The Editor-in-Chief’s column focuses on the lessons of the crisis, and the opportunities arising from the crisis.
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 |
Focus: Development of the European Union
Sixteen years after the accession to the European Union, it is time to explore how strong the relations between Estonia and the European Union are, and to what extent we as citizens perceive ourselves as the Europeans.
Matti Maasikas discusses the moral and legal choices of the coronavirus crisis. Analysis of the unity of the European Union by Klen Jäärats continues the focus topic.
Kaja Tael writes about climate issues and Karin Rannu about Brexit, the article by Siim Tiidemann deals with Common Agricultural Policy, Christman Roos discusses real-time economy and Marti Mölder the positioning of Estonia’s political parties in European political landscape, Viljar Veebel analyses defence cooperation in Europe, and Liisa Talving and Piret Ehin summarise the last European Parliament elections in Estonia and in Europe. Marion Reigo gives an outline of the development and the current situation of the European Parliament.
The discussion panel of the members of the Riigikogu dealt with the reaction of the European Union to the unexpected crisis.
Besides the European Union issues, connections of legal theory to the quality of legislative drafting in Estonia, the Digital Silk Road in the Arctic and the current situation of the state reform are analysed.
Summaries of articles are in English.
The Editor-in-Chief’s column focuses on the lessons of the crisis, and the opportunities arising from the crisis.
On 15 April, representatives of the parliamentary parties Anneli Ott (Centre Party), Marko Mihkelson (Reform Party), Anti Poolamets (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Mihhail Lotman (Isamaa) and Ivari Padar (Social Democratic Party) discussed if the European Union had responded adequately to the current crisis, how to assess it in short and long-term perspectives, and what the lessons from the crisis were
The discussion of any topic in the European Union starts with the question: what is the legal basis here? Which article of the Treaty on European Union provides the framework for joint action? In other words, what jurisdiction have the supreme decision makers in the EU – the Member States – granted the EU institutions?
* The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author.
The end of this political cycle in Europe (2019–2024) coincides with an historical occasion to celebrate the twenty years since the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union.
* The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the few truly common European Union policies, having a history of more than 50 years. The goals of the CAP have remained the same across decades. In essence, they can be summarized as follows: to produce more food with greater profitability while guaranteeing stable food supply and affordable prices. This means that the underlying principle of the CAP is food security.
By leaving the European Union, the United Kingdom became free of its decades-long hesitations and doubts regarding the EU membership and the EU developments.
‘There are no good times, there are no bad. The present is all there is to be had. What starts will never come to an end. Neither beauty nor ugliness is part of the plot’.
With these verses, the Estonian poet Artur Alliksaar has perfectly captured the nature of time and reality. It is especially topical in these trying times of global virus outbreak, but also relevant for the real-time economy concept.
The key words of the European Parliament elections in May 2019 were increased turnout, political fragmentation, and stable support for populist, extremist, and Euro-sceptic forces.
The European Parliament, a globally unique directly elected international representative body, is the carrier of European values and identity. It has kept pace with important changes in Europe, often being the initiator and trendsetter in them.
The article opens the context of the European Green Deal.
* I use the term "Green Deal" to denote "European Green Deal for the European Union (EU) and its citizenns" (European Commission 2019a)
The article reviews the state reform initiatives and activities in Estonia over the recent years, interpreting these from the point of view of research literature on the topic. We can identify three major initiatives: by the Foundation for State Reform, the Government, and the Riigikogu.
The article discusses whether the recently proposed initiatives in the European Union to enhance defence cooperation could strengthen European security, and why these have failed to garner widespread support in Estonia.
With the constant increase of data flows there is a demand for better infrastructure to facilitate the growth of the digital sector. Arctic Connect, a Finnish plan to link Europe and Asia through a submarine communication cable along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), promises to deliver faster and more reliable internet connections between Europe, Russia and Asia due to shorter distances and fewer disruptions caused by human activity along the Northern Sea Route.
* Peer reviewed article
** Policy brief presented at the conference „Beyond Huawei: Europe’s adoption of PRC technology and its implications“, Prague, 27 November 2019. Sinopsis. China in content and Perspective. 7.03.2020. https://sinopsis.cz/en/arctic-digital-silk-road/
Despite the best efforts, legal acts and legal provisions tend to cumulate in legislative drafting in Estonia, and the overall transparency of the legal order often suffers.
* Peer reviewed article
In recent years, the issue of forest management has been under serious scrutiny of the community.
The EU Information Centre (EUIC) opened in the National Library in 1998 to provide information about the EU.