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Helena-Reet Ennet

Helena-Reet Ennet
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The European Union Affairs Committee decided it was necessary to amend the initiative on repair of goods

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet —

At its today’s sitting, the European Union Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) discussed the European Union initiative for common rules promoting the repair of goods. The aim of the initiative is to reduce the quantity of waste generated and to support environmental protection and the green transition. As a result of the changes, the production of goods and the need for valuable resources to make new products should decrease.

The obligatory activities to facilitate the repair of goods that were set out on the proposal were not supported by the European Union Affairs Committee on the 7 July sitting of the Committee. In the meantime, the Committee together with the Ministry of Justice had been working on new proposals regarding the initiative, that were in line with the views of the members of the Riigikogu on promoting the repair of goods.

Chair of the Committee Liisa Pakosta, several other countries also were critical of the obligations proposed by the European Union for the same reasons as Estonia. “We really want that things were repaired more, but to achieve this, the obligations imposed must be appropriate and, secondly, they must be reasonably enforceable,” Pakosta underlined. She said that the European Union Affairs Committee had decided that it would not be right to adopt the Directive in the proposed form because obliging the producer to repair goods would not help an owner of a broken washing machine in Kõpu, who would have to send it, for example, to France for repairs. It would be of much more use if a clear obligation was imposed for producers to improve the access to all spare parts and repair instructions to repairers and end-users of the products. “A much greater reduction in the transport footprint would be achieved if all spare parts could be ordered online and the information on all the drawings needed for repairs was available,” Pakosta noted.

The Chair of the Committee added that if the EU wanted to create a webpage to help find repair services, it should be central and multilingual. “In Estonia, people can find this information using existing search engines, but maybe when you are in another country for work, it really helps if you can quickly find a repair shop there, using central information,” she said, and emphasised that repairing products is a very important environmental goal, but the repair itself must also be organised in an environmentally friendly way, and the most environmentally friendly way was to repair things without transporting them too far.

“We also consider it important that the consumer should be given information on repair services before concluding the contract according to the legislation already in force, but do not support establishing the repair information form set out in the directive. Preparing a page-sized table as a price offer would increase the administrative burden of businesses while we would have no guarantee that it will be of any use to the consumer, especially in a situation where the consumer would have to pay for the price offer,” Pakosta found. “Actually, in another item on the agenda, we also decided to support more broadly the reduction of reporting by 25%, and we thought it important to add that the reduction in reporting should be kept in mind already in a proactive way, when creating new legal provisions,” she added.

For more information, please contact: Liisa Pakosta, phone +372 502 6191

Riigikogu Press Service
Maris Meiessaar
Phone: +372 631 6353, +372 5558 3993
E-mail: maris.meiessaar@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The European Union Affairs Committee decided it was necessary to amend the initiative on repair of goods

Source: Parliament of Estonia

The United States strategic bombers conducted training in Estonian airspace

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet —On Wednesday, a United States Air Force B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers made an overflight of Estonia as a part of exercise. The aircraft were accompanied by several British, French and Romanian jets. The United States conducts similar exercises regularly to assess its readiness and, if necessary, to fulfill its security …

Source: Estonian Defence Forces

Helena-Reet: Wedding VOL 1 – the rings, invitation cards drawn by kids and wedding dress made by myself ❤

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet –  In December 2022 we decided with Allan that we will get married on 22.04.2023 – on our day, when we first met, on our day that has become (for us) the international Day of Love. I love Allan so much that I literally felt that we SIMPLY HAVE TO be married. He felt the same.

I really don’t know what it is, but it’s just like we love each other more every day. ❤❤❤ Already over three years we have been together – but every day, every evening, every night – every time it seems like the first! We just feel abnormally good when we are together! We vibe in the same way, we breathe in the same rhythm, we think similar thoughts, we feel the same pain and the same joy. Should you happen to read any great poets’ love poems – these are all (all except the desperately sad ones) exactly about us! 🙂 There is so much hope in our relationship, so much childishness, so much power, faith!



For some reason I have a feeling (a bad feeling) that the fancier the wedding, the sooner the divorce comes. This is sick, I don’t know why I have this strong feeling, but thanks to this feeling I wished not to have a big wedding. Here for the first time we disagreed with Allan. He would have liked to invite all his 200+ friends, but it seemed to me that even two friends (I don’t really have many more) would have been too many. I wanted an intimate and quiet wedding (only the first circle of family, i.e. mom-dad and siblings). While in other matters Allan’s wish usually prevails, then this time I won. I got my magnificent and simple home wedding!!! I am so so happy!!!

BESIDES, I would lie if I omitted saying it.. BUT I DON’T LIKE to spend money on irrelevant things (like an exorbitantly expensive wedding dress that one will wear just once in a lifetime). It seems to me utterly pointless and impractical. I don’t know how rich one ought to be to afford such nonsense. Thus I decided that I will sew my own wedding dress… a dress that I will be able to wear on beautiful summer evenings even at other times. I am definitely not rich, but the richer I am the less I feel like WASTING MONEY.

I believe that a big love deserves a wedding! But the wedding should not equal a 20-year debt for the young couple or just an insane waste of money. All this said.. let’s get to our wedding and the expenses:

We bought the wedding rings from Kullasepa street in Tallinn old town from a jewellery shop between Town Hall Square and Harju Street (Kullasepa 3). For us it was important that the ring looked like a traditional wedding ring – so we didn’t look for any decorations etc. We wanted that while wearing the ring it would be clear from a distance that it is a WEDDING RING.


We trusted our kids with the wedding invitations. Ivanka Shoshana and Estella Elisheva prepared wonderful and original self made invitation cards for everybody that were invited to the wedding:


The wedding dress / the bride’s dress:

I cannot claim that I made it myself, but I designed it myself! I ordered from AliExpress a simple-inexpensive summer dress to which I added laces and embroidery that had also been ordered from AliExpress. The result was very chill-retro-comfy and suited me well. A wedding dress made by oneself is said to enhance femininity, grace and wedding luck! 🙂














That’s all for this time! I love y’all so much! Hugs!
Love is the most beautiful thing in life, love is the greatest power!

Helena-Reet: SELFMADE renovation in our bathroom, new painting on tabouret and beautiful rag rugs

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet –  Good morning! When at the same time you have five months worth of events unwritten then you don’t even know where to start. In March I undertook the renovation of our bathroom and hallway, but last week also the summer room (veranda) that is in use from April to October.

Today I will write about the bathroom. Within one day I renovated the little hallway leading to the bathroom and the toilet – I repainted the wallpaper and then started with the renovation of the bathroom. By now I have already painted many wallpapers but never before had I painted ceramic wall tiles. For the tiles (glazed tiles) you must use a bit different paint – water proof. I bought Tikkurila Luja ceramic tiles with matte colour. I selected two colours for the bathroom – greenish (S440 Silkkitie 177.) and grey (N499 Basaltti 21.). With the greenish one I painted the walls and with the grey one the walls around the shower set, the shower floor and the sink cabinet.

I painted the walls three times, at some places even four times and then we let it dry for three weeks. After the first layer it seemed for a second that, oh no, it won’t work, but with each layer the result got better. The final result was very beautiful! A bit here and there is still to be done – slats, wooden window sills, new blinds or shutters for the windows.

Allan changed the white electrical plugs and the silvery shower set for black ones. Super cool was also Allan’s self made wooden bench in front of the shower set. Firstly he polished the old beam that he found from the attic and then he imbued it with boat paint or more precisely boat polish.

It is super cool to pimp-renovate-repair your home on your own! I used to think that repair works are only men’s work or something that you buy in as a service with crazy prices. Actually you just need your two hands and some enthusiasm. YouTube is full of videos where you can learn the tricks of repair works and also HGTV is very good, it is full of home design and renovation ideas! Read more about my renovation blogs for example from HERE and HERE.

The little hallway before (light blue wallpaper) and after (white wall paint):

The bathroom:

We took down the old bathroom furniture (cabinets) and took it to one of our for sale apartments, I ordered a new one from Hulgimuuk.ee site (HERE) and repainted. We bought a new black shower set and black sink faucet from DEPO (Veskiposti 1, Tallinn).










With that the pimping of the bathroom did not yet end. I decided to do some art too, and took an old tabouret which I first painted the same colour as the bathroom walls and then decorated it with an ornament. I got the idea for the ornament from Riley Blake Designs website “Prairie Meadow Sew Along by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet” collection of patchwork ideas (HERE). I really like recycling and giving new life to old things!

The pearls of my home are, to my mind, the rag rugs handmade with knitting looms, they bring coziness to every room of the home, they bring a positive and genuine country life aura and uniqueness. Most of the rag rugs in my home have been ordered through the Facebook group “Annyliisi käsitöö” (HERE).



That’s all for now! Hugs!

The European Union Affairs Committee amended Government’s positions for debate on energy transition in fisheries and aquaculture sector

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet —

The European Union Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) gave its support to Minister of Regional Affairs Madis Kallas for the upcoming meeting of the ministers of agriculture and fisheries of the European Union, saying that fishing fleets in general need to be renewed in order to meet climate targets, and that the current order of financing the Fisheries Fund needs to be changed for this, and Estonia believes additional money from the EU is needed.

For energy transition, it is necessary to amend the fishing fleet capacity ceilings because new alternative fuels and solutions do not fit in the current ceilings. In practice, this means that ships with lower CO2 emissions have to be built larger and more powerful due to new energy solutions, just as electric cars are heavier due to batteries and therefore need a larger engine.  

The European Union Affairs Committee amended the positions of the Government in two aspects. Chair of the European Union Affairs Committee Liisa-Ly Pakosta said that besides protecting fish stocks, restriction of fishing with quotas also served the targets of achieving more modest emissions of fishing fleets, and therefore the issue should be solved more reasonably.

“The countries that already have fishing quotas should not be forced to deal with replacing engines and thus also vessels,” Pakosta added, and explained that when the volume of fishing is restricted, the engine would not give an advantage – for example, if it was allowed to fish 1000 tons, the capacity of engine would not be decisive for achieving the environment targets.

Therefore, the European Union Affairs Committee amended the positions by adding that Estonia encouraged other countries where this was possible to transfer to fishing quotas because that would make it possible to remove dealing with the engine capacity ceiling from the agenda in the EU.

As another issue, the European Union Affairs Committee discussed the issue of greater participation of women in the fisheries sector. Deputy Chair of the Committee Maria Jufereva-Skuratovski said that the percentage of women involved in the fishing sector is low and there is a wish to increase it. However, the idea of building new cabins for women is not necessary, but rather an example could be taken from the Estonian conscript service, where women and men participate equally and living arrangements are organised sensibly and efficiently.

The position of Estonia is that the technical limitations of fishing vessels do not prevent the participation of women, and vessels do not have to be built larger to accommodate women.

For more information, please contact: Liisa Pakosta +372 502 6191

Maria Jufereva-Skuratovski +372 5332 5999

Riigikogu Press Service
Gunnar Paal, +372 631 6351, +372 5190 2837
gunnar.paal@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

 

Link uudisele: The European Union Affairs Committee amended Government’s positions for debate on energy transition in fisheries and aquaculture sector

Source: Parliament of Estonia

European Union Affairs Committee in Ukraine: Onset of war fatigue is unacceptable

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet —

“All meetings were very emotional and moving. Our Committee’s first visit in Europe was to Ukraine, and it was highly appreciated there. In spite of the war, the Ukrainian officials and members of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) have been meeting the recommendations of the European Commission with unprecedented speed and enthusiasm. We also discussed the issues where Ukraine still has to do homework in order to start the EU accession negotiations,” Chair of the European Union Affairs Committee Liisa Pakosta said.

In her opinion, the plan for reconstruction of Ukraine and the possibility to do this, among other things, with Russia’s frozen assets are very important. “We shared, and we will continue to share our experience and solutions both in the accession process with the European Union and in our current activities. It is also very important that Estonia’s representatives persistently convince other countries of the need to understand the importance of a fair and swift trial of Russia’s war criminals. Estonia can also convince others of how the onset of war fatigue would be wrong from the moral aspect and for our European values,” she added.

Member of the European Union Affairs Committee Tanel Kiik noted that the bravery and determination of the Ukrainian people in defending their country and their nation were amazing. “We saw it at the meetings with civil servants, voluntary associations and leaders of local governments who are real patriots of their home region. It is the duty of Estonia and the free world to unwaveringly support Ukraine in winning the war, restoring its territorial integrity and rebuilding the country,” he said,

The Estonian delegation was in Ukraine from Monday to Wednesday. In Kyiv, they had meetings with Chair Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze and Deputy Chair Vadym Halaichuk of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Integration of Ukraine to the EU, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yevhen Perebyinis, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, Counsellor of the Deputy Prime-Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic integration Ivan Nagornyak, representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Chairman of the Ukraine-Estonia Parliamentary Friendship Group Arsenii Pushkarenko. The members of the European Union Affairs Committee also met with the European Union Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas and Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Ukraine Jarno Habicht. Human rights situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as well as further possibilities for Estonia to assist Ukraine in the civil society sphere were discussed with the representatives of the Centre for Civil Liberties, the Crimean Platform and the NGO Truth Hounds.

After meeting with Governor of Zhytomyr Oblast Vitaliy Bunechko and Mayor of Malyn Oleksandr Sytailo, the members of the Riigikogu saw the bridge in the centre of Malyn that was damaged in a bombing. Estonia is supporting the restoration of the bridge. In the city of Ovruch, they visited the kindergarten with a shelter that was built by Estonia and children’s centre for creativity, and met with Mayor of Ovruch Ivan Korud. The delegation of the European Union Affairs Committee also visited the memorial to children killed in war in Kyiv, and met with the Director of the Museum of the Second World War and saw a detailed exhibition on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and removing of red symbols from city space.

Besides Pakosta and Kiik, members of the European Union Affairs Committee Arvo Aller, Maido Ruusmann, Luisa Rõivas and Kristo Enn Vaga participated in the visit.

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: European Union Affairs Committee in Ukraine: Onset of war fatigue is unacceptable

Source: Parliament of Estonia

Riigikogu Rural Affairs Committee supports drought assistance to farmers

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet —

Chairman of the Rural Affairs Committee Urmas Kruuse pointed out that the long drought period had caused many problems. In order to implement national assistance measures, it is necessary to assess the extent of damage caused to the farmers and on this basis, make a decision on support measures. “It is important to give the farmers confidence regarding the compensation of damages in their economic activities through the EU support measure and the possible national assistance added to it,” Kruuse said.

Deputy Chairman of the Rural Affairs Committee Rene Kokk considers it necessary that the Government should give clear guidelines to the Tax and Customs Board and negotiate with financial institutions about extending the payment period of taxes, grant interest relief on tax payments for a certain period and facilitate loan terms. “If the Government decides that currently there is a crisis in the sector, and there clearly is in the agriculture sector, then it is a clear guideline for these agencies and a message to the sector that the state has recognised the nature of the problem,” Kokk said.

It was agreed at the Committee sitting that in order to ensure the sustainability of agriculture, it is necessary to add the state assistance to the aid package provided by the European Union.

Minister of Regional Affairs Madis Kallas and representatives of the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce and the Estonian Farmers’ Federation participated in the sitting of the Rural Affairs Committee.

Minister of Regional Affairs Madis Kallas agreed that it was necessary to support the sector and he hopes that explanations about potential measures will come in August.

Riigikogu Press Service
Eleen Lindmaa
+372 631 6356, +372 5551 4433
eleen.lindmaa@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Riigikogu Rural Affairs Committee supports drought assistance to farmers

Source: Parliament of Estonia

Hussar and Rinkēvičs discussed supporting Ukraine on its path to NATO and EU

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet —

Hussar said that after 24 February last year, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the importance of parliamentary diplomacy and the role of parliaments had grown. According to him, the meeting of the Speakers of the Parliaments of the Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine, which took place in Riga today, and the Joint Statement made together with the Speaker of Bundestag, which called on the Allies to undertake the commitment that Ukraine will become a member of NATO, were excellent examples of cooperation between the parliaments of the region. “Parliaments have a lot to do and explain in supporting Ukraine and increasing the security of the region,” he said.

At the meeting, Hussar and Rinkēvičs also discussed the objectives of the NATO Summit, which will start tomorrow in Vilnius, Lithuania. Among other things, they spoke of Sweden’s accession to NATO, approving of regional defence plans and reaching a defence spending agreement that would be more ambitious than before. The need to strengthen internal security and to deal with psychological defence, particularly to increase the media competence of society, were discussed as well. The situation of cross-border cooperation projects and the possibilities for closer cooperation between the two countries were also addressed at the meeting.

Photos (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Hussar and Rinkēvičs discussed supporting Ukraine on its path to NATO and EU

Source: Parliament of Estonia

Speakers of six countries: NATO must establish a path for Ukraine to join

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
-

NordenBladet —

“In light of the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius we call on the Allies to undertake the commitment that Ukraine will become a member of NATO and the Alliance will establish a path for Ukraine to join NATO,” the Speakers of the six countries say in the Joint Statement, and add that Ukraine should be invited to join NATO as soon as conditions allow through a political decision similar to Finland.

They welcomed the broad support for Ukraine’s membership in NATO, as reflected in the Chair’s Conclusions, expressed at the High-Level Meeting of Speakers of Parliaments of NATO countries held in Vilnius at the beginning of June, as well as in the statements of support by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament and the Parliaments of Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Ahead of the upcoming Vilnius Summit, the speakers called on the Allies to work closely to develop security commitments for Ukraine which will in no way be an alternative to Ukraine’s membership in NATO and should not slow down Ukraine’s progress towards membership in NATO. They also called on supporting the Peace Formula of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Speakers of the six countries think it is necessary to continue taking coordinated measures to meet Ukraine’s urgent needs for military and defence equipment, focusing directly on air defence systems, long-range artillery and necessary ammunition, tanks and combat aircrafts. They call on assisting Ukraine in strengthening its defence capabilities and potential, including land, sea and air components, until Ukraine fully restores its territorial integrity and sovereignty within the internationally recognized borders of 1991.

They also consider it essential to establish a crisis consultation mechanism with Ukraine to conduct consultations in the event of a threat to the territorial integrity, political independence or security of Ukraine or any of the NATO member states, and to provide NATO’s practical assistance to Ukraine by further strengthening the Comprehensive Assistance Package, aimed at achieving full interoperability of Ukraine with the Alliance and a comprehensive transition to NATO standards. In their opinion, the NATO-EU strategic partnership should be taken to the next level and the cooperation between NATO and EU should be focused on achieving truly tangible results on transatlantic security priorities.

The Joint Statement was signed by Lauri Hussar from the Parliament of Estonia, Edvards Smiltēns from the Parliament of Latvia, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen from the Parliament of Lithuania, Elżbieta Witek from the Parliament of Poland, Bärbel Bas from the Parliament of Germany and Ruslan Stefanchuk from the Parliament of Ukraine. The Speakers made the Joint Statement after the two-day meeting of the Baltic, Polish and Ukrainian Speakers in Riga. Yesterday, the Speakers visited the Latvian Song and Dance Festival and met with President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, with whom they discussed supporting of Ukraine.

Text of the Joint Statement in Estonian and in English

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Speakers of six countries: NATO must establish a path for Ukraine to join

Source: Parliament of Estonia

Hussar participates in the meeting of Baltic, Polish and Ukrainian Speakers in Riga

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
-

NordenBladet —

According to Hussar, strong support for Ukraine will be at the heart of both the meeting of the Speakers and the NATO Summit that will start in Vilnius on Tuesday. “We must do everything we can to give Ukraine all the help and support they need to win the war. As the Speakers of the Parliaments of five countries, we will discuss how our countries, as well as the wider international community, could support Ukraine even more effectively in the fight against Russian aggression as well as on the road to the EU and NATO,” he said.

Hussar underlined that the countries participating in the meeting were convinced that in order to achieve lasting peace, Ukraine had to become a member of both the European Union and NATO. In mid-May this year, the Riigikogu passed the Statement in support of Ukraine’s wish to join NATO as the only way to ensure a rules-based world order, lasting peace and the security of the democratic countries of Europe. In the Statement, the Riigikogu said that it was important to formulate the steps necessary for Ukraine’s rapid integration into NATO at the Vilnius Summit, and to grant Ukraine an invitation to join the Alliance.

At the meeting, the Speakers will also discuss raising the cost of aggression to Russia. “We have to impose new sanctions and consistently enforce those already in place, as well as move forward with using Russia’s frozen assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” Hussar said, and added that the establishing of a special international tribunal is also high on the agenda of the discussions. In mid-June, the Riigikogu was the first parliament that adopted a Statement in which it demanded holding to account individually those involved in planning, preparation, launching and committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine, and called on establishing for this a special international tribunal under the auspices of the UN.

Besides Hussar, Edvards Smiltēns from the Parliament of Latvia, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen from the Parliament of Lithuania, Elżbieta Witek from the Parliament of Poland and Ruslan Stefanchuk from the Parliament of Ukraine participate in the meeting of the Speakers. At the end of the meeting, the Speakers plan to adopt a Joint Statement.

Today, Hussar together with other Speakers will meet with the President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs and attend the Latvian Song and Dance Festival.

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Hussar participates in the meeting of Baltic, Polish and Ukrainian Speakers in Riga

Source: Parliament of Estonia

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