MONTHS OF HELP: Swedish Ambassador to Lithuania Jan Palmstierna
announced on Jan. 4 that Stockholm is ready to open all the chapters
of EU membership talks for Latvia and Lithuania. Sweden has said that
it plans to pay more attention to matters in northern Europe,
especially in the Kaliningrad region, during its six-month presidency
of the EU.
GOING TO WORK: The European Commission's enlargement commissioner
assured Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar on Jan. 8 that a concrete
solution to the problem of free movement of labor will be devised
during Sweden's six-month presidency. Laar raised the free movement
question and possible restrictions on access to EU jobs of workers
from new member states at a meeting with the commissioner, Guenter
Verheugen, in Brussels.
FOR LATVIA AND LEMBERGS: Latvia's leading daily newspaper Diena has
filed to the Justice Ministry a request to assess a decision by the
For Latvia and Ventspils Party, headed by the mayor of Ventspils,
Aivars Lembergs, to ban the paper's journalist from attending the
party's general meeting. Reporters from other media were allowed into
the meeting, which took place on Jan. 2. "No party is allowed to
restrict the right of society to information," said Diena's
editor-in-chief Sarmite Elerte.
ADOPTIONS FALLING: The number of children adopted by foreign families
continued to decrease in Latvia in 2000, with the respective figure
tumbling by more than two times compared to the previous year. In
2000, just 59 children from Latvia were adopted abroad. The figure
for 1999 was 143, while in 1998 it was 196. The trend is believed to
have resulted from negative publicity last year about adoption, which
is often associated with the trade in human organs abroad.
ELECTIONS FOR PRESIDENT: Social Democrats are to propose amendments
to the Latvian Constitution to initiate a discussion about
establishing an institute for a popularly elected president and
changing the election system to a mixed one. Such a proposal could be
put before the parliament before local elections due in March. At
present the Latvian president is elected by the parliament and the
election system in the country is proportional.
IRON LADY DUE: Britain's former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher may
come to Estonia in the summer at the invitation of the Pro Patria
Union party. "She has agreed in writing to visit Estonia in June,"
says the excited secretary-general of the Pro Patria Union Andres
Ammas. Thatcher, a staunch rightwinger, has always been cynical about
the role of the European Union and preferred as prime minister of
Britain between 1979 and 1990 to strengthen ties with the United
States.
FERRY INVESTIGATION OPPOSED: Finland and Estonia are officially
against reopening an investigation into the 1994 sinking of the
Estonia ferry. The controversy over a new investigation flared up
after U.S. millionaire Gregg Bemis's diving expedition to the wreck
last August. Bemis is sure an explosion sank the vessel. The official
inquiry report into the disaster concluded the ferry went down
because of faulty construction, stormy weather and excessive speed.
It sank on the night of Sep. 28, 1994, while on a crossing from
Tallinn to Stockholm, claiming 852 lives.
LIVING ON A PRAYER: Estonia's Azerbaijani community intends to build
the largest mosque in northern Europe in Tallinn. The construction is
expected to cost a minimum of 40 million kroons ($2.44 million). It's
hoped that it will unite all Muslims in the Nordic and Baltic
countries. The building has been designed and modeled after a mosque
in the Azerbaijani capital Baku. The idea has been presented to the
Estonian church council and Tallinn city government.
FOREVER THE OPTIMISTS: Estonians are the third most optimistic people
in Europe, according to a recent survey. As many as 58 percent of
Estonian respondents to a Gallup poll say they expect 2001 to be a
better year than 2000. The survey looked at 70 countries at the end
of 2000. In Europe, Sweden and France have the biggest percentage of
optimists, while the Netherlands and Austria come at the bottom of
the list.
FATAL ATTRACTION: Lithuanian people read and believe horoscopes far
more than other Europeans. According to the European Values Research
Group, about 39 percent of Lithuanian people read horoscopes at least
once a week, and 10 percent read them on a daily basis. Some 15
percent of Greeks, 22 percent of Italians, 25 percent of Germans and
38 percent of Estonians read their horoscopes at least once a week.
RIDER ON THE ROOF: Lithuanian border guards detained an intoxicated
resident of Vilnius who was riding on the roof of a locomotive to
Belarus Jan. 8. Border police officers in the town of Varena in
southern Lithuania noticed a 24-year-old man on the locomotive of a
Marcinkonys-Grodno train that was heading to Belarus. The alcohol
level in his blood was high - 2.06. The roof-rider told the border
guards that he wanted to visit Poland, but climbed on the wrong
locomotive. He had managed to travel for 15 kilometres in this way.
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