvement in EU decision-making process.
This May and June, the topics related to the Riigikogu's legislative activity that received the most media attention were e-voting, the ban on outdoor advertisements and ratification of the Estonian-Russian border treaty.
The share of e-mail in conveying information for official use has increased from year to year.
Civics has been taught in Estonian general educational system since the very beginning of transition. Although a lot has been done, results are regarded mostly as dissatisfactory. According to the IEA CivEd Study Estonian students support neither conventional nor social movement citizenship model; they are below the international indicators almost at all attitudinal scales.
Disputes on whether the onus should be on civics class in school (in the field of civic education) have lost its point: civics has become everyone's common concern.
The author, member of the 7th Riigikogu and Tallinn University professor emeritus recalls the at-large session of the non-member states committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (CEPA) held 23–27 October 1994 in St. Petersburg and Petseri.
Part II of the article (part I was published in The Riigikogu Toimetised No. 11) provides an overview of the work of legislators of the 7th, 8th and 9th Riigikogu in regulating state revenue and expenditures, environmental protection and promoting market economy relations, also in developing enterprise and economic reforms, resolving social and cultural issues and managing the country's international relations.
Parliamentary libraries today operate in environments of information overload, multiplying information channels and rapidly changing information technology. Do parliamentary clients need a service which promises more information to add to their load? What place for libraries in the new technologies? Has a service model which added value in Babylon still got something to add?