Off the wire

GO WEST: The mayor of Jurmala, Latvia's popular coastal resort, intends to prepare proposals about simplifying visa procedures for tourists from the CIS before the beginning of the summer tourism season. Dainis Urbanovics said the proposals he plans to submit to the government will not be contradictory to EU requirements as he is not trying to abolish visas and only wants a simplified procedure for obtaining them. Urbanovics suggested that CIS tourists could receive Latvian entry visas on the border by producing a voucher confirming their bookings at a health resort in Jurmala, or a travel certificate issued by a tourist agency in the CIS. The mayor could not say how many tourists would be attracted by the simplified procedure, noting only that the current visa system creates complications for CIS tourists wanting to travel to Latvia. Accessibility is a key factor in promoting tourism, he said.

BIG BANG: The Baltic Jet catamaran owned by shippers Nordic Jet Line collided with a floating restaurant in Tallinn harbor as it was about to dock following arrival from Helsinki on the night of April 29. People escaped from the incident slightly shocked. The catamaran hit the restaurant vessel Admiral with its bow after having first run into the quayside with its stern. The collision took place in the Admiralty basin, a docking area for fast boats. "A loud bang was heard. People reacted differently. Some ran out of the restaurant without paying their bill," Heiki Tompson, a waiter in the floating restaurant said. The collision brought extra chores for staff as bottles were broken and boxes of foodstuffs scattered around the storeroom. Some of the beams and walls of the restaurant's summer terrace were broken and a small hole was made in the vessel's side. The Baltic Jet resumed its schedule at 9:15 a.m. the next morning.

MY GANG: Breakaway members of the Jaan Laas-led Estonian Democratic Party named themselves the New Estonia Party and elected Ulo Nugis chairman at a founding congress on April 28. The congress was attended by 181 people, which is more than organizers expected, Tiina Mitt, a newly-elected member of the party board said afterwards. The New Estonia will be registered as a successor of the Democratic Party, even though former Democratic Party members account for less than half of the 1,760 names on the new party's list of members. New Estonia's potential cooperation partners are the People's Union and Center Party and, looking into the future, also the Moderates, Nugis said.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: St. Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev is offering to make a copy of a monument to Russian Tsar Peter the Great, which is being restored by a private company in Riga, so that one of the two monuments can be erected in Riga and the other in St. Petersburg. The governor came up with the proposal in a letter to Riga Mayor Gundars Bojars, sent late last week. The letter said the monument in Riga could be installed as a symbol of the old friendly relations between the two cities, but did not specify if Riga should keep the original or the copy. Russia's Ministry of Culture is ready to consider financial support for the project. The Latvian consul in St. Petersburg, Juris Audrins, told Bojars that St. Petersburg is ready to accept the original monument of Peter the Great and has even considered several options for location of the monument. But the Russian embassy in Latvia has reiterated that St. Petersburg is only ready to accept the copy.

UNINSURED: The European Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Parliament on April 30 approved a government decision not to ask the EU for a transition period in introducing mandatory vehicle liability insurance, as had previously been planned. Lithuania is the only EU candidate state without mandatory vehicle liability insurance. Chief Lithuanian EU membership negotiator Petras Austrevicius said in the committee sitting that asking for a transitory period would only complicate and drag out the negotiation process. Approximately 20 percent of all vehicles in Lithuania have voluntary vehicle liability insurance. There are about 1.3 million automobiles in Lithuania.

BUTCH & SUNDANCE: A two-man Estonian team robbed three Austrian banks in April, but the pair were caught immediately after leaving the country and are now in custody awaiting pre-trial investigation. They were arrested in a West European country they went to immediately after the bank robberies in Vienna, during which they stole 250,000 schillings ($16,000) from the Bank of Austria and Hypo Bank on April 12. One robber, 25, was arrested a few days after a robbery at a branch of Volksbank. He admitted belonging to the team, which mostly used the underground to flee from the scene of the crime. The Austrian police has matched the Estonians with bank robberies in at least three countries, in which about 800,000 Estonian kroons ($46,000) were stolen. The men may have also committed bank robberies in Germany.

UNWANTED MONSTER: Almost six months after the world fair Expo 2000 ended, Lithuania's 10.14 million litas ($2,530) pavilion has become a headache for both Lithuania and Germany. Lithuania will probably have to take down the 1,008-square-meter bright yellow pavilion and put the area in order at its own expense if a further use agreement with Germany's Expo Grund BmbH remains unsigned by June 30. Lithuania's former commissioner general at the world fair, Economy Vice-Minister Gediminas Miskinis, said he had received a proposal last summer to buy the pavilion for $2.5 million, adding that the potential purchaser must have not known all conditions at the time. The Privatization Commission recently confirmed new selling conditions, which suggest that the pavilion, which gained fame for its architecture, will be put up for auction and sold for one litas ($0.25) on May 14.