Estonian minister: County centers are priority of regional policy

Photo: Stanislav Moshkov

Strengthening county centers and improving transit opportunities will be the priorities of Estonia's regional policy during the next budget period of the European Union, Regional Affairs Minister Siim-Valmar Kiisler said in his opening remarks at the annual conference of towns and rural municipalities.

In Kiisler's words, the next seven years will see a battle for the future of Estonia's regional capitals because without strong regional centers there will be no active life outside major urban areas in the future, spokespeople for the Interior Ministry said.

"This inevitably means choosing between asphalt and concrete, and the regional policy priority here is asphalt - in other words, first and foremost good roads and connections with and between local centers," the minister said.

He also stated that decision-making in planning the distribution of EU funding of the next budget period must not be centered in Tallinn but there has to be a regional decision-making level similarly to the financial framework now ending. In the 2007-2013 budget period regional support made up close to 10 percent of all EU support.