Interior minister: NE Estonia's development hindered by stagnated politicians

TALLINN – Estonian Interior Minister Andres Anvelt, who on Saturday was elected to head the Social Democratic Party's (SDE) East-Viru chapter, finds that the region's development is hindered by corrupt and stagnated politicians.

"In Narva and many other East-Viru County towns and municipalities development is hindered by stagnated and unfortunately also corrupt authorities. East-Viru County has the potential to lead Estonia's development but to achieve that, political will is needed. This will is what I want to offer to East-Viru people," Anvelt said.

According to Anvelt, the most important thing is to help East-Viru County to equalize with the rest of Estonia socially and economically, but changes are needed for that. For instance, unemployment is twice as high in northeastern Estonia as on average in the whole country.

According to Anvelt, it is necessary that small entrepreneurs would start operating in the region, but for that social security, good employment programs, stable political management, low corruption levels and strong public order are needed.