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Postimees Digest, Friday, April 19
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Ansip: I will not renounced my statement.
Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said that he has nothing to smooth out in terms of his Ukraine visit and that he will not renounce his utterance concerning the significance of a "single lady's" case in Ukraine-EU relations even though he did not utter it himself in so many words. Ansip said that the expression he used was in no way sexist or inappropriate. "There is no reason for me to iron out anything. I would simply like to shed light on what we talked about in Ukraine. There have been opinions that we didn't talk about human rights; such opinions are mistaken. The meeting lasted for two hours and we spent half of it talking about human rights, legal reforms and constitutional amendments in Ukraine," the PM said.
Family doctors to converge.
The Estonian Family Physicians Association and the social ministry are working on a plan to focus family doctors into around 50 regional centers in each of which four physicians could service the neighboring settlements. At the moment, Estonia has family doctors in a few hundred settlements. The ministry is applying for 20 million euros of European subsidies to build new health centers. Chairman of the association's management board Diana Ingerainen said that the organizers do not plan to force anyone to move but added that convergence cannot be helped in the long run as experts forecast that by 2035 half of the Estonian population will live in Harju County.
Expulsion of consul a reaction.
Public Broadcasting's news program AK suggests Estonian consul in Saint Petersburg Franek Persidski was expelled from Russia as an answer to Estonia's earlier decision to expel adviser to the Russian Embassy in Tallinn Nikolai Fursov in February. The Estonian foreign ministry only said that Persidski was expelled as an answer to a corresponding decision made by Estonia some time before. Persidski has reached Estonia.
Riigikogu approves Cyprus aid package.
The Riigikogu approved the EU and Cyprus mutual understanding memorandum at its sitting yesterday with 54 votes for and 21 against while 11 MPs abstained. Estonia's share in the loan guarantee comes to 17 million euros.