International parliamentary relations

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  • Representing Estonia at the World Parliamentary Forum

    19 June 2013

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 27, 2013

    For the past two years, the Estonian delegation to the IPU has acted according to the following principle: each trip that an Estonian parliamentarian makes abroad should leave a positive trace, introduce Estonia, spread the knowledge that we are a small but good country, that our people are smart, and that Estonia is home to many good things that help make the world a better place. During the IPU Assembly in Uganda in 2012 and in Ecuador in 2013, the head of the Estonian delegation spoke of the „Let’s do it!” campaign that originated in Estonia and was first known in the world as Let’s do it World and is now known as World Cleanup. All the fifty thousand Estonian people who cleaned up Estonia within one Saturday in May 2008 can be proud of what has become of this Estonian campaign: as it spread to over 96 countries all over the world, Estonia became increasingly known as a successful and progressive country.

  • The Riigikogu and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

    14 February 2012

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 25, 2012

    The Parliamentary Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a forum that unites the parliaments and politicians of its member states and primarily performs an advisory function.

  • Twenty Years of Baltic Cooperation

    15 December 2011

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 24, 2011

    The parliamentary cooperation of the three Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the foundations of which were laid by the establishing of the Baltic Assembly in 1991 in Tallinn, has in two decades undergone several changes.

  • Parliamentary Foreign Policy: an Example of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

    15 June 2011

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 23, 2011

    Members of parliament have more freedom in their positions than governments, therefore the best way for pursuing value-based foreign policy is through the parliamentary assemblies of large international organisations.

  • Piracy is a global phenomenon nowadays

    16 June 2010

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 21, 2010

    Piracy is a global problem which does not concern only the regions immediately related to piracy, and therefore fighting it requires serious international efforts.

  • Charter 77 and the Baltic Sea Union – two good examples of “resistance the Czech way”

    14 June 2007

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 15, 2007

    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.

  • A trip from St. Petersburg to Petseri

    14 December 2005

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 12, 2005

    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.

  • The role of incentive design and political capital in parliamentary anti-corruption programmes *

    15 December 2004

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 10, 2004

    The "first wave" of donor-sponsored anti-corruption programmes usefully focused on elaborating recommendations for parliamentarians or tried to train them (develop human capital) in anti-corruption.

    *This paper was presented in 6th Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians, 31.07-01.08.2004, Wroxton College, UK. Policy Paper: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~scat1663/Publications/Presentations/Parliamentary%20Policy%20Brief.pdf

  • Dream of the century fulfilled

    14 June 2004

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 9, 2004

    Even though Estonia's priority since independence was joining Euro-Atlantic structures, the West was fairly reticent about the idea in the very beginning.

  • How to get to the future?

    18 December 2003

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 8, 2003

    The longer the global war on terrorism lasts, the more violence will be loosed.

  • Terrorism in a changing world

    18 December 2003

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 8, 2003

    Terrorism is not a one-generation probleem.

  • Networks between parliamentary research and information service

    11 June 2003

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 7, 2003

    The research and info services of many European parliaments cooperate with libraries, the largest networks being the European Center for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (www.ecprd.org) and the International Federation of Library Association's (www.ifla.org) Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments.

  • Knowledge and power: the essential connection between research and the work of legislature

    11 June 2003

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 7, 2003

    Well-functioning parliamentary information services can make legislation more effective.
    *The article is translated from the author’s paper “Knowledge and Power. The Essential Connection between Research and the Work of Legislature”, published by the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD). Dick Toornstra, ECPRD, European Parliament 2002. Full text is available on the website of the ECPRD at www.ecprd.org

  • Volunteers in parliament

    11 June 2003

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 7, 2003

    Every MP has things in his schedule that someone else could do for him or her but which are not in the job description of anyone working in the Riigikogu.

  • Estonian-Russian relations – the last ten years

    17 December 2002

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 6, 2002

    Estonia's attitude toward Russia after independence was characterized by an idealistic expectation - yet one firmly entrenched in the idea of continuity of statehood - that our great neighbor to the east would renew itself morally and that relations would rapidly normalize in the spirit of mutual reward and good-neighborliness.

  • Ukraine between East and West

    17 December 2002

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 6, 2002

    Geographically and agriculturally well-endowed, Ukraine's fertile lands have been scarred by devastating wars and revolutions, which is why peace and peaceable solution of domestic and foreign problems is such an important value for the country.

  • Convention on the Future of Europe shaping the future of Europe and Estonia

    14 June 2002

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 5, 2002

    At the 2000 summit in Nice, the EU's leaders laid the groundwork for the expansion of Europe with many necessary institutional changes. It was clear to all member states that it would be difficult to achieve unanimity and because of that expansion would be more difficult.

  • Security: The system and the people

    19 December 2001

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 4, 2001

    Grey zones in European security structure are reality insofar as Russia's interests extend far beyond its current borders, and are, as such, more important than the right of single nations to self-determination. If we want more security in Europe, we must recommend the eradication of the grey zones; and this is feasible, if we insist on pursuing a more organized state of affairs in Europe.

  • The clear targets set by the new security forces structure

    19 December 2001

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 4, 2001

    The Estonian Defence Forces recently celebrated their 10th anniversary. Now the Defence Forces may step into their second decade of existence with clear development on a qualitatively new level: the "Analysis of the Structure of the Defence Forces", based on the Partnership for Peace between the Republic of Estonia and the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation, has been completed, as has a document called "The Structure and Development Goals of the Defence Forces for a Medium-Term Period" which sets out the development goals of the Estonian Defence Forces up to the year 2015, relying on the structural analysis performed in 2001. The document was approved by the Government of the Republic on 6 November 2001.

  • What Is GLOBE and What Is Its Background?

    18 June 2001

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 3, 2001

    The inter-parliamentary organisation GLOBE (Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment) was founded in 1989, in Washington, at the initiative of a then Member of the European Parliament, Hemmo Munthing.

  • Activities of the European Parliament in the First Half of 2000

    31 October 2000

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 2, 2000

    The overview of the activities of the European Parliament has been compiled mainly on the basis of the information obtained from http://www.europarl.eu.int.

  • Reflections on Baltic Cooperation

    31 October 2000

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 2, 2000

    In his article, the author looks at the cooperation between Baltic states from its very beginning – the end of World War I, pointing out the possibility of the emergence of even five Baltic states, who would have included also Poland and Finland. Yet, actual Baltic cooperation was not born at that time because the above countries sensed their interests and risks too differently. As a result, in World War II they all had to pay a very high price. The author asks whether this was an inevitable fact.

  • A Short Overview of the Riigikogu Foreign Delegations

    15 June 2000

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 1, 2000

    The members of Riigikogu participate in seven international parliamentary organisations.

  • Estonian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

    15 June 2000

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 1, 2000

    The first delegation of the Riigikogu was established in September 1991 shortly after the restoration of independence of Estonia. It had a special guest status until Estonia acceded to the Council of Europe in May 1993.

  • Associations of Former Members of Parliament in Europe and Japan

    15 June 2000

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 1, 2000

    Informal or officially registered associations of former MPs are a widespread practice in the world. Gatherings of these associations are officially arranged in the form of annual meetings, but also series of lectures, visits within one’s own country and abroad may be organised.

  • Statistics of the Activities of the Riigikogu

    15 June 2000

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 1, 2000

    Statistics of the activities of the VIII and IX compositions of the Riigikogu might be seen as a yardstick for the work accomplished by the Riigikogu. We learn that as a result of the work of the VIII Riigikogu 754 legal acts were adopted, of them 643 laws, 109 resolutions, and 2 statements. The overview contains a comparison of the IX and VIII Riigikogu during the same time period.

  • Remuneration and Benefits of Members of Parliament – an International Comparison

    15 June 2000

    International parliamentary relations

    RiTo No. 1, 2000

    The necessity for an international comparison of remuneration and benefits of Members of Parliament has arisen from the work of drafting, amendment and revision of legal acts regulating the payment of the work of Members of Parliament. This overview is based on the data presented in Istanbul in 1996 at the conference of the Association of Secretary Generals of Parliaments.

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