Minorities a priority for Estonia

Mar 03, 2009
TBT staff

TALLINN – The Estonian government has stated that protection of ethnic minorities is a priority. Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, at a meeting with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek said they have adopted two new integration programs for 2009.

Also the number of stateless residents has been constantly declining in Estonia, Ansip told OSCE.

"Even though the pace of naturalization has slowed down, the state has kept searching for possibilities to speed it up,"said Ansip.

Informing residents about possibilities to apply for citizenship has become a primary focus, especially for children and young people.

Special attention is being paid to reducing the nuber of stateless children, said Ansip.

Starting from February 2007 the state informs parents of children with undefined citizenship upon the registration of birth, that they have the possibility to seek Estonian citizenship for their child under simplified procedures.

The prime minister said that applying for citizenship was a very important decision for the sake of which the person himself had display certain activity.

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