Eesti in brief - 2010-12-02

  • 2010-12-01

Helsinki city authorities reached agreement with a group of Romas, who are citizens of Romania and who were begging in the streets of the city and living in their cars, that they would give them cash to travel back home to Romania via Estonia, reports National Broadcasting. The Finnish authorities gave the Romas ship tickets to Tallinn and 300 euros as gas money. Many of the Romas arrived in Tallinn on Nov. 28. They have the right to stay here unregistered for three months, as EU citizens. North Estonian Police prefecture spokeswoman Aleksandra Solntseva said that the Police and Border Guard Board’s Citizenship and Migration Department is aware of the arrangement between the Helsinki authorities and the Romanian citizens.

As of Nov. 1 this year, there were 101,654 persons with undetermined citizenship living in Estonia, according to the Police and Border Guard Board data, reports National Broadcasting. “This year 1,001 persons have received Estonian citizenship, of whom 925 were with undetermined citizenship and the rest were citizens of other states. The main former citizenship states were the Russian Federation and Ukraine,” said Police and Border Guard Board spokeswoman Ene Vihtla. In 2009, 1,670 people got Estonian citizenship, of whom 1,556 were with undetermined citizenship before. 42 people have been freed of Estonian citizenship this year, mostly to take Russian and Finnish citizenship. Last year, 70 people were freed of Estonian citizenship.

Economic recovery could result in a wage increase in Estonia; this could be, for example, in the agriculture sector, reports Aripaev. According to recent statistics, wages in the agriculture sector increased nine percent, year-on-year. Wages increased by the same proportion also in the mining industry and by four percent in the manufacturing industry. Raul Eamets, a professor of economics at Tartu University, said that the first to increase prices are export industries and sectors which underwent severe cuts in labor costs. “I believe that the agriculture and construction industries have cut wages most, so these two are also most likely to see rapid growth in wages,” the expert explains. Eamets added that wages could only grow when the economy recovers: “Employees can expect to see a pay rise only if companies are being more successful and performing better.”