Editorial: time to bury memories of Soviet-imported builders

Photo: SCANPIX

What Estonia lacks is people. Lack of people equals small market and less opportunity for enterprise. Which, in turn, means slower and vulnerable economic growth, expressed in meagre salaries – compared to EU average. Both employees and employers complain. Therefore, the IRL ministers’ initiative to amend Aliens Act, to simplify issuing residence permits to top specialists from third countries, is worthy of support.

Despite of the technology sector’s long-time and loud moans over lack of labour, none of our four parliamentary parties has publicly stood for import of labour force. From speeches, one gets the idea of a competition going on: who supports it the least.

That the initiative comes from IRL, may, at first glance, come across a little strange: the figureheads of the 2011 living permits scandal Nikolai Stelmach and Indrek Raudne being from that very party. With these dirty fingerprints fresh in mind, the national conservative IRL supporter may take offence. Thereby, applying the amendment may prove politically tricky – and IRL as initiator rather vulnerable.

It would have seemed more logical for the proposal to come from Reform Party – flagship for freedom for enterprise. However, with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip rather opposed to bringing in third country labour force, an intriguing inter-party debate looms.

At the same time, Estonian Development Fund has stressed, in its vision, the importance of opening up Estonian society and the need to attract high quality human resources… if we indeed desire to make it to European average, as a state – at least.

The complexities of bringing in a needed top specialist has indeed been explained by Development Fund, to Parliament, in its 4^th report – complete with charts and diagrams. The issue is not limited to current law only – with public support and political consensus, altering that is a technical twist.

But the problem is not in procedure only – it is also in general attitudes. Memories of strictly-Russian-speaking builders brought in during Soviet era live on in our consciousness. Therefore, even the idea of a Ukrainian software engineer feels threatening. Still, time and politics have changed and foreign labour carries an altogether different goal: to work, not occupy territory.

Also, as evidenced by our close to ten years history in EU, there’s no rush here from other member states. So, if we don’t have enough people, why not let them come from places culturally closer to us? What good would delay do? Would foreign labour force from China or India be more acceptable to us? Would anybody even want to come over from China or India?