Simple directory > Regional > Estonia

Country : Estonia Official name: Eesti Vabariik (The Republic of Estonia) Head of State: President Arnold Rüütel (since 2001) Head of government: Prime Minister Andrus Ansip (RE) (appointed 12 Apr 2005) Ruling party: Three-party coalition government from 12 Apr 2005: Reformierakond (RE) (Reform Party); Eestimaa Rahvaliit (Rahvaliit) (ER) (Estonian People's Union); Eesti Keskerakond (Kesk) (EK) (Estonian Centre Party) Area: 45,227 square km Population: 1.24 million (2004) Capital: Tallinn Official language: Estonian Currency: Kroon (plural krooni) (EEK) Exchange rate: EEK12.10 per US$ (Nov 2004) (pegged at EEK15.65 per euro) GDP per capita: US$6,060 (2003) GDP real growth: 5.20% (2003) Labour force: 608,600 (2003) Unemployment: 9.90% (2003) Inflation: 1.50% (2003) Balance of trade: -US$1.69 billion (2003) Foreign debt: US$3.30 billion (2003)

Historical profile

Around 3,000 BC the Finno-Ugric peoples began to migrate from Eastern Europe to the north-east coast of the Baltic Sea.

1219 Valdemar II of Denmark and the German Sword Brethren, a crusading order, conquered Estonia.

1346 The Danes sold their share of Estonian territory to the Livonian Order of Teutonic Knights (an alliance of the Sword Brethren and the German Order of Teutonic Knights).

1524–39 The State of Teutonic Knights, including Estonia, renounced religious allegiance to Rome and converted to Lutheranism.

1561 In the secularisation and partition of the State of Teutonic Knights, Estonia (now northern Estonia) became part of Sweden and Livonia (now Latvia and southern Estonia) and placed under Polish rule.

1721–1917 Estonia became a Baltic province of Russia.

1918–40 Independent republic.

1940–88 Constituent republic of USSR.

1988 Estonia declared its sovereignty.

1989 Economic autonomy was granted.

1990 Independence from the USSR was declared. The break-up of the Soviet Union led to a sharp decline in output.

1991 Independence was reaffirmed.

1992 Following the country's first free elections since independence, a coalition of various right-wing conservative parties, operating under the name Isamaa Pro Patria, was the heart of the government coalition, headed by Mart Laar as prime minister. Lennart Meri became president. Inflation soared to nearly 1,000 per cent as the Soviet energy and food supply system crumbled and hard currency was required for imports. Estonia introduced its own currency, the kroon, and a new post-Soviet constitution. The kroon was pegged to the Deutsche mark under a currency board system at a ratio of eight to one.

1994 GDP growth was registered for the first time since independence. Estonia joined the NATO Partnership for Peace programme (PfP). Laar lost a vote of no-confidence in the Riigikogu and Andres Tarand became caretaker prime minister until elections.

1995 The governing coalition parties lost ground in the parliamentary elections. A centre-left government was formed under Tiit Vähi as prime minister. Estonia applied to join the EU. The government collapsed when the ECP left.

1996–97 The re-formed coalition collapsed when six ministers resigned and the resulting minority government also collapsed after Vähi's resignation. The ECP leader, Mart Siimann, became prime minister and formed a minority government with the Estonian Rural Union (EM) and independents.

1999 The Eesti Keskerakond (EK) (Estonian Centre Party) became the largest party in the Riigikogu after parliamentary elections; however, a coalition government was formed by the Erakond Isamaaliit (Isamaaliit) (Fatherland Union), the Reformierakond (RE) (Reform Party) and the Rahvaerakond Mõõdukad (Mõõdukad) (Moderate People's Party), having together a narrow majority of 53 seats. The government was again led by Mart Laar as prime minister. Estonia joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

2000 The economy recovered from the 1998 Russian crisis and foreign investment picked up.

2001 Arnold Rüütel was elected president by the electoral college.

2002 Mart Laar resigned over infighting in the government and he was replaced by Siim Kallas, who formed a government comprising the EK and RE. NATO invited Estonia to join the alliance by 2004.

2003 After parliamentary elections in March, President Arnold Rüütel asked Juhan Parts to form a government. On 15 April, he formed a coalition government comprising Uhendus Vabariigi Eest-Res Publica (ResP) (Union for the Republic-Res Publica), centre-right RE and centre-left Eestimaa Rahvaliit (Rahvaliit) (Estonian People's Union). Out of a total of 101 MPs, 60 are in the coalition. In April, the EU Accession Treaty was signed. In a September referendum, Estonians voted to join the EU.

2004 In April, Estonia acceded to NATO and entered the EU on 1 May.

2005 Juhan Parts resigned on 24 March from his post as prime minister and dissolved the coalition government after lawmakers said they had no confidence in his justice minister because of a controversial anti-corruption plan. On 12 April, Andrus Ansip (RE) was appointed prime minister of a new three-party coalition government.

There's no web links here.