Estonia Needs More than a Good Show

When Estonia won the Eurovision Song Contest last year, former Prime Minister Mart Laar said that Estonia didn‘t need to knock at the door of Europe. He said the country would break in singing.

In May 2002, Estonia became the first among EU candidate countries to host the glitzy Eurovision Song Contest. The event gave the small Baltic nation an opportunity not shared by its counterparts -- a chance to shine on the European stage.

Thousands of international guests attended the contest in the medieval capital of Tallinn where they got to experience first-hand a segment of Estonia. In addition, extensive media coverage also gave millions of Europeans an introduction into their soon-to-be neighbor. For many sitting back home in front of their television sets, this was the first time they saw images of their future EU partner.

And the question for many remains, can Estonia offer more to Europe than a stunning musical spectacle?

Political support for accession

Estonian Prime Minister Siim Kallas, who took up office in January, has promised to bring the decade-long drive to win EU and NATO membership to a successful end this year.

"We are expected to bring these processes to a conclusion," said Kallas at his swearing-in ceremony. "And let me promise you here that all necessary decisions will be taken, with responsibility and with competence."

But Estonia still faces difficult negotiations with Brussels. It has closed only 24 of the 31 negotiating "chapters", or policy areas, required by the EU.

One crucial point is the country’s energy sector, in particular the country’s prime mineral resource, oil shale. It makes Estonia’s energy system independent from neighboring countries, and for political reasons it does not want to give that up.

The EU, however, is concerned about the environmental impact of this fuel. Burning massive quantities of oil shale has severely increased the pollution of the atmosphere, land and groundwater.

Another issue in dispute is taxation. The EU abolished duty-free purchases from July 1, 1999. Since then, Estonia has become a tax-free haven for northern Europeans, in particular. Many Scandinavians take up offers for short jaunts to Tallinn by ship to benefit from travel to a duty-free region - and duty-free bargains onboard.

With accession to the EU, Estonia would have to end its duty-free policies. This would have negative implications for this sector. Estonia is asking for a transitional period for retaining duty-free sales.

According to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country hopes to reach agreement in the areas of taxation and energy by the end of the Spanish EU presidency on June 30, 2002.

Public opinion improving

The Estonian poll firm Emor has registered a rise in "Euro-optimists" over the past six months. A recent survey showed that 59% of Estonian citizens support EU accession. 35% don’t support or object to the move.

Emor’s division manager, Aivar Voog, says that the attitude towards EU accession depended greatly on the self-esteem of Estonian people. "The more self-confident the people are, the more boldly they make decisions towards changes," he notes.

A general improvement in attitude has made the population more optimistic on EU accession. Voog says the Eurovision Song Contest has had a positive effect on the "Euro-support" curve (photo: last year's winner, Estonia's Tanel Padar).

But the European Commission‘s Eurobarometer says personal opinion is much lower. "In Estonia, we registered extremely low optimism regarding expected personal advantages from future EU membership," the Commission discovered.

Only one in four respondents think that they would personally benefit from accession. This makes Estonians the least optimistic among the candidate countries.

Cultural fears

Many people also see European integration as a potential threat to Estonian culture and identity. This is primarily due to the country’s historical ties to Russia.

Since its independence in 1991, Estonia has reoriented trade away from Russian markets to EU member states. But while its powerful eastern neighbor is now less evident economically, it still is a presence in society, namely through Estonia’s Russian-speaking residents. Most of this minority group has no citizenship.

While institutions such as the EU and NATO promote the naturalization of these residents, many Estonians place them in the Russian cultural realm, alien to Estonia. International integration is thus often depicted as dangerous to Estonian identity.

Estonia is in a difficult position. Should it become part of the EU, it will mark the border between the European Union and a non-EU Russia. EU and NATO memberships are seen as prerequisites for Estonia’s security against Russia. But EU accession would also require massive naturalization of "civilisationally alien" non-Estonians.