TALLINN - Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Meelis Atonen resigned last week over the ferry connection with the country's western islands, though his departure, which the prime minister supported, failed to resolve the issue of how to arrange transportation between the mainland and the islands.
Atonen stepped down on Sept. 9 after failure to garner support from his colleagues at the weekly Cabinet session. In the ex-minister's words, he wanted to organize a ferry service to the islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa more effective than the nontransparent monopoly system that functioned for almost a decade.
"I may have made mistakes when pursuing that goal, but I feel I was standing for the right thing," Atonen said shortly after his resignation. He added that there was no unity in the government on the issue.
The board of the Reform Party decided to replace Atonen with Tartu Mayor Andrus Ansip, who was approved by President Arnold Ruutel on Sept. 13. He will be dismissed by the City Council as the mayor of Tartu on Sept. 22. Atonen replaces MP Kristen Michal in Parliament.
The newly appointed minister's first task will be to make sure that ferries run between the mainland and the islands after Oct. 1, when the current contract expires. And the task won't be easy.
"Meelis Atonen, as minister, was doing the right thing by trying to see for prudent use of taxpayers' money, but the ferry line contract termination deadline was too close to get both the state and the service provider to a satisfactory agreement," Ansip was quoted by the Reform Party press service as saying.
He added that neither the state nor the Saaremaa Shipping Company could possibly be interested in terminating the ferry connection. Options available to avoid the ferry service termination include buying the Saaremaa Shipping Company, said Ansip.
Other experts, however, have proposed a ticket-price increase in order to minimize the system of subsidized travel to and from the islands.
The current price for a one-way trip from the mainland to Muhu Island 's connected to Saaremaa by a dam - is 20 kroons (1.3 euro) for an adult. But it costs 55 kroons to take one's car to the other side, and up to 600 kroons to go by bus.
Remarkably, Saaremaa Shipping is not taking bookings for October as it lacks both a legal basis and certainty in regards to its future. Anu Lomp, head of the company's customer service department, said that although management has decided to carry on after Oct. 1, it was unclear what will be in operation and how often they will run.
"We cannot build a new schedule on the basis of newspaper headlines. There is a promise to passengers [to carry on], but we cannot say at the moment what changes will be made to what routes," said Lomp.
The company currently employs about 250 people and has served 1.2 million passengers and 413,035 vehicles on its four lines from January to August 2004, up 12 percent compared with 2003. Founded in 1992, Saaremaa Shipping won a tender for the ferry connection between the western islands and the mainland in 1994.
