Members of the Estonian delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Heljo Pikhof and Sven Sester will observe the Kyrgyzstan parliamentary elections in Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic, this Sunday.
“Great changes have taken place in Kyrgyzstan during the last months,” member of the delegation Heljo Pikhof said. “This year alone, two referendums have been held in the country. The changes that have been undertaken are paving the way towards a presidential system of government,” Pikhof said. She added that the task of the elections observers was to give an honest and impartial assessment to the elections.
Sven Sester thinks that the parliamentary elections this Sunday will be a crucial moment in the governance of Kyrgyzstan. “The extent of this observation mission shows that the international community is closely monitoring the direction of the changes undertaken in Kyrgyzstan, and the correctness and transparency in conducting the forthcoming elections,” Sester added.
More than 60 members of national parliaments from 21 countries will observe the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan within the framework of the mission organised by the OSCE PA. In total, over 300 observers will participate in the mission. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has previously observed 13 elections and referenda in the Kyrgyz Republic, most recently the presidential election in January 2021.
Election observation missions have been an important part of OSCE’s activities since 1993. The missions monitor whether the elections are conducted legitimately and respect the democratic standards. Observers also assess how earlier election-related recommendations have been implemented in the country.
For more information, please contact: Heljo Pikhof +372 511 9637 Sven Sester +372 504 9222
Speaker of the Eduskunta (Parliament of Finland) Anu Vehviläinen is on a one-day visit to Estonia today on the invitation of President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Jüri Ratas.
In the morning, the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament will have a meeting with the President of the Riigikogu at Toompea and sign the Riigikogu guest book. Deputy Chair of the Estonia-Finland Parliamentary Friendship Group Sven Sester and members of the group Urve Tiidus and Aivar Sõerd will also meet with the Speaker of the Eduskunta.
After that, there will be a meeting with President Alar Karis in Kadriorg. In the afternoon, the Speaker of the Eduskunta will meet with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Minister of Foreign Affairs Eva-Maria Liimets.
Speaker of the Eduskunta Anu Vehviläinen and Vice-President of the Riigikogu Hanno Pevkur will also attend the memorial service at the graves of the Soldiers of Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 at Metsakalmistu cemetery.
Members of the Estonian Delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) participate in the 143rd Assembly of the IPU, held in Madrid, the capital of Spain. The main focus of the Assembly will be on challenges to democracy, like overcoming division and protecting freedom of speech.
Head of the Estonian Delegation Toomas Kivimägi will say in in his speech that the parliaments are the keepers and promoters of democracy. “Without democracy, it is extremely complicated to keep peace, sustainable development, the rule of law and respect for human rights,” Kivimägi notes. “In the midst of the pandemic, migration and other crises, democracy is facing a crisis of confidence.”
Kivimägi underlines that it is important that the fundamental values of democracy and human rights be not neglected even in the changed circumstances. “On the border of Belarus, the lives of people are put in danger by using them as a human shield. Such behaviour cannot be tolerated in the 21st century Europe, or in the rest of the world, and it must be firmly condemned,” Kivimägi emphasised.
The Head of Delegation will also speak about the importance of increasing voter turnout, because participation in elections is one of the cornerstones of democracy. In this context, Kivimägi highlights the Estonian e-elections, which, according to him, help to increase the participation of young voters in particular.
The Estonian Delegation to the 143rd Assembly of the IPU consists of Head of the Delegation Toomas Kivimägi and members of the Delegation Helmen Kütt and Marika Tuus-Laul.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union is the oldest and largest organisation of parliaments in the world. It was established in 1889, and it has 179 member states from the entire world. Estonia was a member of the Union between 1921–1940, and restored its membership after regaining independence in 1991.
NordenBladet — On 25 November, Minister for Nordic Cooperation Thomas Blomqvist will attend a conference in Torshavn on the Faeroe Islands. The conference will discuss the experiences gained from crisis management in the Nordic countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and future Nordic cooperation in crisis preparedness. This is one of the key priorities for Finland’s Presidency in the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021.The conference is hosted by the Government of the Faeroe Islands. The aim is to strengthen a joint Nordic analysis of what we can learn from Nordic cooperation during the pandemic and how this cooperation should be further developed to prepare for future crises. “It is important to talk together about the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Closed borders between the Nordic countries have drawn a lot of attention – and for a good reason. Free movement is one of the cornerstones of Nordic cooperation and our Nordic community, and closing the borders has hit hard especially the people living in the border regions. The citizens of the Nordic countries must be able to trust that everyday living across the borders runs smoothly,” Minister Blomqvist says. Minister Blomqvist will participate in a panel discussion on the consequences and lessons learned from the coronavirus crisis. As Finland holds the Nordic Council of Ministers Presidency this year, Minister Blomqvist will also summarise the discussions at the conference.“The focus during Finland’s Presidency has been to look ahead and learn from the coronavirus crisis. The pandemic has reminded us that we can all benefit from cooperation. The Nordic countries are simply stronger together. This is an important insight that we must make use of and put into practice in the form of even deeper and closer cooperation,” Minister Blomqvist says.Also present at the conference will be Ministers for Nordic Cooperation, President of the Nordic Council Bertel Haarder, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers Paula Lehtomäki and health sector experts, including Anders Tegnell, the State Epidemiologist of Sweden, and WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge, who will attend the conference virtually. Minister Jan-Erik Enestam from Finland will also attend the conference and speak about the results of a study on cooperation during the crisis period, commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers.Read the conference agenda
NordenBladet — The short-term expectations of SMEs in the healthcare and social services sector have become increasingly positive since 2020.According to the new SME Barometer, which surveyed the current situation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the economic outlook for SMEs in the healthcare and social services sector is similar to their peers in other sectors.The short-term expectations of SMEs in the healthcare and social services sector have become increasingly positive since 2020. The outlook for the size of personnel is also positive in SMEs in this sector, with 13% of the respondents believing that the number of employees will increase over the next 12 months. However, this is less than in other sectors on average. Only 3% of the respondents anticipate a decrease in the number of employees, compared to 8% in all sectors.“SMEs in the healthcare and social services sector compete for workforce with the public sector. Although there is uncertainty in the sector due to the health and social services reform, for example, the companies have remained positive about the future, as the SME Barometer shows,” says Under-Secretary of State Elina Pylkkänen from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.On average, there is less willingness to grow in the healthcare and social services sector, with 35% of SMEs in the sector reporting they have no growth targets. This is significantly less than in other SMEs. However, SMEs in the healthcare and social services sector undertook renewal measures, such as personnel training (63%) and investments (62%), during the year. SMEs in the sector considered sales, marketing, personnel development and training to be the areas most in need of development. The general economic situation and the availability of labour were seen as the most severe external barriers to development.On the other hand, SMEs in the healthcare and social welfare sector (11%) cited the availability of workforce as an obstacle less often than SMEs in general (17%). The situation was similar in terms of cost level and financing. Compared with respondents in all sectors (10%), a larger share of respondents in the entire healthcare and social services sector (14%) considered regulation a hindrance to business development. SMEs in the healthcare and social services sector also regarded the opportunities offered by digitalisation as less important than in comparable sectors or all sectors, on average.In preparing for the period after the coronavirus crisis, 35% of SMEs in the healthcare and social services sector said they saw no need to change anything in their activities, while 17% of those surveyed also stated they would return to the pre-coronavirus operating methods. Of the respondents, 14% said they had invested in the development of new products and services that would remain a permanent part of their business. Permanent adoption of new products and services appears more common in all sectors.Nearly 18,000 SMEs operate in the healthcare and social services sector in Finland and employ 50,000 people in total. In all, 596 companies in the healthcare and social services sector responded to the SME Barometer survey, which was conducted in June–July 2021. Half of the companies in the healthcare and social services sector that responded to the SME Barometer represent the category other healthcare service, which includes self-employed people. Because of the category’s large size, it dominates the results of the SME Barometer for the healthcare and social services sector.The barometer was produced by Taloustutkimus and published by the Business Sector Services of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.Business Sector Services are expert services provided by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment that collate, analyse and distribute information about the operating environment for companies and the development of sectors.
President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Jüri Ratas and Speaker of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen met with the Presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly of France today in Paris. The key topics discussed at the meetings were the changed security situation, the preventing of illegal immigration, the future of the European Union and the strengthening of parliamentary cooperation.
At the meeting with President of the Senate of France Gérard Larcher, President of the Riigikogu Jüri Ratas said that, as members of the European Union and NATO, the Baltic States shared common values, interests and goals. “We stand united in defending democracy, fighting against terrorism and strengthening security both in Europe and on missions beyond its borders. We are allies,” Ratas said.
At the meeting with President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand, Ratas stated that the relations between Estonia and France had been strong in politics, economy and culture already since 1921, when new states emerged in Europe from the ashes of World War I. He recalled that the cooperation that had been interrupted during the period of occupation had been revived 30 years ago, and emphasised the defence cooperation.
At the meeting, Ratas thanked France for their contribution to European security and enhancing the deterrence posture of our region, and emphasised cooperation with France in strengthening global security. “Today, the security threat in our region has increased, and therefore our Eastern partners, who are under the pressure from Russia, need more attention from our allies,” Ratas said.
During the discussion of issues relating to Russia and Belarus, Ratas underlined that the Member States of the EU must remain united. “The hybrid attack organised by Belarus is not targeted only against the Baltic States and Poland, it is against the eastern border of the European Union and NATO,” Ratas said and added that the EU had to find finances for strengthening it borders. “We must also not forget what is happening in Ukraine at the same time, and we must understand that at the moment there is no sign of any positive steps being taken by Russia to comply with the Minsk Agreements, therefore the European Union’s sanctions against Russia have to continue.”
The issues relating to the relations between the EU and China, cybersecurity and digital services of the government, climate change, energy security, Eastern Partnership, the priorities of France during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the future of the EU were also discussed at the meetings. All parties also gave an overview of the fight against the COVID crisis, the restrictions and the situation with vaccination in their countries.
The visit of the Baltic Speakers to Paris was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between France and the Baltic States, and to the 30th anniversary of restoration of the independence of Baltic States. Latvia was represented by the Ambassador.
NordenBladet – Saturday morning I drove to Tartu with Ivanka Shoshana and Allan, in order to fetch the last articles (ceramics, paintings) from the Estonian National Museum that had remained there from my exhibition in ERM and that didn’t make it to the luggage room of the car last time. After that we met with Marie and Raido and first of all went to Kebab Pizza, located in Narva Road 113 (it is owned by their neighbour, therefore it is probably not suitable for me to say that this place looked terrrrible, icccc :D). Nevertheless, the pizzas were large, inexpensive, and they tasted very good.
Stomachs full, we drove to Kvartal shopping centre and went to V SPA on the fourth floor (Riia Road 2, Tartu), where we took the Deluxe family ticket (64 EUR), including the water world with four saunas and a sports room, the salt world and the sauna world. Four wonderful hours! I can’t wait to go there again, delightful indeed. After enjoying the SPA we shortly visited my younger sister Hanna-Liisa and then left Ivanka there for the evening and night, we then continued on to Vorbuse to visit Marie and Raido. We were all rather tired, thus the evening’s events were just one movie and a few games of poker, as it has become a tradition for us (you can read about our poker and fun nights also HERE).
On Sunday we drove back to Tallinn. As always, we preferred to drive via Imavere, Kabala, Türi, Kehra and Rapla. We got back home by dinner time and then I started preparing supper. I now have a completely NEW SYSTEM! No more harmful E-number food additives! Most of all I watch out that I don’t use food that contains preservatives (read about preservatives which should definitely be avoided, HERE). While eating out we do not follow this rule, yet on a daily basis when I shop for food I don’t buy the types of bread and cheese that are full of preservatives. I made myself a long list of the bad E-number food additives, and whenever shopping, I follow this list very closely before adding anything to cart. I am a regular client of e-Selver. It is easy and convenient to shop online and read the product label there, and once you select a product it will remain available under the “My products” menu, so that the following purchase already goes faster and without carefully learning the product description. Under special goods selections they have categories such as lactose free, gluten free, sugar free, vegan and eco, but I would really wish that they also had the category preservative free!
I prepared Maks & Moorits “Tenderloin steak with wild garlic”. I stewed the meat nice and long in the oven, since the weekend’s power prices were better than usual (electricity’s real time prices are accessible via NordenBladet’s app sitewide, you can conveniently FOLLOW HERE). The meat turned out delicious. I also offered fried potatoes, peas, and fresh Grüne Fee green salad with sour cream. The drink this time was primrose tea – certainly from nature and gathered by myself. Primrose’s great medicinal properties are described HERE. Yummmm..
Monday was the 22nd which means it was Allan’s & Helena-Reet’s day! We celebrate it every month on the 22nd as long as it becomes a public holiday (which means forever, hahaaa..) As has been our tradition that day – I always prepare lasagne or whipped cream cake (or perhaps even both!) and Allan brings me a new flowerpot (or cut flowers). ???
Yesterday we went to Keila cultural centre where Comedy Estonia performed with the stand-up show “Autumn Tour” (Sügistuur), ticket: 15.90 EUR. On stage were (the exact line-up): in the first part Daniel Veinbergs, Claus Mootse, Roger Andre and Mikael Meema and in the second part Rauno Kuusik, Aleksandr Popov, Karl-Alari Varma and Ari Matti Mustonen. The show was hosted by Sander Õigus.
The hall was full of people (considerably younger audience as compared to the show “NUTA või NAERA” a week earlier, which I wrote about HERE). For me it was something new that in the middle of the show people would drink beer and cognac and other drinks and the host of the show would calmly joke about it. People who were late kept entering and they, too, were automatically integrated in the show. Super good improvisation ability! I took a picture of the stage but as the lighting was quite weak then I had to draw a face to Sander myself (like Mister Bean drew for Whistler’s mom in the movie “Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie”). The night was entertaining and got a great ending with a photo session where the performers posed with the visitors. So, for preliminary info for the future visitors of Autumn Tour, you will be able to take photos also afterwards ??? hahaaa.. Just before us several professional poses were struck by the always merry and energetic influencer and TV3Play celebrity baby blogger Kristina Suuroja-Pärtelpoeg, who was visiting the show with her television hostess friend Brigitte Susanne Hunt.
Anyway… the show was fun, the atmosphere was relaxed (read: moderately vulgar). Estonian top comedians are super friendly and fun and just as I got back home I wished to get tickets to a new Comedy Estonia event. Next time it is already Ari Matti Mustonen’s “Flamingo”, with warm-up by Mikael Meema.
NordenBladet — The Ministry of the Interior has set up a project to assess the possible needs for legislative amendments to prepare for hybrid influencing that exploits migration. The project will assess the means of the current legislation that can be used to prepare for and respond to such hybrid influencing, as well as possible needs to amend the legislation in the administrative branch of the Ministry of the Interior. Recently, hybrid influencing has been repeatedly directed at the external borders of the European Union. Finland, together with Norway, was also the target of hybrid influencing in 2015–2016. In such situations, an exceptionally large number of asylum seekers are used as a means of hybrid influencing.Authorities must have sufficient powers to respond to incidents caused by hybrid influencingResponding to hybrid threats requires many different types of operational, legal, diplomatic and economic means.Finland too should examine the opportunities offered by national legislation so that the authorities have sufficient powers to respond proactively, effectively and in a proportionate manner to incidents caused by the use of migration in hybrid influencing.The project will focus on the Aliens Act, the Act on the Reception of Persons Applying for International Protection and on the Identification of and Assistance to Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings, and the Border Guard Act.A working group will make a proposal for the necessary legislative amendments, after which the Ministry of the Interior will prepare the amendments without delay.A working group has been set up to prepare the project. The project runs from 24 November 2021 to 21 January 2022.
NordenBladet — Finland joined the Export Finance for Future coalition (E3F) at its meeting on 24 November 2021. The E3F is part of the strategy work to combat global warming. It allocates funding to sustainable projects and defines the most suitable measures for phasing out export finance in projects that are not in line with sustainable development.The strategy is based on the coalition’s statement of principles, which the original signatories, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and United Kingdom, signed in spring 2021. Finland, Belgium and Italy joined the coalition at a conference held today.The declaration recognises the importance of trade and export finance in promoting climate neutrality and sustainable projects and ensures that finance policies of member countries are aligned with the Paris Agreement on climate change. The aim is to support the national and international transformation of the export economy and to promote the development of common international standards. By signing the declaration, the countries commit to concrete measures to discontinue export finance in projects that do not support climate objectives.“Finland’s ambitious target is to be carbon neutral by 2035. In Glasgow, we signed the COP26 declaration on international public support for the clean energy transition. We are now very pleased to join the E3F coalition and the declaration of its second summit,” said Jukka Ihanus, State Secretary to Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä, who represented Finland at the E3F meeting.“The E3F is a welcome initiative that allows us to engage in closer discussion on climate and export finance. We hope that this will lead to a wider debate within the OECD, which would create common rules for finance. It is clear that the climate dimensions of export finance must be addressed from different perspectives, including incentives for green finance measures and reporting,” Ihanus said.The coalition’s meeting held today focused on the results of the Glasgow Climate Change Conference, in particular, the declaration on international support for the clean energy transition. The signatories pledge to end public support for trade and export finance of fossil fuels by the end of 2022, with certain exceptions. A new objective was added to the declaration issued in the spring. According to it, member countries commit themselves to allocating funding to sustainable projects and to defining the most suitable ways nationally to end export finance in projects not in line with sustainable development.
NordenBladet — County elections will be held in Finland on Sunday 23 January 2022. The advance voting period is from 12 to 18 January 2022 in Finland and from 12 to 15 January 2022 abroad. The advance polling stations abroad will be located in Finland’s diplomatic and consular missions or their offices in 71 different countries. A total of 97 advance polling stations will be open abroad.The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is responsible for organising advance voting in Finland’s missions abroad and on board Finnish ships sailing outside the Finnish territory during the advance voting period. The Ministry of Justice has the overall responsibility for conducting the elections. The Electionsfinland.fi website contains a list of the advance polling stations and their opening hours as well as general information about county elections.
