Estonia 2016

Estonia is a constitutional democracy with a 101-seat unicameral parliament. Freedom and fairness of elections in this country is always respected in practice. Last parliamentary elections, held in March 2015, were another proof of that. As a significant improvement at the last elections, 30% of participating voters used opportunity to cast the ballot electronically. Elected government, consisted of the most dominant Reform Party, Social Democratic Party and Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica, held certain disputes at the beginning of the term, which even led Social Democrats (SD) to question their participation in the coalition. After they decided to continue, all ministers from SD were replaced. Non-citizen residents are not allowed to organize or join political parties and do not vote

There are no unconstitutional veto players in Estonia, thus nobody could interfere into decision making process. Elected government held effective power to govern the country. Although Estonia almost doesn’t have a problem with corruption, two cases that happened during 2015 took this high position into question. First, executives of the state owned Port of Tallinn were arrested on bribery charges, and soon afterwards a leader of the main opposition Center Party has been accused and investigated for taking bribes. Estonian security forces are under civilian control.

Estonian media landscape, including both traditional and online media outlets, is free and pluralistic, expressing diverse opinions on all questions. Public Broadcasting Council is generally unbiased and professional, although consisting only of people named by the parliament, 4 representatives of the governing parties and 4 experts. Ownership structure of the media outlets is transparent, but a trend of ownership concentration that engulfed Estonia posed a possible threat to press independence. Large Russian minority population finally got a television channel in Russian language, but many accused government that it launched the channel just to counterbalance the propaganda of the Russia-based TV stations.

Amid high levels of political stability, Estonia has, since independence, tremendously advanced in changing the Soviet-era system of full adherence of judiciary to the executive towards the one of judicial independence from daily politics. Recent reforms since 2014 have further improved the performance of courts, accelerated law enforcement and eased the problem of overcrowded prisons. Simplified regulation and reliance on self-regulation of the economy and civil society enabled judiciary to better deal with the tasks necessary for maintenance of the rule of law. In nomination of judges, checks and balances are kept between President, Parliament and judicial bodies. Constitutional Court has proven its independence and non-bias - roughly half of the government measures it deals with are

Estonia is advancing towards the status of a country where corruption is a lesser problem. In 2015, it arrived to the place 23 of 168 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, following a rise in previous years. Its score again rose, to 70. It is the least corrupt of all transition countries in Europe. Extensive liberalization of the economy, as well as simplification of administrative procedures by introduction of e-government (even “e-citizenship”), have both largely contributed to this success, on top of the classic institutional anti-corruption mechanisms or of raising the awareness in society. However, in 2015, a large scandal erupted in the city hall of Tallin. The Mayor was suspended by a court. An investigation was opened against him on the

Estonia maintains high standards regarding human rights. It is ahead of other Baltic countries but still below Scandinavia. Freedom of thought and expression, of the media, or of religion or art or academic research, is well respected. The entire relationship between the citizen and the state is ever more built on democratic and liberal principles. Serious attempts are made to keep security forces checked by society and to protect the privacy of citizens along with their right to access to information. Sexual minorities enjoy better protection than elsewhere in Baltic - among other measures, the Civil Cohabitation Act has been carried. Civil society organizations play a crucial role in shaping and safeguarding the system. In some of the remaining disputable fields, such as identity

Property rights are well respected in Estonia. The state has the right of expropriation in certain cases in the public interest (mostly for building public infrastructure), but this right is seldom exercised and the property is exchanged for a market-price compensation. The judiciary is independent from the government influence and integrity of the legal system is not undermined. However, courts are overburdened, leading to prolonged processes of trial, which on average last for 425 days. The courts also unnecessarily deal with enforcement of contracts. Court automation is streamlining paperwork and is ensuring impartiality in court dealings. Arbitration is used in many cases, as cheaper and less time consuming. The police are mostly reliable and business costs of crime are low. Although

Estonia has a government limited in scope. Government expenditures stood at 39% of GDP in 2015, lower than in most EU countries. Public debt is among the lowest in the world, below 10% of GDP, mostly due to a strong fiscal consolidation package implemented in 2009 to eliminate government borrowing. Public finances have been recording minor budget surpluses in recent years. Robust economic growth and a sharp fall of the unemployment rate that followed these reforms came to a still. Current sluggish growth is mostly the result of a slowdown among Estonia’s main economic partners, but growth rates are expected to pick up. Estonia was the first country in Eastern Europe to adopt flat tax system, but minor progressive characteristics such as non-taxable exemption of 2040 EMU make Estonian

Estonia has created and maintained an overall business-friendly environment, attracting high amounts of foreign direct investment, as well as enabling domestic entrepreneurial spirit, thus having one of the highest numbers of entrepreneurs per capita. Starting a business is easy and cheap. Estonia continued cutting bureaucracy by allowing for the minimum capital required to be deposited at the time of company registration. Tax regulation is simplified and considered to be among the most efficient in the world, with simple procedures and high usage of electronic tax filing. Obtaining construction permits and getting electricity is quick, although the latter could be expensive. There are few administrative requirements and licensing in conducting daily business, which helped bring

Estonia, as a small economy, has been oriented to foreign trade more than many other European countries, since international trade allows for production specialization. Estonia has therefore pursued a very open foreign trade policy since the beginning of the economic and political liberalization, eliminating almost all tariffs and other free trade restrictions. Estonia was the only country who had to increase the tariffs for the sake of harmonization with the common European trade policy prior to EU accession, not to decrease them as was the case of all other CEE countries. A strong contributor to fostering trade links and free trade is transport infrastructure, which is significantly decreasing costs. Quick and easy administration allows for goods to be imported or exported with great