Eesti in brief - 2007-06-20

  • 2007-06-20

Estonia's road death toll has reached 73 in the first five months of the year 's an increase of twenty deaths from last year. The Estonian Roads Administration released the figures ahead of the Midsummer holiday weekend, traditionally a black period on the roads. So far, 2007 has proven to be the deadliest year on the roads since 1999. Non-fatal accidents reached 970 for the first five months, compared to 787 for the same period last year. Drunk driving remains the major cause of deaths and accidents.


The U.S. embassy in Tallinn wants to move out of its inner city location to a more secure building. The embassy is currently housed in a renovated apartment building on Kentmanni Street, close to the Olumpia Hotel. However diplomats have reported constant difficulties with upgrading security in the building. Local residents have also been irritated by the presence of the embassy, which blocks off the street from regular vehicle traffic. The US State Department has now endorsed an in-principal decision to find a new location, however the process could take several years.

Estonians were most often confronted with bribery requests when applying for a driver's license, visiting a doctor or enrolling children in kindergarten, a survey has shown. The survey of 2,300 people conducted by the Ministry of Justice found that 19 percent of people were asked to give bribes while applying for a license or registering a vehicle. Another 14 percent said doctors had solicited payments, while 13 percent said police, school and kindergarten workers had asked for bribes. The survey found 44 percent of citizens were prepared to offer money or a service to an official to escape punishment or speed up business. Justice Minister Rein Lang said private sector corruption was a bigger problem than in the public sector. "Today the Estonian economy has come to a situation where competition crimes, cartel agreements and misuse of trust have become as big a problem, and it is necessary to launch a serious fight against it," Lang said.

A Russian aircraft twice violated Estonian air space on June 18 as it flew across the Gulf of Finland en route to Kaliningrad. The Tu-154 illegally entered Estonian air space by a distance of two kilometers for four minutes above Naissaar Island, and again above Osmussaar Island by one kilometer for one minute. The violations were registered by NATO operations in Germany. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Estonia would hand Russia a diplomatic note over the incident, the seventh of its kind in three years.

Tallinn's mayor Edgar Savisaar and the mayor of the Finnish city of Turku Mikko Pukkinen decided in June 19 meeting that a shipping route would have to be opened between the two cities by January 2011, the Tallinn press service reported. Both cities have been designated a European Capital of Culture for that year, and the link would coincide with related events.