Estonia lies along the Baltic Sea, just south of Finland and has a climate of icy, snowy winters and long light summers. It is a country about the same size as the Netherlands, and is sparsely populated with around 1.4m people. Tallinn, Estonia's capital city is about 80 km or 50 miles south of Helsinki, across the Gulf of Finland. Sweden is Estonia's western neighbour across the Baltic. Russia lies to the east, Latvia to the south.

• Country Overview
• Historic Background of the EU- Estonia's Relations
• Official documents
• Press releases
• Sources of information about Estonia and EU

Country Overview:

The independent Republic of Estonia was founded in the aftermath of the First World War in 1918, when it broke away from the Russian empire. The Proclamation of Independence was followed by the War of Independence in 1918-1920.

Estonia survived for twenty years as an independent country largely on the basis of the export of farm produce, while it attempted to establish its identity as a nation. However, the outbreak of World War Two disturbed the peaceful development of the country, which was subsequently occupied by the Soviet Union (1940-41, 1944-1991) and Nazi Germany (1941-1944).

A resurgence of Estonian national identity began in the late 1980s. The most visible (but peaceful) protests occurred in 1988 when large numbers of Estonians came together to sing national songs in the so-called "singing revolution" and in 1989 when people across all three Baltic countries joined hands together to form a massive human chain.

Following the attempted coup in Moscow in August 1991, Estonia unilaterally declared the restoration of its independence, and was quickly recognised by other countries. On 10 September the same year, Estonia was accepted as a member state of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe; on 17 September it became a member of the United Nations. A new constitution was elaborated on the basis of the principles of a parliamentary republic. On 28 June 1992 the constitution was approved in a referendum, and was subsequently enforced on 3 July 1992.

Since then, Estonian Governments have pursued a liberal free-trade policy and have embraced new technologies, which has resulted in a rapid transformation to a market economy.

Population: 1,348,784 inhabitants (July 2003 est.) of which 65.3% are Estonians. This is due to post-war immigration during 1935 and 1989. There are several other ethnicities, of which the most important are the Russians who stand for 28.1% of the total population (1998).
Area: 43,211 sq km
Capital: Tallinn.
National Language: Estonian (official), a Finno-Ugric tongue related to Finnish and, distantly, to Hungarian.
Constitution: adopted 28 June 1992
Major Religion: Evangelical Lutheran, Russian Orthodox, Estonian Orthodox.
Life Expectancy: total population: male: 64.36 years, female: 76.57 years (2003 est.).
Currency: the Kroon (EEK), 1 Kroon = 0.06 Euro
Administrative Division: 15 counties (maakonnad), 205 rural municipalities, and 42 towns

Historic Background of the EU- Estonia’s Relations:

In August 1991, the European Community recognised the Republic of Estonia after it had regained its independence. The following year the European Commission accredited the Estonian Ambassador in Brussels. The European Commission officially opened its Delegation in Tallinn in 1996.

Relationships between the Republic of Estonia and the European Communities are regulated by the Europe Agreement, which was concluded on 12 June 1995 and entered into force on 1 February 1998.

A referendum on Estonia's entry into the EU was held on 14 September 2003. The ballot first of all carried the text of the new "Third Act" to the Constitution, establishing legal basis for accession. It was followed by the question: "Do you support accession to the European Union and adoption of a law of amendments to the constitution of the Republic of Estonia?" and two answers: "Yes" and "No." 66.84% of the voters supported EU accession.

Official documents:

2002 (EU Commission)
Regular Report on Estonia’s progress towards Acesson

2001 Regular Report from the Commission on Estonia's Progress towards Accession

2000-2003
NPAA - National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis

September 2003
Treaty of Accession and Related Documents

March 2003
Agreements reached at Estonia's accession negotiations with the European Union

March 1998
Statement at the opening of the Estonia's accession negotiations with European Union

Other documents:

September 2003
Referendum results: Estonians said yes

2002
The capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union

Press releases:

Press releases of the Estonian Government
http://www.riik.ee/brf/?lang=en

News of the Representation of the European Commission in Estonia
http://eng.euroopaliit.ee/page.asp?menu=0

News of the Permanent Representation of Estonia to the EU
http://www.vm.ee/eng/euro/

19 April 2004
Ambassadors defend Baltic policy with gentle words for Russia

8 April 2004
Estonia Completed the Third Cycle of Membership Action Plan

7 April 2004
Address by the Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin

7 April2004
The President of the Republic spoke at a NATO conference in Hungary

5 April 2004
Address by Estonian Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland at the European Institute in Bucharest

24 March 2004/Press release
This year’s Spring Day events focus on the enlargement of the EU

19 February 2004 /Speeches
Address by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Kristiina Ojuland at St Antony's College, Oxford

26 January 2004
Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kristiina Ojuland participated in the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting

23 January 2004
The Estonian National Song and Dance Festival and a million new trees will introduce Estonia to the European Union

20 January 2004 /Speeches
The presentation of the Irish EU presidency programme

If any of the links do not work, please use the title of the press release in a search engine for further information

Sources of information about Estonia and EU:

Estonian Foreign Ministry EU-Estonian relations
http://www.vm.ee/euro/english

DG Enlargement, Country Profile
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/estonia/index.htm

European Commission Delegation in Estonia
http://www.euroopaliit.ee

European Parliament, Country profile
http://www.europarl.eu.int/enlargement_new/applicants/pdf/estonia_profile_en.pdf

European Parliament, Links for Estonia
Estonia - Country page

Estonian Office of European integration
http://www.eib.ee/pages.php/02

Estonian Mission to the EU
http://www.estemb.be

Gallup Europe
http://www.gallup-europe.be/epm/epm_estonia.htm

European Movement Estonia
http://www.euroopaliikumine.ee

Official information on Estonia
http://www.riik.ee/en [en, et, ru]

Free answering service about European issues.
http://www.eurotelefon.ee [et]

Tourism and Cultural Institutions:

Baltikum Tourismus Zentrale
http://www.gobaltic.de/home/index.php

Estonian Culture
http://www.culturepoint.ee

Estonian History
http://www.ibs.ee/ibs/history/brief

General Country Page
http://www.visitestonia.com

History and Culture
http://www.estonica.org

Tourism in Estonia
http://visitestonia.com/index.php?page=2&PHPSESSID=f614878280462e1dfbb33b6c1921b540 [de, en, et, fi, ru]

Estonian rural tourism
http://www.maaturism.ee/db/index.php?switch_lang=yes&new_lang=eng [et]

Life in Estonia
http://www.esto.info/indexDiv.html?LANG=en [en, et]

Cultural events
http://www.culture.ee

Eurodesk
Information service for young people about accommodation, travel, work http://www.eurodesk.ee [et]

Estonian atlas
http://atlas.ibs.ee/index.cgi.en [en, et]

English-Estonian dictionary
http://www.ibs.ee/dict

Estonia’s Press:

The Baltic Times (in English)
http://www.baltictimes.com

Estonian search machine
http://www.ee/www/welcome.html

Selection of national and local newspaper, online radio stations, TV channels and more http://www.ee/www/Media/welcome.html

This report has been prepared from the following principle sources:

Estonian Foreign Ministry EU-Estonian relations
http://www.vm.ee/euro/english

DG Enlargement, Country Profile EUROPA - Enlargement: Candidate Country - Estonia
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/estonia/index.htm

German Foreign Ministry (on Estonia)

European Parliament, Links for Estonia
Estonia - Country page

Estonian Office of European integration
http://www.eib.ee/pages.php/02

Estonian Mission to the EU
http://www.estemb.be

Otto Suhr Institute for political sciences, Department for research on Baltic Countries
http://www.abs-abl.de/abl/ueberUns/arbeitsbereich.html

Worldstats
http://www.worldstats.org/world/estonia.shtml