Estonia

The eastern border with Russia has remained a matter of dispute between Estonia and Russia following Estonia’s independence. Some 5 per cent of Estonian territory was transferred to the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) by the Soviet government in 1945, and Estonian officials began to seek its return in 1991. The Estonian government has issued passports to Estonian speakers in some of the disputed areas, which has prompted Russian officials to accuse Estonia of attempting to annex Russian territory.

The Estonian government has attempted to strengthen ties with other countries, including the other Baltic republics and Western countries. In September 1993 it signed a free-trade agreement with Latvia and Lithuania that removes duties on imports and standardizes visa and customs regulations. In February 1994 Estonia signed the Partnership for Peace accord, an agreement on limited military cooperation with NATO.

Russian forces withdrew their troops in August 1994. In exchange, Estonia agreed to allow retired Soviet personnel living in Estonia to apply for residency.

The first national parliamentary elections since the re-establishment of independence after the Soviet occupation were held in September 1992, when the centre-right Isamaa (Fatherland) coalition took power. The second general election was held in March 1995, resulting in a coalition of the Estonian Coalition Party (ECP) and Rural People’s Union and the Centre Party. Tiit Vähi, prime minister in 1992, was again elected prime minister, and Edgar Savisaar, who had headed the last Estonian government under the Soviet Union and then became the leader of the Centre Party, became minister for internal affairs. In April 1995 Estonia signed an association agreement with the EU having, for the most part, brought its economy and legislation into line with the requirements of the EU. The 1950 European Convention on Human Rights was ratified by the Estonian legislature in March 1996, a precursor to assuming the presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in May. A long-standing maritime border dispute with Latvia was resolved after negotiations in May, and an agreement was signed in July. A standby credit of about US$20 million to support the government’s economic programme was approved by the IMF in July. President Meri was sworn in for a second term in October, after his September re-election. The ruling coalition government collapsed in November and a new minority government was formed by Prime Minister Vähi in December. Also in 1996, Estonia agreed in principle to Russia's territorial claim on the disputed border territory; nevertheless, the Russian foreign minister, Yevgeny Primakov, refused to sign a border agreement with Estonia in January 1997, and voiced concerns regarding the treatment of ethnic Russians in Estonia. In late January the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly voted to end the monitoring procedure for Estonia, having been encouraged by the progress made in the field of human rights. Vähi resigned the premiership in February amid allegations of involvement in improper real estate deals, and the new Cabinet of his successor Mart Siimann was approved by President Meri in March. Russian passports were declared invalid in Estonia in May, forcing those without Estonian citizenship to apply for non-citizens’ passports or to seek alternative citizenship status.

In February 1998 the Supreme Court ruled that amendments to the language law, which had been approved by the legislature in November, were unconstitutional. The amendments would have given the legislature the power to determine the level of skill in the Estonian language required by its members, and were opposed by ethnic Russian deputies in the legislature, who claimed them to be unconstitutional. The legislature voted to abolish the death penalty in March. In November the Riigikogu, the unicameral legislature, banned electoral alliances in a move that was widely agreed would reduce the number of political parties prior to the forthcoming general election, and make it difficult for small parties to gain representation in the legislature. However, several parties concluded a number of agreements in January 1999 on potential co-operation regarding post-election coalitions. The Riigikogu approved further amendments to the state language law that required those working in the state service sector to be proficient in Estonian; some 30 per cent of the population are ethnic Russians and the amendment drew criticisms from the Russian Party. Following the legislative elections, a centre-right coalition of three parties, led by former prime minister Mart Laar, took office in March. Laar, who was premier from 1992 to 1994, pledged to continue the free-market reforms that had been a successful feature of economic policy in the country, in the early post-Soviet years. Also in March 1999, Estonia and Russia started negotiations aimed at resolving their long-standing border dispute.

Political and social developments in 2000 and early 2001 were aimed at further consolidation and economic growth, to facilitate the country’s prospective membership of the European Union (EU) and other international organizations. In March 2000 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered Estonia a standby fund to sustain the country’s economic strategies. Evolving social needs were reflected in the emergence of new parties: the Russian Baltic Party was founded in June 2000 by members of the People’s Trust coalition to represent the Russian minority, and three other groupings—the Rural Union, the Rural People’s Party, and the Pensioners and Family Party—merged into a new People’s Union Party. It was announced in March 2001 that a referendum on joining the EU would be held after the completion of accession talks, probably in 2003.

In September 2001 President Lennart Meri stood down after his second term in office. He was eventually replaced by Arnold Rüütel, who won a majority of electoral college votes and took office in October. One of Rüütel’s first moves was to abolish the language laws that gave preference to native Estonians. In December Prime Minister Mart Laar gave notice of his intention to resign after in-fighting in his Cabinet. Laar, who was serving a second term as prime minister, left office on January 8, 2002. A coalition of Centre and Reform parties agreed to create the new government, with Siim Kallas, a former finance minister, as the new prime minister. Kallas announced his intention to continue the reformist principles of the previous government to smooth Estonia’s entry into the EU in 2004.

Estonia was formally invited to join NATO in November 2002 and the following month was likewise invited to join the European Union in the next wave of expansion in 2004. In the general election of March 2003, Prime Minister Kallas’s Estonian Reform Party came only third in the polls. The joint winners were the Estonian Centre Party and the Res Publica party, each with 28 seats. With no decisive victory, President Rüütel nominated a new prime minister—Juhan Parts, leader of Res Publica—in April. Parliament confirmed the appointment and Rüütel appointed the Cabinet that took office shortly afterwards. In September 2003 Estonian membership of the EU was strongly endorsed in a referendum, with 66.9 per cent of voters supporting the move. In April 2004 the country joined NATO, and in May it became a member of the EU.

Parts submitted the resignation of the coalition government in March 2005. President Rüütel replaced him with Andrus Ansip, the finance minister. In the following May parliament, led by Ansip, ratified the EU constitution, taking a different course to many other EU nations that had failed to ratify the agreement. By a narrow majority of 174 votes to 162 Toomas Hendrik Ilves was chosen by the electoral college in September 2006 to succeed Rüütel as president. In March 2007’s parliamentary elections Ansip’s Reform Party won 31 of the 101 seats, with the Centre Party taking 29 and the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union gaining 19. Turnout was reported to be 61 per cent and the elections gained the distinction of being the first in the world to include online voting.