Eesti in brief - 2010-08-26

Aug 25, 2010

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip stated on Aug. 19 that he was certain that Eesti Energia would not get the government’s approval to establish nearly 300 wind energy generators in the vicinity of the islands of Kihnu and Ruhnu in the Gulf of Riga, reports EPL Online. The proposed wind park will take up an area of 100 square kilometers. He explained that one of the issues concerns the area of the territory, and another matter is whether it would be right to reserve the sea territory for an enterprise considering that Estonia would not require quite as many wind generators as are planned. Ansip noted that the planned capacities of all designed wind parks that are in development would far exceed the needs of Estonia. “It seems that the subsidies level has been set too high; investors are exceedingly interested in wind parks while residents are not so much interested in them,” said the prime minster.

In comparison to 2008, there were 21,659 fewer persons who declared their income in 2009, reports LETA. The number of submitted income declarations fell by 21,246 in 2009. The Tax and Customs Board received a total of 562,207 tax returns for 2009, on income earned by a total of 649,289 persons - 45 percent of the population of the republic. The total income declared to have been earned in 2009 amounted to more than 81.1 billion kroons (5.1 billion euros). The average declared annual income per person, before write-offs, amounted to 150,000 kroons in 2009 - nearly 12,500 kroons per month. A year before the amount was 159,000 kroons per year - nearly 13,300 kroons per month. Hence the gross income per person had fallen by 6 per cent in the year-on-year comparison. The cause for the decline in income was the growth in the number of unemployed persons as well as a fall in wages.

A 20-year-old detainee escaped from the Murru prison during the weekend, but came back by his own will in less than 24 hours, reports LETA. The prisoner was held in a medium-security prison. A guard discovered the prisoner’s absence at 6:30 in the morning on Aug. 22. At 10:30 in the evening Ruslan Villonen, held for rape and invasion of someone else’s property, returned to give himself up. How Villonen escaped from the prison and the reasons for his voluntary return are not being released to the public. “Criminal proceedings have been initiated and therefore we are not at liberty at this time to reveal any details,” said Diana Kommus, representative of the Ministry of Justice of Estonia. “However, in addition to the criminal proceedings, an internal inquiry will be carried out and all procedures will be reviewed and amended, if necessary,” she added. Villonen’s term began in August 2007, and he had been scheduled for release in March 2015.

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