Postimees Digest, Thursday, April 18
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Estonia to pay Greece 5 million euros.
Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi said that Estonia will be returning 5 million euros of interest income on Greek bonds to the country as per the corresponding Eurozone finance ministers agreement. Proceeds from bond interest payments will first be reflected in the profit of the Bank of Estonia to be transferred to the state budget as dividends and from there back to Greece. The aim of the agreement is to alleviate the country's loan burden and not to profit on the troubles of aid program participants. The net profit of the Estonian central bank grew from 22.3 million euros in 2011 to 34.1 million euros in 2012.
Russia accuses Estonian diplomat of spying.
Russian authorities announced yesterday that they will expel from the country and declare a persona non grata Estonian consul in Saint Petersburg Franek Persidski who stands suspected of spying for Estonia. Speculations suggests Persidski's expulsion may be Russia's answer to the decision of Estonian authorities to deny visas to five Russian citizens who wanted to partake in a roundtable meeting organized by the Open Diplomacy Support Foundation. The Estonian foreign ministry refused to comment at this time.
Editorial: PM and his one dame statement
Hopefully, yesterday’s meeting with the German chancellor Angela Merkel will have a sobering effect on our PM: think before you speak.
Alas, at home we are so used to such use of language by the leading politician of various coalitions that hopes for a change tend to fade.
Even though Mr Ansip meant, while talking about the trial and imprisonment of former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko, that states should not lay everything on one card – a dame or queen in the deck, in different tongues – it came out ugly.