Marijuana cultivation down in Albania

The cultivation of marijuana has dropped to half its 2009 level, police announced on 12 August. Sokol Selfollari, head of the state police's anti-drug unit, said that the authorities had destroyed about 20,500 plants in the first seven months of 2010. Villages in Gjirokastra and Shkodra continue to dominate in terms of growing marijuana. Fighting illegal drugs is one of the conditions Albania must meet before it benefits from the EU visa liberalisation process.

Government criticises outgoing US Ambassador

Foreign Minister Ilir Meta has complained in a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about comments made by the outgoing US Ambassador in Tirana, John L Withers, about government policies, particularly the judicial vetting process for the Constitutional Court.

It was reported on 12 August that US undersecretary for European Affairs Philip Gordon rejected the complaint, and referring to the row over judicial appointments Gordon added the US was calling for “complete transparency over judicial appointments and vetting process ...”  In his letter, written at Hillary Clinton's request, he said: “The secretary and I have faith in Ambassador Withers and the work he his doing to bring forward our relationship and help Albania achieve it full potential.

Withers relationship with the Albanian government had become strained by his defence of the independence of the Albanian judiciary, which was widely seen as being constantly under attack by the right-wing of Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Recently, the US Ambassador had spoken publicly against the majority party’s move to strike down nominations for high court judges made by President Bamir Topi, based on political preferences.

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Opposition criticises proposed 49-year lease of military base to Russia

Plans to grant Russia a 49-year lease on its base in Armenia have sparked heated opposition criticism of the Armenian government for allegedly compromising the country's independence. It was reported on 15 August that the Russian and Armenian governments had finalised a far-reaching agreement that would prolong and upgrade Russia's military presence in Armenia.The two governments have worked out amendments to a 1995 treaty regulating a Russian military base in the country.

The amendments are likely to be signed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's state visit to Yerevan, which starts on 19 August.

The agreement on deploying a Russian military base in the northern Armenian town of Gyumri was signed 15 years ago and entered into force two years later, in 1997, for a period of 25 years. The Russian government in July proposed amending the agreement to 49 years; the lease would automatically renew for another five years if neither side called for its cancellation six months before the end of that period. In addition to "defence of Russia's interests," the Gyumri base "would also ensure the security of Armenia jointly with the Armenian armed forces," the proposed amendment reads." The agreement would promise "modern and compatible arms and specialised military equipment."

Stepan Safarian, leader of the minority Heritage Party faction in the National Assembly, protested that "Our country's authorities say 'yes' to everybody; they accept every offer opposing the national interests. … In this case Russia's oversight and influence in the region once again would get bigger, despite our national interests."

Speaking on public television on 5 August, National Security Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasarian dismissed the objections. Russia's military presence in Armenia may be intended to defend Russian interests, he conceded, but as Armenia's "military and strategic ally," Russia "undertakes the protection of our country together with the Armenian armed forces."

As a sovereign state Armenia "only welcomes an intensification of bilateral co-operation" with Russia, Baghdasarian claimed.

Razmik Zohrabian, a deputy chairman of President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party (HHK), also defended the agreement, saying that it would strengthen Armenia militarily and deter Azerbaijan from "unleashing a new war". He thought the new mandate for the Russian base would oblige Moscow to support the Armenian side in case of renewed fighting in the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Commenting on the agreement's reasons and timing, Zohrabian went on to suggest that the Russian government was seeking to secure its long-term military presence in Armenia and keep the country from joining NATO in the foreseeable future.

Diaspora demonstrators climb Mount Ararat

Early in August a group of Armenians reached the summit of Mount Ararat. “Ararat 11”, as the members of the group called themselves, consisted of representatives of the Armenian Diasporas in Southern California, New Jersey, Fresno and Canada.

On the third day of their hike they reached the summit of Mount Ararat, raising the flags of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). The group explained that while each member of had his own reason for joining the hike, most of them just wanted to feel that once Ararat used to belong to them.

The event was not welcomed by Turkish authorities. “Ararat 11” had climbed the mountain without permission. It had originally gioven permission but it was subsequently annulled by the Turkish Ministry of Tourism.

This was not the first demonstration by Armenians. On 18 July a group of 14 students from Iran (seven Armenians and seven Iranians) also managed to reach the summit of Mount Ararat and raised the Armenian national flag there.

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Opposition leaders sign agreement on electoral co-operation

The leaders of six opposition groups on 24 August signed an agreement on co-operation during the run-up to the forthcoming presidential election.

Belarus and Latvia sign agreement on local border controls

Belarus and Latvia signed agreement on simplification of exit and entry procedures for people living near the borders between the countries. The document was signed on 23 August during a one-day visit to Latvia by the head of the Belarussian Foreign Ministry Syarhei Martynau.

The agreement gives residents in border areas – which includes residents of Daugavpils, Latvia's second-largest city - to be issued with multilateral free border crossing permits for the purpose of visiting relatives, cemeteries, and for cultural events. They are valid for from one to five years. The cost of permits is to be €20.

The list of towns for which the agreement is intended include on the Belarussian side Braslau, Verkhnedzvinsk, Miyory and Vidzy from, and on the Latvian side Daugavpils, Dagda, Zilupe and Kraslava.

PACE rapporteur on Belarus visits Minsk

Sinikka Hurskainen, the rapporteur on Belarus for the political affairs committee at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, arrived in Minsk on 18 August to gather information, hold meetings with people and discuss the situation in the country. She said she was mainly interested in three aspects of the Belarussian situation – human rights, democracy, and rule of law. The rapporteur said she would like to know what had been done in Belarus since the last visit and agreed that she knew about bad news regarding death penalties.

She was expected to have a number of official meetings as well as meetings with representatives of the opposition and other non-governmental organisations.

Sinikka Hurskainen last visited Belarus in February 2010 together with the previous PACE rapporteur on Belarus, Andrea Rigoni. In late April, she presented a draft resolution on Belarus calling on the Council of Europe to limit high-level contacts but continue a dialogue with the authorities and with civil society.

International companies may be invited to bid for nuclear power plant project

Belarus may offer leading nuclear power plant builders the right to build its first nuclear power plant if it decides to implement the project without involving Russia, a Belarussian official said on 16 August. "If we decide to decline the services of Atomstroyexport, Belarus will make partnership proposals to internationally acclaimed companies, such as the Areva French company, US-Japanese Westinghouse Toshiba or some others," he said. Belarus might also consider co-operating with Chinese or South Korean companies.

Belarus wants by 2018 to commission two nuclear power units with total capacity of 2,400 megawatts. Russia's Atomstroyexport has previously been named as the general contractor. The project cost estimate is nearly $9 billion.

President Lukashenko now prefers the US to Moscow

Presient Aleksandr Lukashenko appears toi have fallen out with the Russian government. He said on 13 August that he wanted better ties with the United States and criticised his former ally Russia. Lukashenko had prevbiously pledged to build a "union state" that would combine Belarus with Russia, but his relations with Moscow have now reached a new low as the Russian government has cut economic subsidies to its neighbour.

"We can, and we would like, to normalise relations with America, and we do not hide this," national media quoted Lukashenko as saying. "We have many themes for negotiations, we have proposals from our side as well as proposals from the American side. I believe these issues can be resolved."

Lukashenko has held on to power since 1994. Last re-elected in 2006 after forcing a change in the constituton to allow him to stand again, Lukashenko plans to seek another term as president in the next six months. He has recently taken steps to appease the EU and the US by releasing inmates considered by the West to have been political prisoners. But Russia, he said, had been putting pressure on him ahead of the election. "America stays on its position, but Russia has sharply changed its stance, trying to bring the president of Belarus to heel before the well-known political events," he said. "But you have known me for ages - it is impossible to bend me and trying to do so is useless."

Lukashenko has so far declined to recognise the independence of two pro-Russian separatist regions in Georgia, which the Russian government recognised after its 5-day war with Georgia in August 2008. Lukashenko blamed Moscow for failing to provide incentives to Belarus that would offset any negative consequences of recognising the breakaway Georgian regions.

In June, the Minsk administration threatened to cut Russian gas transit to Europe in a pricing dispute. Lukashenko also said that Moscow could lose a lucrative contract to build Belarus's first nuclear power plant: "We are not writing off other investors. In the near time we will decide who will build our nuclear plant." Building its own nuclear power plant has been on Belarus's agenda since 2007 after sharp price increases for Russian energy. But it is a sensitive matter for his own people – a third of Belarussian land was contaminated with radiation when from the 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl, just over the border in Ukraine.

Link:
The Belarussian exile organisation in Prague publishes the Belarusian Review in English. Click for an on-line version.

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Valentin Inzko to remain EU Special Representative

On 13 August the Office of the EU Special Representative in Bosnia & Herzegovina confirmed today the mandate of Valentin Inzko as Special Representative has been extended for another year, until 31 August 2011. Valentin Inzko is an Austrian diplomat of Carinthian Slovene origin. In March 2009 he took over the international role of High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcák, who went on to become Slovakia’s Foreign Minister. Valentin Inzko became at the same time the European Union Special Representative.

Inzko is known for firm handling of controversial issues. In June he required the dismissal of two senior police officials, for hindering international efforts to install the rule of law. More recently he wrote that corruption in Bosnia could not be solved unless its citizens consider this issue a priority in the elections and support institutions which showed reliable determination to do something about that issue.

Republika Srpska will refuse more police reforms

Republika Srpska president Rajko Kuzmanović stated on 10 August that the republic would not accept any requests for further of the police structure in Bosnia & Herzegovina, regardless of the security situation. "This process for us is completed and we shall not accept any changes to the competences of Republika Srpska institutions and legal capacities provided by the Dayton Agreement."

Kuzmanović said he believed that the recent report of the State Department served as a reason for "new unrealistic demands of certain Bosniak politicians for new reform of the security system in Bosnia and unnecessary unitarisation and centralisation of police structures in the country".

"It is perfectly well known that the roots, causes, ideological and material basis for terrorism in Bosnia is not in Republika Srpska and not among Serb people, but in radical Islamist movements …", he said.

The federal State Department in its annual report stated that "Republika Srpska officials aim to undermine state institutions", that Bosnia has remained a weak decentralised state and that the Republika Srpska had slowed down the effort to improve federal Bosnian operational capacities in the fight against terrorism and its financing.

Search for human remains in Lake Perućač continues

In mid August the Bosnian Missing Persons Institute was continuing its search for missing persons suspected to be murdered and thrown into the Perućač lake, formed by a dam on the Drina river.

With help from the Emergency Service and Federal Civic Defence Directorate two groups have been formed – one to search up the river and one down the river from Djurovici village.   Amor Masović, Director of the Missing Persons Institute is leading the group down the river. “We are still not in a position to say with certainty what is the number of remains found, since these are incomplete bodies, but we believe we have found at least 60 incomplete remains”, he reported.

Lake Perućač is notorious as one of the locations in Serbia where the transported remains of Kosovo Albanians killed during the 1999 conflict were dumped. It is currently the site of a forensic operation to retrieve the bodies of victims of the 1992 Višegrad massacres. The level of the reservoir waters behind the Bajna Basta hydroelectric dam have been lowered while maintenance and repair work on the dam was taking place. This allowed the recovery of the remains of many civilians who perished in the Višegrad massacres, in the early days of the Bosnian war. Divers are also searching for bodies of Kosovar Albanians dumped in the lake from a refrigerator truck in 1999. Although dozens of bodies were recovered from the truck when it was discovered in 2003 more are thought to be in the lake, as the vehicle's doors were open when it was found. The remains of three German Wehrmacht soldiers from World War 2 have also been found during the investigations this year. The search for the remains in the Lake Perućač area is planned to continue until the end of this month, when the lake will be refilled.

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PM says Bulgaria can absorb at least 50% of EU funds

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced on 15 August that his country was ready to absorb at least 50% of the EU funds set aside in the 2007-2013 budget framework. In addition, EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev said the government's goal was for payments from the seven operational programmes of the EU structural and cohesion funds to reach €1 billion by the end of the year. Borisov noted that the government received a very positive assessment during the recent visit to Sofia of World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

Bulgaria and World Bank sign memorandum

On 10 August the cabinet and World Bank President Robert Zoellick signed a memorandum on co-operation in improving the country's infrastructure. Under the agreement, the World Bank would provide technical assistance to improve the absorption of EU funds, as well as to develop key sectors such as energy, the judiciary and administrative capacity. The finance ministry stressed that the cabinet was not borrowing additional funds. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said experts from the World Bank would help to frame quality projects to absorb credit lines worth nearly €1 billion (£820 million) from various international institutions.

 
Links: 
Bulgarian Government

The European Stability Initiative looks at the transformation of Bulgaria since 1997

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Operation Storm trial nears completion

Closing remarks in the war crimes trial of General Ante Gotovina at The Hague are due on 30 August and are expected to last up to six days.

Ante Gotovina has been charged together with Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac with crimes against humanity and violations of the rules or customs of war, including murder, inhumane acts and persecution. The accusations centre on their alleged role in the 1995 Croatian military offensive known as 'Operation Storm'.

The trial, which was held over the course of two-and-a-half years, has included the testimony of 145 witnesses called by the prosecution and the defence teams and an additional seven called by the trial chamber.

Gotovina, Cermak and Markac are charged with participation in a joint criminal enterprise, headed by the late Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, to permanently remove by force the ethnic Serb population from the Krajina region in Croatia.

Gotovina was commander of the Split Military District of the Croatian Army and overall operational commander of the military Operation Storm in 1995. Cermak was assistant minister of defence from 1991 to 1993, and commander of the Knin Garrison during the offensive. Markac was commander of the special police of the Ministry of the Interior from 1994.

Link to Croatian Information Centre

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Doctors threaten resignation over government proposals to cut their salaries

Members of the Czech doctors' trade unions threatened on 2 September to resign en masse over the government's plan to shake up salary scales. The Czech Labour and Social Affairs Ministry has proposed to introduce a single salary scale which would see the wages of doctors at the start of their career slashed by 14%, and those of senior doctors by up to 40%. The head of the doctors' trade union, Martin Engel, said the only adequate response would be for doctors to resign en masse. Prime Minister Petr Nečas said the government would review the issue, which is part of the current cost-cutting drive.

Human rights representative refuses to resign

The Czech government's representative for human rights, Michael Kocáb, on 1 September denied the Prime Minister's claim that he had tendered his resignation. Prime Minister Petr Nečas said he accepted Michael Kocáb's resignation, and thanked him for his work in the field of human rights. Kocáb said however that at his meeting with the prime minister he had been pressured to resign but he had refused. The issue was precipitated when PM Necas appointed a conservative, Roman Joch, as his adviser for human rights. Joch had several times said that the position of human rights representative was redundant. Michael Kocáb, formerly a rock musician, had also served as Human Rights Minister in the previous cabinet.

Paper exposes corruption plot involving deputy defence minister

Following another scandal over arms purchases, Minister of Defence Alexandr Vondra announced on 1 September the creation of a new unit to oversee purchases.

Earlier the same day the Mlada fronta dnes daily newspaper had described how it exposed a plot by a deputy minister at the Defence Ministry to take a substantial bribe to approve for a major arms order. The paper reported that it followed the minister, Jaroslav Kopřiva, for six months as he put together the deal with a lobbyist. They planned to set up an order for mortars as a joint purchase with the Slovak government, helping them bypass a public tender and winning it for the Finnish company Patria. When the paper presented its evidence to the Minister of Defence, Kopřiva was sacked on the spot. The paper also alleged that Kopřiva had lined up the current military expert from the TOP 09 political party, Pavel Severa, to step into his shoes and safeguard the deal if he was forced out of the ministry. Top 09 had proposed Severa as a deputy defence minister during the summer. He denies any involvement in the deal.

Alexandr Vondra declared his determination to cut off the tentacles of corruption that had apparently reached far into his ministry and high into the political hierarchy. The new overseeing unit would look into all completed, pending and ongoing purchases to check for any suspicious circumstances. First in line would be contracts involving third party intermediaries.

A long investigation is inevitable – the disgraced deputy minister (the Christian Democrat party nominee) had been at the ministry in charge of procurement for seven years starting in 2003.

Ministry of Finance plans one-off flood tax

The Ministry of Finance has tabled its budget proposal for 2011 with an extra 127.7 billion koruna (about £4.3) set aside to cover damages from the floods in early August. The planned budget deficit of 135 billion koruna has been retained with both spending and income boosted by the allotted amount. After much haggling, the Czech government has agreed in principle that a special flood tax will be levied next year as a one-off measure only. The ministry's budget proposal, which still has to be approved by the government and lower house of parliament, relies on expected economic growth of 2.3% next year.

The prolonged flood crises continued at the beginning of September with heavy overnight rain in northern Moravia and Silesia. Flood alerts were declared along many rivers. Fire fighters were called out to around 160 incidents. The worst affected locality was on the Olza river at Český Těšín where a level-3 flood was in effect. The local crisis committee was convened but evacuations had so far been avoided. The national weather office was predicting further heavy rainfall in the Beskydy mountains.

On 31 August Prime Minister Petr Nečas said the Czech Republic would be applying for money from the EU Solidarity Fund to cover damages from recent floods in the regions of Liberec and Usti nad Labem. The government was discussing a joint application with Poland and the German state of Saxony, both of which were also hard hit by the floods in early August. The PM said that damage suffered had so far reached 6.5 billion koruna (about £219 million). It would not entitle the country to automatic funding from the EU. The government had already earmarked 80 million koruna for immediate aid and a further 665 million for repairs to infrastructure.

Coalition party insists that only the PM should co-ordinate EU policy

Leaders of the junior coalition party TOP 09 said on 31 August that the co-ordination of EU affairs policy cannot be entrusted to a specially appointed state secretary because the coalition agreement allots that responsibility to the head of the government. Prime Minister Petr Nečas had been planning to establish the post of state secretary for the EU soon, saying the depth of Czech-EU relations made the post essential.

However, In the view of TOP 09 chairman and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, the prime minister is responsible for the co-ordination of the country's European policy, while the Foreign Ministry is responsible for its implementation. Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, who has clashed with the PM on other matter in recent weeks, also said that the powers of the prime minister could not be performed by an appointed official. PM Nečas suggested the remarks should be taken as a sign of pre-election uneasiness.

Czech Airlines withdraws flights to the UK from end October

On 31 August Czech Airlines warned that they would be withdrawing its scheduled flights to the UK. The last flight between Prague and Manchester would be on 28 and 29 October, and between Prague and London Heathrow on Saturday 30 October. Currently there were no plans to restore the services in the future or to operate to another UK airport. The rest of the Czech Airlines network would continue to operate as usual.

Existing reservations would be cancelled without any protection. Booking agents would receive cancellation notice through their on-line systems and would solely be responsible for contacting their passengers. Czech Airlines would arrange travel on its earlier flights wherever possible, or passengers could transfer to other airlines - provided the standard rules for involuntary procedures were followed.

Prague Zoo succeeds in breeding Komodo dragons in captivity

In the wild there are reportedly only around 5,000 Komodo dragons left, found in eastern Indonesia. But Prague Zoo has enjoyed continued success in breeding the endangered lizard in captivity. Over several days at the end of August the zoo saw the successful hatching of 20 new specimens, the offspring of a female known as Aranka.

Web viewers were able to watch the entire hatching process online. The zoo’s spokeswoman Jana Ptacinská-Jirátová, explained how the successful hatchings were observed: “We were very happy to be able to offer the public the opportunity to watch the hatching of the Komodo dragon babies online. We installed cameras in the incubator so that people could watch the babies Komodo dragons come into the world … It was fascinating how many people watched and we got a lot of feedback on Facebook, in e-mails and in the media … people were fascinated.”

“All 20 hatched within the same week … They were very lively when they were born! They are 40 - 45 centimetres long and weigh around 100 or 140 grams. They are not so big but what fascinated people was how they could have fit in a 10 centimetre sized egg.”

Komodo dragons grow to up to three metres in length.

Prime Minister expects up to 8% loss in public employees

Prime Minister Petr Nečas said on 29 August that he estimated between 5% and 8% of state workers would lose their jobs due to proposed budget cuts next year. Cuts of 10% have been demanded in ministry budgets. The Prime Minister said there was a choice between across the board pay cuts of 10% or a 10% cut in employee numbers. He reckoned that most ministries would opt for a mix of the above but that there would be a bigger emphasis on job cuts.

The 2011 budget will be debated in the lower house of parliament in October. The government programme calls for cuts across the public sector with only teachers excepted.

Education Minister pushes for clearance for standard school leaving exams

The government on 18 August agreed to introduce standard school leaving exams at the end of the upcoming school year. Minister of Education Josef Dobes pushed for the implementation of this controversial proposal, which has been under discussion for the last 14 years. He argued it would be a vital component of promised education reform and standards setting for the sector.

Schools have until now been able to set their own exams with the results that standards vary across the country. Many schools, pupils and parents have opposed a standard exam for the around 100,000 school leavers a year saying it would threaten the quality of local schools. Around 180 high schools signed a protest petition earlier this year.

Liberec region seeks funds for flood repairs

The north of the country has been the worst hit by recent floods, particularly the Liberec and Usti nad Labem regions. The total bill for damage from recent floods in the Liberec region has been estimated at just over 2.0 billion koruna. The Liberec region has launched negotiations with the Ministry of Transport about freeing up funds for repairs to roads and bridges damaged by the floods. Three quarters of this consists of repairs to second and third class roads with the rest destined for bridge repairs. It is estimated that 119 bridges were damaged in the flash floods in early August, of which around 30 are now in a serious state. According to the regional governor Stanislav Eichler, around 80 bridges need less costly maintenance.

Due to extensive damage resulting from the floods, a total of four train routes in the Liberec region will remain out of service. It was reported in mid August that trains connecting Liberec with the town of Frýdlant, which was badly affected by the floods, would not start running again until the end of September. Other routes were expected to resume service later in the week. Buses serving the region had also been discontinued but would slowly starting operating again.

Pope Benedict XVI has given €25,000 euros to help Czech flood victims. News of the donation was released by the Bishop of Litomerice, Jan Baxant. His diocese covers one of the affected areas. The donations will be managed by the church's local charity.

Mixed reactions to plans to build camp for Prague's homeless

Prague councillors on 17 August approved a controversial plan to create a special camp for the city's homeless somewhere in the suburbs; a place where they would be given food and shelter, while remaining conveniently out of sight. It could be set up and ready to operate within six months’ time, most likely in the suburb of Malešice. Councillors argued that this would bring relief to both the general public and to the homeless. However, human rights groups have raised an outcry against what they see as a dangerous policy of segregation.

The initiator of the plan, Jiří Janeček, says that the centre should be a last resort for those who have no place to go. The “integrated assistance centre” would provide shelter, medical assistance and two hot meals a day for homeless people who have little chance of ever returning to a normal life and who get turned away from other help centres because they are uncooperative, drunk or on drugs.

“I have no intention of creating a centre for the entire homeless community,” Janeček explained. “Prague has over 3,500 homeless people. Of those around 150 are in such a pitiful state and so uncooperative that they get turned away from shelters. Then they either sleep on the street or end up in a drunk tank. In the worst case they freeze to death. As I see it, they would be better off in a centre where they can get food, shelter and medical care. So we want to set up the centre, give it a trial run and see how it goes.”

Human rights groups, however, called the plan a crude attempt at social engineering. Pavla Vopeláková from the Czech Salvation Army says the approach would be all wrong. “What we have to do is build up a relationship with these people and get them to trust us. They have to accept us as people who really want to help them and not as someone who wants to send them out of sight, to get rid of the problem.” She said something similar was tried in Paris a few years ago, and proved a failure. “There was a special train taking homeless people from the centre of Paris to the suburbs. But it failed because these people would spend a night or two there and then return to the city centre because that’s where their friends were, that’s where they could beg for money or find food.”

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Unemployment relates to level of education

Minister of Social Affairs Hanno Pevkur commented in August that the most recent labour market statistics clearly indicate factors that influence unemployment. “There is a clear link between the education level and the unemployment rate; unqualified workers have the highest unemployment rate,” he pointed out. According to labour market statistics, 13% of all unemployed persons are those with higher education, whereas 28% only have secondary education. In terms of higher education levels, persons with a Bachelor’s degree account for 7% of unemployed people while 3% have either a Master’s degree or a doctorate, and 3% have applied higher education qualifications. 40% of unemployed people have vocational education. 17% have vocational education acquired on the basis of basic education. 16% of unemployed persons have basic education and 2% not even basic education.

Increased support for adoption of €uro

A recent survey carried out by Faktum & Ariko revealed that 52% of Estonian residents would support the adoption of the euro. Among the Russian-speaking population, the support for the euro is only 32%.

In comparison to a poll carried out in November 2009 with the same questions and choices and the same size of sample, the number of those who support the adoption of the euro has increased. In autumn 2009, the adoption of the European single currency was supported by 47% of respondents and only 23% of the Russian-speaking population.

The survey indicated that the higher an individual’s income and level of education, the more they would support the euro. Support for the single currency is also higher in major cities. Three-quarters of nearly 500 respondents predicted that the adoption of the euro would bring an overall price increase. Hence, most of those who supported the euro also predict an increase in prices. 89% of respondents felt that they have enough information on the adoption of the euro.

Link: Estonian government website

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