For Estonia, spring 2007 has been extraordinary. For the first time in the last fifteen years, we felt that we could be facing serious domestic and foreign policy problems.
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 |
The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia. Riigikogu elections. Innovation policy. The UN. Special pensions. Public opinion of national defence. Welfare system. Population policy. Partnership between public authority and civic initiative. The Czech resistance movement.
Summaries of articles are in English.
For Estonia, spring 2007 has been extraordinary. For the first time in the last fifteen years, we felt that we could be facing serious domestic and foreign policy problems.
Riigikogu Toimetised invited politicians and political observers to take part in a discussion about the election of the 11th Riigikogu on 21 May and the campaign that preceded the elections.
The Constitution, which has been in force for fifteen years, is the fourth basic law in Estonia’s nearly ninety years of statehood. It is a good time to consider: what we can thank our Constitution for?
In the final days of April, Estonia fell victim to large-scale, centrally coordinated cyberattacks. The target chosen for the attacks was no less and no more than the entire electronic infrastructure of the state.
Since restoration of independence, Estonia has had five general elections. This article analyzes the results of these elections and compares them to parliamentary elections held by three of Estonia’s closest neighbours – Finland, Sweden and Latvia.
In the very big picture, it is near certain that the success of a country’s economic development is determined by whether the country has a good economic climate. In this context, it is important that the government has a definite plan how to increase the competitiveness of Estonia’s economy. According to the plan, the labour market has to be made more flexible, investment and saving must be promoted, and the creative economy must be developed. It is necessary to ensure equal treatment for business people and fair competition, and to reduce corruption.
The Estonian Development Fund, whose founding was governed by an act passed on 15 November 2006 by the Riigikogu, was in principle created to fulfil two functions: to help the state make long-term strategic decisions – fulfilling the so-called future monitoring function and supporting the financing of innovative, high-risk ideas.
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.
When diplomats are exhausted by the endless negotiations in the UN and reach their wit’s end, it is a good time to remind ourselves that a roomful of exhausted diplomats is still far better than tens of thousands of soldiers on the front lines.
The Darfur humanitarian disaster has cast a shadow on the beginning of the 21st century and third millennium. If there is goodwill, it could be resolved overnight; or it could drag on for decades as the case has been with the civil war in southern Sudan.
Estonia’s innovation policy was designed to be centred on the state, but the state has not been a very active leader. It can even be argued that the state has abandoned its leadership role.
The necessary tax base for ensuring quality public services and the inseparably connected issue of income tax revenue are among the key problems of Estonian local governments.
The purpose of the article is to analyze the social welfare system in the light of general system theory.
Estonian legislation prescribes special pensions for the following categories of officials: police officials, military officials, border guards, judges, prosecutors, chancellor of justice, officials of the state audit and the President.
The article analyzes the role of cash benefits and tax concessions for families with children in reducing poverty in Estonia.
In the run-up to NATO accession there was consensus among political parties when it came to Estonian foreign and security policy. Now that Estonia is a member of the organization, however, political discussion has arisen concerning the various alternatives and opportunities for guaranteeing national security.
Coalition parties in the Estonian parliament have been accused on numerous occasions of using so-called steamroller tactics to push through their bills or amendments while pushing aside the bills or amendments of opposition parties without any debate. The aim of this article is to provide an assessment of whether steamroller tactics have actually been used in the Estonian parliament.
In 2005–2006 a study commissioned by the State Chancellery was conducted in Estonia, entitled “Roles and attitudes in public service”.
Since the end of the Cold War, cooperation has made a comeback in Europe, and in the field of population, cooperation between states has been taking place already for more than 15 years.
During recent years the necessity of reducing administrative burdens has been high on the agenda as one topic of the Lisbon Strategy.
A systematic overview of the Estonian public sector and citizen’s associations is lacking.
If we compare the opportunities afforded by the Estonian Civic Society Development Concept (Estonian acronym – EKAK), approved by the Riigikogu in 2002, to the development strategy entitled Sustainable Estonia 21, approved three years later by the same body, it should not be overlooked that the implementing mechanisms are very different.
A number of resistance groups arose in 1970s Czechoslovakia. Two of the groups contributed in one way or another to the restoration of Estonian independence.
Even though it seemed, after the Eesti Pank Act was adopted in 1993, that the central bank was guaranteed for all time the ability to follow an independent monetary policy free of the government, this sense of security proved premature.
The article argues that the Estonian EU information network should be updated in order to create synergy between information networks coordinated by Estonia and the EU.
The goal of the national research information system was to consolidate Estonian R&D databases into one body of knowledge.