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Helena-Reet Ennet
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Estonia: Agreements on further relations between the EU and the UK approved by the European Union Affairs Committee

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The European Union Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) approved Estonia’s positions regarding the agreements regulating the future relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom at its today’s sitting.

Chair of the Committee Mailis Reps said that the UK’s decision to leave the European Union was regrettable and it would complicate the lives of many Estonians. “However, our Committee will also try to do everything to see that the changes would go as smoothly as possible. An agreement is in any case better than Britain leaving without a deal,” Reps pointed out.

The Chair of the European Union Affairs Committee added that unfortunately the agreements made in the busy moments at the end of the year showed signs of haste. “In connection with the end of free movement in January, travelling to the United Kingdom will be more complicated for those who wish to stay longer than for six months. We know that many young people are interested in studying in the UK and they are waiting for news about that. Unfortunately, there are no decisions that resolve the future of the Erasmus programmes, and in order to study in the UK, the students will have to apply for a student visa from 1 January 2021. But we are working to find good solutions to this as fast as possible, maybe as an alternative system,” Reps said.

Travelling between the EU and the UK continues to be visa-free also from the beginning of the next year, for 90 days in a 180-day period.

Deputy Chair of the European Union Affairs Committee Riina Sikkut underlined that having close relations and cooperation with the United Kingdom was important for Estonia. “Estonia values free, open and smooth trade with the UK, and regarding the recent agreement, I would like to highlight zero tariffs on mutual trade as an important decision,” she said.

According to the explanatory memorandum of the decision, the main interests of Estonia are also ensuring mutual access to the markets and equal competition conditions, as well as cooperation in digital trade and between small and medium-size enterprises, movement of capital and investments, and continuation of data exchange, transport connections, social protection and internal and legal cooperation.

The European Commission held negotiations with the United Kingdom on behalf of the Member States to conclude a new partnership agreement. Last Thursday these negotiations ended in agreeing on Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the agreement on protecting classified information and the cooperation agreement on safe and peaceful use of nuclear energy at the chief negotiators level.

In order for these agreements to take effect from the beginning of the next year, draft decisions have been submitted to Member States for urgent approval by the end of today. Signing of the agreements is planned for tomorrow. In order to give the parties of the agreement the possibility to acquaint themselves with the contents of the agreement, the draft decision provides for applying the agreement provisionally from January next year.

Source: Parliament of Estonia

 

Helena-Reet: Women need not be anorectic but charismatic!

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – I intended to build today’s blog post around entrepreneurship and business, however the stream of thought instead led me to pencilling rather through new avenues based on the many recent comments and emails. Just now it seems most proper to talk about the looks. As a reaction to the blog post from this morning, I got very many emails. “Oh, you have lost so much weight”, or “Ah, you look stunning”, or “Your face is similar to Angelina Jolie”, or “Oh you are quite so skinny”, or “Are these recent photos of you?”, or “Do you aim to re-attain your natal weight?, or “Since when have you been anorectic?”, or “Who did your makeup?, or “You look so beautiful”, etc…

To begin with, before I say any further… Thank you for those nice (also perhaps over the limit or way exaggerated focus) comments.. Genuinely, many cordial thanks! It is so great to have so much positive attention – it is pleasant and encouraging. It is true that I have lost weight, I care about my looks and body mass more and more, but I am far from being skinny over the limit, or anorectic. Sometimes I am quite puzzled whether people are joking, acknowledging, or mocking.. but on a large scale it wouldn’t even matter because most of the time I am not sensitive to all negative talk and comments, it doesn’t make me cry, I love myself and have always been pretty for my own self. Also I have always encouraged other women to let happiness dwell in them whatever may be the current look. Although in relative terms I have lost a lot of weight, made great effort towards that target, and feeling glad and proud about it (and which is more – it feels easy and nice being healthy, athletic and fit), I nevertheless do not perceive the connection with men being any different.

Women need not be anorectic but charismatic! Trust me, this is true! Certainly, men do not fancy obese and untidy women, but as women themselves tend to believe – that men like super slim, fake to the core, anorectic women, then this is not the case (definitely there may be exceptions but that is not so as a rule). I have always been surrounded by men, it may even be said that I have been surrounded by men only, and then a few women now and then. My entire life I have gotten along well with men best of all and been liked by men – regardless of my weight, age, and with every outfit. My business partners, friends, soulmates — always only men! I suppose that men like the charisma in women, sex appeal, sincerity, tenderness, being good-natured, caring, – and body mass is not that important.. but selfcare – cleanliness, nurture, charisma, and the individual itself plays a weighty part. No, I do not assert, this is my understanding of it. Our sex appeal and attitude is all in the head, in the brain. Charisma always beats grey, dull, anorectic and bony “cookies”…any time. The chemistry happens first of all in the head, although in today’s comfort society and consumer society it may still be a tiny bit rewarding to be attentive about one’s body mass – for health’s sake! I do this now (for my health’s sake), because I want to live long, live forever! I do the makeup and pause to think about the outlook, more and more, also due to being an active agent in the world of beauty, and as the founder and developing manager of the brand Elisheva & Shoshana I simply need to observe what is the image that I convey towards the outside world. E&S brand is keenly booming and growing, and in the world of beauty there are the set rules. Perfect manicure, pedicure, facial care, hair care, proper makeup – these are the aspects that, due to my position as E&S brand developing director I cannot ignore, if I desire to see the brand growing and booming.

Hugs! And to zip it up, I end the blog with two pictures from our most recent E&S promotion photo shoot! These pictures didn’t make it to the ad, but I like them dearly! For me, emotion counts!


Helena-Reet: Morning full of ceramics, and chicken with bechamel sauce!

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Today I woke at eight and went out for a walk. Though it was crispy cold outside, still after quite a while it was very nice to walk outdoors. The cat took a walk beside me – that was cool. Afterwards I had my breakfast porridge and drank the coffee and then started making the ceramics dishes.

From the clay I made a large heavy platter and also a smaller name-tagged bowl. Actually I have made very many clay dishes (cups, plates, bowls, large bowls, even trays, also soap dishes, jewellery containers, etc.), but curiously have never created a gallery of the pottery that is there. Surely I have a few photos in my cell phone of some of the ceramics made earlier, however those are mostly taken, like the ones from today, at the same day when they were created (when the clay was still not completely dry. But ceramics indeed will take time, step by step (first you shape the clay, then dry it, burn in the furnace, color, burn once more). Long process. So it happens that later I already tend to forget – the product will be redirected for gifts, or those that were made as a special order, I will send by post and there won’t even be a picture to recall. So I’ve been thinking this pattern needs to change – it would be nice to be able to browse what I have made, and when anybody sees something that pleases the eye, it would be easier to describe the order that they envision. I should indeed regularly post the works in my blog (here in this blog as well as on ElishevaShoshana.com site). However, today’s pieces are here.

(blog continues after the gallery)

Now some food talk. Today for dinner I prepared smashed potatoes and chicken in good old bechamel sauce. The name is rather fancy and tricky but the sauce is easy to prepare, ingredients are easily available and suitably modest for a peasant’s style!

Bechamel sauce (simple white flour sauce) recipe:

What you need:

3-4 tablespoonfuls of butter
2-3 tablespoonfuls of flour
ca 500-700 ml milk
100g sour cream
salt for seasoning (you may also add herbs, grate nutmeg, peppers, etc.)

How to prepare:
Melt the butter in the pot or on the pan, then saute (gently bounce) added flour in the liquid until it is brownish. Pour milk into the same pot/pan (you may choose to warm it prior to adding). Mix all of it carefully until the sauce almost boils, then add sour cream and continue to boil for a minute or two. Then season the sauce. In case a creamy mixture was not reached while bouncing and mixing, you may turn your eyes to the good old blender machine for help. PS! conventional bechamel sauce very likely doesn’t have sour cream as an ingredient, but I always choose to add it… a full sauce will always taste just a little better…haha.

Should you wish to prepare chicken in bechamel sauce (as mine on the pictures below), then first of all fry the chicken, and then prepare the sauce on top of it.

Now I proceed with some workout (the plan is to walk the treadmill at least for an hour) and then I continue and try to get some work done today. If there is time I will blog some more a little later, if not, then I wish you a wonderful evening and see you in the morning!

Hugs!



Finland: Ministerial Committee on EU Affairs: EU–UK agreements must be signed this year

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The Ministerial Committee on European Union Affairs is of the view that the Council must still make a decision on the signing and provisional application of the agreements on the future EU–UK relationship before the end of 2020. This will prevent a “no-deal” scenario, in which the EU and UK fail to sign the agreements before the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December 2020.

The Ministerial Committee on EU Affairs adopted its position on Monday 28 December in a written procedure. The Ministerial Committee on EU Affairs stated that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the separate agreements on information security and nuclear cooperation negotiated between the Commission and the UK are, as a whole, in line with the EU’s and Finland’s negotiating objectives. The Committee is of the view that, in this exceptional situation, the agreements can be signed and concluded on behalf of the Union without national ratification by the Member States. The agreements would apply provisionally until 28 February 2021 at the latest. The objective is that, by then, the European Parliament will have had time to approve the agreements, after which the Council will make separate decisions on adopting them. Only after this can the agreements enter into force definitively.

“The Government considers it important that the new Trade and Cooperation Agreement can be applied immediately at the turn of the year. The agreement is not equivalent to EU membership, but it is in the best interest of both the EU and the UK in this situation, and it is much better than a ‘no-deal’ scenario. The Grand Committee of Parliament will formulate Parliament’s position on the matter at its meeting this afternoon,” said Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Finland: Growth rate of new COVID-19 cases has slowed down, but the situation remains serious

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The increase in the number of new coronavirus infections has slowed down in Finland, but new cases are still found widely across the country.

Many regions have intensified their preventive measures over the past few weeks. While restrictions and recommendations have succeeded in checking the growth of new cases, the incidence rate and need for hospital care remain at such a high level that restrictive measures should be continued. The development of the epidemic and need for hospital care will be closely monitored during Christmas and the New Year period.The total number of new cases in the last two-week period (7–20 December) was 5172, which was 965 cases less than in the preceding two-week period. The incidence of new cases was 93 per 100,000 inhabitants and in the preceding two-week period it was 111 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Number of cases in older age groups is still alarming
During the period of 14–20 December, people under 50 years of age accounted for just over 75 per cent of all cases and people under 30 years of age for nearly 40 per cent of the cases. People over 60 years of age accounted for more than 15 per cent of the new cases, while people over 70 years of age accounted for more than eight per cent of the new cases. The percentages are roughly the same as in the previous week.

On 23 December, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Finland stood at 34,084. There have been 524 deaths related to the disease. It is estimated that about 26,000 people, which is over 75 per cent of all confirmed cases, have recovered from the disease.On 23 December, a total of 258 patients were receiving hospital care due to the COVID-19 disease, and 26 of them were in intensive care. There were 97 inpatients in specialised medical care and 135 in primary healthcare. The number of inpatients was at the same level as the week before. While there were fewer patients in intensive care than the previous week, the number of patients was the same as two weeks ago.

The monitoring report on the epidemic published today and the previous reports are available on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare:Monitoring coronavirus (in Finnish and Swedish) The COVID-19 epidemic: regional situation, recommendations and restrictions Coronavirus in numbers (Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa)Action plan for implementing recommendations and restrictive measures under the hybrid strategy following the first phase of the COVID-19 epidemic (Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2020:26), description sheet available in English

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Helena-Reet: Christmas in quarantine (extended gallery!!)

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – On 18 December we found out that due to two pupils from Ivanka Shoshana’s class having caught coronavirus, our Christmas time was to be spent in isolation. We had been invited as guests to several events, and unluckily this news turned the plans upside down. Indeed, nothing to do about it – however, I quite enjoy staying at home and peacefully minding my own business and cooking.

I prepared meat in the oven, along with blood sausage, fried sauerkraut with plums, and following my own recipe, also stew in cream cheese sauce (from cauliflower, sweet pepper, onion, and potatoes), garlic cheese salad and Caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil, pesto). For dessert I made a good old cookie-whipped cream cake with almonds and banana.

Have a beautiful end of the year!



















Estonia: The Government imposes restrictions similar to Ida-Virumaa in Harju County and agreed on additional support measures

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The Government imposes extensive restrictions due to COVID-19 in Harju County and extends the measures already in place to prevent further spread of the coronavirus in Ida-Viru County. In addition, as of December 24, a 50 percent use of maximum capacity requirement for religious services will apply nationally. To compensate for the economic damage caused by the new restrictions, the members of the government also agreed on subsidies for the most affected economic sectors. The total amount of support amounts to EUR 23 million. The Government will issue separate orders for both restrictions and support measures.

“Considering the accelerated spread of the coronavirus in Tallinn and Harju County, the increasing occupancy of local hospitals and the spread of the coronavirus among hospital staff, we have to make difficult decisions to protect our medical system from overload and ensure access to medical care,” said Prime Minister Mr. Jüri Ratas. “Unfortunately, we see that the existing measures have not been enough to slow down the virus growth trend. Based on the opinion of the Scientific Council and the Estonian Health Board, the Government decided to impose more extensive restrictions in Harju County and Tallinn in order to break the chain of connections causing the spread of infection. To stop the spread of the virus, people of Estonia need to spend Christmas within a small family circle. In this way, we can show solidarity with society as a whole and contribute to stopping the spread of the coronavirus. ”

Restrictions applicable for Harju County and Ida-Viru County from December 28 to January 17.

It is not allowed to provide any entertainment services anywhere – casinos, bowling and billiard halls, adult clubs and premises of accommodation facilities. Accommodation establishments may continue to provide accommodation services.

All sales and service premises of catering companies must be closed to customers. Food takeaway and related delivery service are permitted. All sports facilities must be closed for visitors, including sports club, saunas, spas, swimming pools, water parks. Restrictions do not apply to professional athletes, including national championship teams, team members and team candidates. There is also no restriction for people with special needs.

It is not allowed to hold public meetings and events, including conferences, theatre performances, concerts, and indoor cinema viewings. Museums and exhibitions must also be closed to visitors. Up to 10 people can take part in public events and meetings outdoors.

Indoor youth work, hobby activities and informal education, further training, and continuous education, as well as sports and coaching activities are prohibited. All these activities are allowed outdoors for a group of up to ten people and a coach.

Kindergartens and childcare facilities will remain open, but guidelines issued by the Estonian Health Board and local government to prevent the spread of the virus must be followed.

50 percent use of maximum capacity restriction will apply to public religious services from December 24

A 50% use of maximum capacity ceiling will be applied to worship and religious services throughout Estonia in order to avoid the risk of the coronavirus spreading during the Christmas holidays. Masks must be worn indoors, disinfection requirements must be met and other measures to prevent the spread of the virus must be followed.

Restrictions on educational activities for general education schools will remain in place nationally until the end of the school holidays, January 10. (incl.)

The Government extended restrictions on educational activities until January 10, 2021 (incl.). The extension of restrictions affects general education schools, vocational training institutions, universities of applied sciences, and universities. Those schools where the break ends before January 10, Years 1 to 4 may return to school for classes. The restrictions, which will come into force after January 10, will be discussed by the Government at a cabinet meeting next week.

The Government Communication Office publishes the order and its explanatory memorandum on the website kriis.ee.

In addition, the Government also discussed sector-based compensations for restrictions that significantly affect economic life in Harju County and compensations arising from the extension of restrictions in Ida-Viru County. Compensation measures for businesses in Harju County are aimed for accommodation, catering, entertainment (casinos) services, as well as culture, sports, private education, and hobby activities. The measures total EUR 23 million. The content of the measures is the compensation for taxes on labour according to the employment data in the county, as well as the subsidies directed through the field of culture and education.

 

Finland: Ministries review nationwide recommendation to work remotely – grounds for keeping recommendation in force still strong

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — On 23 October 2020, the Government issued a national recommendation for employees to work remotely until further notice. The ministries had to assess the grounds for keeping the recommendation in force by the end of the year.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Ministry of Finance have assessed the development of the epidemiological situation and the effectiveness and impact of the recommendation. Starting in mid-October, the situation with regard to the COVID-19 epidemic has become significantly more difficult both regionally and nationally. Workplaces and employees have followed the recommendation widely, which is estimated to have reduced the number of close contacts at workplaces and in public transport.

Studies have shown that long-term remote work increases employees’ sense of strain at work, although the majority are still mainly satisfied with working remotely. On the other hand, many jobs cannot be done remotely. Where these jobs are concerned, the authorities have emphasised the employer’s responsibility to promote work arrangements aiming to reduce close contacts and other risk factors at the workplace.

The ministries emphasise that the epidemiological situation is still very serious and that COVID-19 is spreading throughout the country. The nationwide recommendation to work remotely can help in curbing the spread of the epidemic. The recommendation as such has not been found to have any significant negative impacts on the situation. For the reasons presented above, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Ministry of Finance are of the view there are still strong grounds for keeping the national remote work recommendation in place in its current form. In line with the Government resolution issued on 23 October 2020, the national recommendation to work remotely will continue until further notice. Grounds for a further extension of the recommendation will be assessed by 30 June 2021.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Estonia: The Baltic prime ministers summed up the extraordinary pandemic year

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Today, the last meeting of the Baltic Prime Ministers during the Estonian Presidency of the Baltic Council of Ministers took place in an online environment, discussing the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of joint energy and infrastructure projects. The meeting was also attended by Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy.

Prime Minister Jüri Ratas gave an overview of the implementation of the action plan of the Estonian Presidency, which was strongly shaped by COVID-19. At the same time, close co-operation will continue on major energy and infrastructure projects, including renewable energy.

“I am glad that during this difficult year, we have been in very close communication with our neighbours and have also been able to hold two physical meetings and four video meetings,” said Jüri Ratas.

The Baltic prime ministers presented the vaccination plans and the situation regarding the movement of passengers in the Baltic States, which is affected by the spread of a new strain of coronavirus discovered in Great Britain as well as the growing infection numbers in the three Baltic countries. “We decided that it is important to continue coordinating cross-border movement between the three Baltic States and, if necessary, to work together to ensure that Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian citizens and residents can return home safely from Great Britain despite the air traffic restrictions,” said Ratas.

According to the Estonian Prime Minister, COVID-19 numbers are growing in all three neighbouring countries and we were forced to increase the restrictions. “However, the vaccination that will start soon gives us great hope. The vaccination plan has been approved, we work closely with the entire European Union, and we also coordinate our activities with Latvia and Lithuania. It would be good if Latvia and Lithuania also joined the Estonian-WHO igital immunization certificate pilot project,” Ratas emphasised.

Speaking about Rail Baltica, the Estonian Prime Minister emphasised that the common goal of the Baltic States is to build the railway quickly. This will be achieved through the summer agreement of the Council, whereby we secured additional funding of a total of 1.38 billion euros for the Rail Baltica project for the three countries.

The second part of the meeting began with a discussion on energy. Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, joined the meeting at this point and drew attention to the opportunities that the growing use of renewable energy, including the construction of offshore wind farms, will bring to the Baltic States. “The Baltic States take the goals of the European Green Agreement seriously and their contribution is necessary to achieve our goals. The European Commission welcomes plans to develop the offshore wind potential of the Baltics and to establish joint renewable energy projects, for example between Latvia and Estonia. We also consider it necessary to move forward with the synchronisation, and the European Commission is helping Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in many ways,” said Simson.

“The European Commission has recently decided to support the project with another 720 million euros. The synchronisation of the electricity networks of the Baltic States with the Central European electricity system by 2025 is a priority strategic project for all of us,” confirmed Jüri Ratas.

Next year, leadership of the Baltic co-operation will be taken over by Lithuania, whose main targets are close co-operation between the Baltic States in the fight against the coronavirus, major joint infrastructure projects, as well as security co-operation and the Eastern Partnership, especially supporting the Belarusian people in democracy and human rights.

A joint declaration was also signed at the meeting:
https://www.valitsus.ee/sites/default/files/joint_statement_3b_pm_final_… (PDF)

 

Finland: Ministry of Social Affairs and Health updates the action plan to manage COVID-19

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has updated the action plan that guides social welfare and healthcare actors in their work to curb the COVID-19 epidemic. To effectively prevent the virus from spreading, the measures must be proactive and sufficiently broad in scope.

In future, too, the epidemiological situation will be divided into three general phases: baseline, acceleration phase and community transmission phase. These will continue to be used to assess the need for recommendations and restrictions and how these should be targeted.Measures included in the acceleration phase may be justified even for the baseline if the epidemiological situation nationally or in the neighbouring areas is getting worse. If the community transmission phase seems imminent, all necessary measures must be taken without delay. Matters to be taken into account in terms of implementing the measures include the national epidemiological situation and the effects this may have on the assessment of the situation and on the need for measures in each individual area.

Immediate and proactive response to epidemiological situation
The Communicable Diseases Act obliges the authorities to take action as required by the Act to reach the objective. The authorities must respond to a worsening epidemiological situation fast and proactively by taking effective and epidemiologically relevant measures. The spread of the epidemic can be curbed with regionally targeted, timely and sufficiently extensive measures and effective testing and tracing of infections. In line with the Government’s hybrid strategy, the aim is to prevent the spread of the virus in Finland, protect the capacity of the healthcare system and shield and protect people, especially those who are most at risk.

Action plan guides the authorities
The action plan guides the authorities responsible for the implementation of the Communicable Diseases Act in using the recommendations and restrictions in an appropriate manner with respect to the epidemiological situation. The previous action plan was adopted in September 2020, in accordance with the Government Resolution. The updated action plan covers the period from January to May 2021, and it can be revised during the spring if required due to the epidemiological situation.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

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