NordenBladet — The Swedish Ambassador Mr. Anders Ljunggren had the pleasure of hosting a Total Defence Seminar on February 6 th in Tallinn. Participants from different governmental and parliamentarian offices in both Sweden and Estonia had the opportunity to meet and exchange views on topics regarding Total Defence.
The Chairman of the Swedish Defence Commission, Mr. Björn von Sydow, was one of the keynote speakers. The Estonian Minister of Defence, Mr. Jüri Luik, was also one of the distinguished guests during the event.
The seminar consisted of presentations and interesting discussions regarding the development of Total Defence concepts in each country. The ambassador Mr. Anders Ljunggren and the Embassy of Sweden would like to thank all participants for their significant contributions during the seminar and look forward to continued cooperation between Sweden and Estonia.
The event was moderated by the Swedish Defence Attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Mathias Järvare.
NordenBladet — By the decision of 25 January, the Supreme Court declared the fee rates stipulated in the Bailiffs Act (§ 35 (2) and (3)) unconstitutional; the decision will take effect after a period of six months. The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court was asked to settle a dispute over whether a debtor was obliged to pay the bailiff’s basic fee, which was more than 10,000 euros for the case in question.
In all the court instances, both the appellant as well as the Civil Chamber called into question the constitutionality of the regulation requiring the payment of the fee. The matter was referred for a hearing by the Supreme Court en banc, comprising 19 justices. The Supreme Court en banc explained that when determining the fee, a bailiff is guided by the provisions of the law and there is no basis in the current Bailiffs Act for reducing the basic fee.
A bailiff’s basic fee is a compulsory contribution under public law, resembling a levy. Its primary purpose is to cover the cost of a particular activity but also, for example, to pay for the reasonable remuneration of the bailiff and their office personnel as well as other necessary expenses. According to the Supreme Court en banc, the use of such cross-subsidisation is allowed, i.e. the coverage of the expenses accompanying the activity from the income received for other enforcement proceedings or activities.
They stressed, however, that the possibility to implement the principle of cross-subsidisation (i.e. the “settlement” of expenses) is not constitutionally unlimited. This means that the rate of the basic fee may not be excessively high when compared to the expected costs involved in meeting the relevant requirements. The Supreme Court en banc estimated that in the disputed matter, the fee rates are clearly higher than the expected costs of the proceedings. The Supreme Court en banc postponed the enforcement of the invalidity of the provisions by a period of six months in order to give the Riigikogu time to adopt a constitutional set of rules.
NordenBladet – The Baltic film institutions renewed their mutual cooperation agreement at Trieste Film Festival. An addendum sets out the plan to run 12 joint film promotion projects in 2018 on the occasion of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania’s centennial year.
“Three years ago, we saw more potential in presenting ourselves as one region. When working together, it is easier for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to gain access to high-profile festivals and film industry events. This year, as we are celebrating statehood centenaries of all the three nations, we have an opportunity to draw attention to ourselves and plan an intensive year of promoting Baltic cinema,” says Rolandas Kvietkauskas, CEO of Lithuanian Film Centre.
Following up on the Mutual Cooperation Agreement, signed in 2015 in Cannes, to step up joint efforts in promoting Baltic film production and marketing, the film institutions of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have agreed to cooperate on projects presenting and promoting their national cinemas in a number of European feature film, documentary and animation festivals.
NordenBladet — On Monday, 18 December, the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union issued a letter to Frans Timmermans, the Vice-President of the European Commission.
The letter t, which was signed by Priit Pikamäe, the President of the Network, expressed grave concern over the events concerning the Polish justice system. The Network of Presidentsis of the opinion that the intended legislative changes could seriously undermine the independence of the Polish judiciary and the Supreme Court, as well as the legal certainty within Europe.
The Network of Presidents stated that the intention of one of the changes, which was to lower the mandatory retirement age of Supreme Court judges, will have a significant impact on the current composition of the Supreme Court. Namely, as a result of this decision, over one third of the current Supreme Court judges, including the First President of the Supreme Court of Poland, will have to leave office. The Network of Presidents expressed its deep concern that the premature termination of office of Supreme Court judges would impede the autonomy and the independence of the Supreme Court, and emphasised that the pre-term removal of judges is not in line with the case law of the European Court of Justice. According to the Network of Presidents, the legislative changes that will give the Polish Parliament control over the appointment of judges will in the long run politicise the judiciary. The appointment of judges needs to be independent from politics.
The Network of Presidents stressed that the judicial cooperation of the Member States of the European Union is based on mutual trust, and that legal certainty and trust are the preconditions for the mutual recognition and enforcement of court decisions in the Member States.
NordenBladet – There is a lot going on all the time.. I would like to keep you updated with 100% of my ventures, yet I doubt if I have the capacity to reflect on 10% of everything that is going on daily. Here I am facing the dilemma – whether to post blogs more frequently and more briefly or, on the contrary, more seldom but also more exhaustively instead. Which option would you like more?
NordenBladet and the OHMYGOSSIP sites that belong to it are expanding rapidly! Such increase in growth couldn’t have been hoped for in wildest fantasies! Today NordenBladet has an overlapping share of readers with the TOP 10 of Scandinavian media groups (Bonnier, Sanoma, MTG, Schibsted, Egmont, Aller, YLE, Otava, Alma, NordenBladet), being in the social media steadily located in the TOP 5 best Scandinavian editions – the latter position is due to OHMYGOSSIP’s enormous international pool of readers. It is my dream to build NordenBladet into Scandinavia’s #1 newsletter and online journal!
I am well aware that I dream big – however, when one looks at other players on the Scandinavian media scenery then it becomes evident that we are on the right course – NordenBladet (as well as Sanoma and Modern Times Group) when beside other media editions are kiddies with regard to the year of establishment! Bonnier was founded 213 years ago and NordenBladet 5 years ago – the fact that we are already compared alongside one another is a considerable accomplishment in my eyes! Of course, there is still plenty of room for growth, but I feel in my heart that we are on the right track moving upwards and this achievement makes my heart beat faster!
A concise overview of the TOP 10 Scandinavian media groups:
Bonnier – founded 213 years ago Bonnier is a Swedish publishing company established in 1804. The company came to life when Gerhard Bonnier founded a bookstore in Copenhagen. A book publishing company Albert Bonniers Förlag was founded in Stockholm in 1837. In the year 1924 the Bonnier family purchased the majority of the partnership in the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, and in 1929 purchased Ahlen&Akerlund, at that time the largest magazine publishing company. In 1944 Bonnier founded the successful evening paper Expressen. In 1950 Bonnier began publishing comic strips. In 1965 began issuing hobbies related journals. In 1973 the one family company expanded towards the film industry, purchasing the largest Swedish filmmaker SF. In 1976 began the publication of Dagens Industri, a newspaper on the topics of economy, belonging to the Bonnier family. In 1984 Bonnier began publishing Science Illustrated. In 1989 Bonnier launched the newspaper Äripäev. Since 1997 Bonnier has gradually taken up shares in Sweden’s largest television channel TV4, as of today 99% of the shares belong to Bonnier. In 2005 Bonnier purchased the Finnish television channel MTV3 and the radio station Radio Nova. In 2006 Bonnier attained partnership in the U.S. publishing company World Publication which is issuing ca 50 periodicals and runs half a hundred web sites. Nowadays Bonnier is represented in 25 countries, the media group has got shares in the total of 175 companies. Bonnier is to this day a family enterprise.
Sanoma – founded 18 years ago
Established in 1999 Sanoma Oy (until 2008 Sanoma WSOY) is Finland’s largest media group and the second largest in the Nordic countries, active in more than 20 European countries. The company’s headquarters is located in Helsinki and ca 19500 people work for the company. The biggest newspaper in Finland and the Northern countries, Helsingin Sanomat, belongs to this media group. Nelonen Media, also belonging to this group, runs 6 television channels, the most important of them being Nelonen.
Modern Times Group (MTG) – founded 20 years ago
Founded in 1997. Modern Times Group (MTG) is a Swedish media company. MTG was summoned in 1997 by Kinnevik, an investment company hosting various media enterprises, via the assemblance of Viasat and Metro International under the name Modern Times Group. Viasat is made up from a bunch of television channels, including for example TV3 (the first commerce channel in Sweden, launched in 1987), ZTV, Viasat Sport and TV1000. Metro International manages a chain of newspapers delivered free of charge. MTG is issuing shares on the Stockholm stock exchange, referred to by the symbols MTGA and MTGB.
Schibsted – founded 178 years ago
Established in 1839. Schibsted is a Norwegian media group active in 20 countries, mainly Norway and Sweden. It is noted at Oslo’s stock market. In the year 2013 it owned the newspapers Postimees and Õhtuleht in Estonia as well as the television channels Kanal 2 and Kanal 11. In the year 1998 it purchased the newspaper Sõnumileht. Schibsted activities re related with the following areas: printed news, film, publishing, multimedia, mobile services. Schibsted stock is at Oslo’s stock exchange.
Egmont – founded 139 years ago Egmont media group (previously Gutenberghus media group) is a media enterprise founded in Copenhagen in 1878. Egmont Group was founded by Egmont Harald Petersen in the year 1878.
Aller – founded 144 years ago
Established in the year 1873, Aller Media is a Northern media group with the headquarters located in Denmark, Copenhagen. Best known brands from Aller Media are Elle, Cafe, Familie Journlen, Femina, Allers and Se og Hor. Aller Media was established in the year 1873 in Copenhagen by Carl Aller and his wife Laura aller and in the 1890s the company expanded to Sweden and Norway and in 1992 also to Finland.
Yle – 91 years ago Yle (the full name in Finnish is Yleisradio and in Swedish Rundradion Ab) is a Finnish official television- and broadcasting group established in the year 1926. Yle is a broadcasting organization with a lot in common with the British broadcasting BBC, since it has been their example while designing Yle. Yle belongs to the Finnish republic (98,88%). Yle transmits four national television channelds, 13 radio networks and 25 regional radio channels. Finland is an officially bilingual country – ca 5,5% of the Finnish population speaks Swedish as their mother tongue.
Otava – founded 127 years ago Otava (officially Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava) is among Finland’s oldest and largest publishing companies. Otava has published, among others, writings from Eino Leino, Veijo Meri, Marja-Liisa Vartio, Paavo Haavikko, Tuomas Anhava, Mauri Kunnas, Antti Tuuri, Kjell Westö and Laila Hirvisaari (Hietamies). Otava is a public limited company, established in 1890. It is one part of the Otava group (Otava Oy). The editor-in-chief since 2009 is Pasi Vainio. The sales of the publishing company in 2014 was 54,5 M euros, the profit was 7,2 M euros.
Alma – 168 years ago
Established in the year 1849. Alma Media is a media enterprise mainly focussing on digital services and publishing. The best known brands of Alma Media are Aamulehti, Iltalehti, Kauppalehti, Talouselämä Monster.fi and Etuovi.com. About 2400 people work for Alma Media.
NordenBladet – 5 years ago
NordenBladet is the largest readership owning media groups in the Northern countries (over 7 million readers monthly), its headquarters are located in Estonia, Tallinn. Established in 2012 by the owner of international OHMYGOSSIP sites and Scandinavia’s best known blogger and most followed woman in social media Helena-Reet Ennet. Active in 17 countries worldwide, mainly in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, America, England, Brazil and Russia. The best known brands from NordenBladet are NordenBladet, OHMYGOSSIP, OHMYGOSSIPteen, Ohmygossip Couture and Bloglist24.
NordenBladet — On Thursday and Friday, Tallinn will host a meeting of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union Member States. The central focus will be on ensuring the separation of powers.
The Presidents of the European Supreme Judicial Courts will convene in Estonia for the first time. The meeting will be chaired by Priit Pikamäe, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was elected in October last year to serve as Chairman of the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union.
According to Priit Pikamäe, the independence of the administration of justice and the substantive achievement of the separation of powers have become increasingly topical issues in Europe: “I am referring to the developments in Poland but also before that in Turkey, where the coup d’état was followed by the wholesale arrest of judges. Also in Hungary, the politically motivated judicial reform resulted in many judges losing their offices. This shows that the independence of the judiciary is not an undisputed fact, even in 21st century Europe.”
“Ensuring the independence of the judiciary is a decision to be made by the legislators, and is thus an important part of the political culture. The influence on the activities of the courts through public political reforms is only one aspect of this, as a much more insidious tendency is the influence on the activities of the Supreme Courts through financing decisions,” Pikamäe said.
During the meeting in Tallinn, the presidents will discuss the conditions which must be fulfilled in order to ensure the independence and autonomy of the judiciary as a separate branch of power. Similarly, the exchanges of mutual knowledge and experience will involve questions on whether, and to what extent, the other national institutions should control the actions of the Supreme Court, and what role the presidents of the courts should play in relation to the judicial reforms. One of the goals of the meeting is to develop uniform standards for the definition and understanding of the independence of the judiciary.
The meeting will be attended by the Presidents of the Supreme Courts of Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Croatia, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Germany, France, Latvia, Montenegro, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Slovakia, Albania and Estonia.
NordenBladet — From today until 10 November, students in Grades 9 to 12 will have the chance to take on the role of a Justice Administrator and to solve cases like those that judges must address on a daily basis.
The participants in the competition will have three cases to choose from – they will be presented with examples of criminal, civil and administrative law. Among other matters, the students can provide solutions to questions such as: “Whether and to what extent should a person adopt the local customs and traditions when they move to Estonia?” and “When should citizens be allowed to deviate from traffic regulations?”
“On the one hand, the results of the court competition will give the judiciary an idea of how the youth of today perceive and understand the process of the administration of justice and the court’s role in this. On the other hand, it will create an opportunity for the participants to test themselves and feel what it is like to be placed in the role of a judge, who has the obligation and the responsibility to decide who is right,” said Nele Parrest, Justice of the Supreme Court and Chairwoman of the Jury in this year’s court competition. “It would be particularly nice if some of the participants came to realise that this is the work they want to do in the future,” she added.
The case must be solved in a similar manner as it is done in court: the arguments of both sides are first presented, followed by the decision and reasoning of the judge. There is also another option – the case may be solved in a creative form, such as through the use of an essay, poem, drawing, video, etc. In either case, it is important that the solution is derived from the sense of justice and the value judgments of the participants. The Supreme Court expects to receive the solutions of the cases by 10 November. For more information about the terms and conditions of the competition, click here (in Estonian).
The three students with the best entries from each age group and their supervisors, as well as the students nominated in the creative category and their supervisors, will be invited to visit Tartu on 12 January 2018, where they will receive an award from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. This year’s competition is dedicated to the 98th Anniversary of the Supreme Court and will take place for the thirteenth time; while entries will be submitted in the creative category for the fourth year. The competition forms a part of Administration of Justice Week.
