Estonia in 2004

Estonia in 2004

Area: 45,227 sq km (17,462 sq mi)
Population (2004 est.): 1,342,000
Capital: Tallinn
Chief of state: President Arnold Rüütel
Head of government: Prime Minister Juhan Parts

Prime Minister Juhan Parts’s Res Publica party, the leading member of Estonia’s ruling coalition, suffered a sharp decline in its political fortunes in 2004. Opinion polls showed falling support, and in the country’s first elections to the European Parliament in June, Res Publica finished sixth, garnering only 7% of the vote and none of the six available seats. The results suggested that Res Publica had not delivered on its promises for a more ethical and caring government, although the public gave the party high marks for having implemented parental allowances for newborn children. The main political opposition, Edgar Savisaar’s Estonian Centre Party, also endured important setbacks, including the defection of 8 of 28 members in the parliament in May and Savisaar’s loss of the mayoralty in Tallinn in October following a vote of no confidence. The chief gainers were the Estonian Reform Party on the right and the Social Democratic Party (formerly the Moderates) on the left, the latter winning three seats in the European Parliament.

Estonia achieved two major foreign-policy goals in 2004 as it joined NATO on March 29 and the European Union on May 1. Nevertheless, the very low turnout for the European Parliament elections (27%) indicated that voters were perhaps not yet convinced of the importance of EU institutions. Estonia stood out among acceding EU members in that it obtained two high-profile appointments: Toomas Hendrik Ilves as a vice chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and Siim Kallas as a vice president of the European Commission.

Among the 10 new European Union countries, Estonia ranked only eighth in GDP per capita at 42% of the newly expanded EU’s average. The World Economic Forum deemed Estonia’s the most competitive economy among the 10 new states, however, and the economy continued to display a number of other positive features, including high growth rates, a low level of public debt, and a balanced state budget.

Toivo U. Raun