Suchergebnisse

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the position of capital city and capital city region in Estonia. An analysis of the position of the capital city in the local self-government organisation of a country must consider the following four aspects: 1. The capital city in the system of human settlements. 2. The capital city and the national legal environment, including the capital city's relationship with the central government and regional co-operation. 3. Management models of the capital city, including decentralisation. 4. The economic environment in the capital city; the capital city and the economic environment of the region and the country. The author is of the opinion that there are practically no interdisciplinary analyses addressing legal, economic, and demographic and management problems of capital city in Estonia.

The paper treats important problems of administrative reform in Estonia in 1989-2016, such as the possibility of and need for the administrative-territorial reform, including merging of municipalities and definition of the administrative reform. Guided by the general concept of the IME project and the Principles of Economic Autonomy for Estonia Act, the Estonian SSR Supreme Council passed the resolution of 8 August 1989 concerning administrative reform in the Estonian SSR. The resolution prescribed the administrative reform for the republic during 1990-1994 including the decentralisation of power in the republic to the levels of local government, and a clear distinction between the functions of state and local government. After this reform the discussions on the theme of local government reform have been acute for a long time in Estonia, but no systemic, comprehensive and holistic reform of public administration has been done there up to now (Linnas 2011). The Administrative Reform Law, initiated by the government in 2016, includes the principles and procedures for carrying out the administrative reform, determines the minimum size of a local government unit and the relevant exceptions, and the rights and obligations deriving from the merging of local governments. The Law sets a 5,000 minimum limit to the population of a local government.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the legal and economical problems of the PPP-projects (mainly in Tallinn) and the comparative analysis of the PPP-projects in some EU countries. Unfortunately the PPP-projects in Estonia is such a new topic that there have been no scientifically qualifiying publications written about it. Quite many topic-related articles have been published in journalism but the purpose of them has been mainly political. In Estonia (mainly in Tallinn) the PPP-projects have been exercised since year 2000. Since then the PPP-projects have been debated over by the state (Ministry of Finance) and the City of Tallinn about whether the PPPprojects should be counted into the debt obligations of the city or not? According to the Rural Municipality and City Budget Act a rural municipality or city may take loans, on the following conditions, the total amount of unrepaid loans shall not exceed 60 percent 20 per cent of proposed budget revenue for that budgetary year. Until 2008 Tallinn counted the costs of the PPP-projects only as yearly payments to the private sector but not as a loan. Since 2009 the new bookkeeping rules were enacted and the PPP-projects were counted upon the local government dept obligations. Thereat it is relevant to mention that the methodics of the Eurostat don`t calculate PPP-projects as dept obligations of the public sector. Until now the PPPprojects in Estonia have been exercised only for some years and it has been done only for renovation of the social infrastructure objects (schools) or construction (dwelling houses, sport structures). Although the PPP-projects have been planned to be used in development of the technical infrastructures (roads) these plans haven`t been accomplished yet. PPP-projects have been Tallinn-centered and the reason for this is that Tallinn has compared to other cities a lot more potential to administer and finance the complicated projects. More extensive use of the PPP-projects has been obstructed by the lack of the statewide regulations

The purpose of this paper is to analyze administrative-territorial reforms in Estonia, the comparative analysis of the public administration reforms in the Baltic Sea region, to formulate principles and purposes of the administrative-territorial reform in Estonia. An administrative-territorial reform has been topical since in the Estonia regained its independence but there are virtually no results. In 1995, a law was passed granting the Government the right to take decisions on the country's administrative-territorial division. Both the local authorities and the central government can initiate changes in the administrative-territorial division. A public opinion poll must be conducted before any decision on changes can be taken, although the Government is not bound by the results of the opinion poll. By the spring of 2009, there were 227 local governments in Estonia, including 194 rural municipalities and 33 cities. The administrative-territorial organisation of Estonia needs changing. The average population of Estonian rural municipalities is less than 2,500 people and, in spite of mergers, there are still inexpedient units where the centrally located settlement is separated from its hinterland in administrative terms. However, one must be objective when preparing and carrying out the administrativeterritorial reform. The often expressed opinion that decreasing the number of rural municipalities would result in retrenchment of resources in terms of the number of local officials and administrative costs is misleading

"Mit einer erfolgreichen Wirtschaftsentwicklung lösen sich nach Meinung der estischen Rechtsparteien auch soziale Probleme. Faktum ist, dass Estland zwar auf gute Wirtschaftsdaten verweisen kann, einige Sozialindikatoren jedoch besorgniserregend sind: Estland besitzt unter den EU-Staaten die geringste Lebenserwartung und die Einkommensungleichheit ist am höchsten." (Autorenreferat)

Guaranteeing a high-level living environment is one of the most important preconditions to the balanced and sustainable economic and social development of the European Union. Serious environmental problems can be seen in European cities, which are the places where most of the population live and which create the highest number of jobs, economic growth and added value. The level of urbanisation in Europe was 72.7% in 2010 and the UN forecast that it will increase to 82.2% by 2050. The European Green Capital Award was created in 2006 in order to recognise cities that have contributed to the improvement of their quality of life. The cities that have won the award have started using the most innovative and efficient measures for increasing the city's competitiveness, and are an example of how to achieve sustainable development for all cities, not just capitals. The environmental indicators of cities that have won the European Green Capital Award are high. In this article the problem is analysed using the example of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, which strives for a place among cities with the highest quality of life in Europe. The objective of this article is to analyse the areas of the city's environmental activities and environmental organisation in the context of increasing competitiveness. The original database used by the author in this article consists of the responses given by the governments of the cities who have already been awarded the title of European Green Capital when asked to describe the impact that applying for and achieving the title had on their cities

The restoration of local self-government, initially at two levels, began in Estonia in 1989. Since 1993, local self-government has been a single-level system comprising of cities and rural municipalities. There were about 250. The need to carry out an administrative-territorial reform was discussed for years; meanwhile, several voluntary mergers took place. A national reform was completed only in the autumn of 2017. The Constitution of Estonia, specifically Articles 154-160 are very much in keeping with the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, although the Charter was ratified two years after the Constitution was adopted in 1992. The Charter is of great importance in legislation and in case law. The biggest problems relate to the funding of local government, which has been highlighted by CLRAE in its monitoring reports. From the point of view of local governments' economic autonomy, the low share of local taxes in local budgets is a significant shortcoming. At the initiative of researchers focusing on local self-government issues at universities, a think tank POLIS was set up.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze socio-economic goals of the administrative-territorial reform in Estonia. An administrative-territorial reform has been a top issue since in Estonia regained its independence but there are virtually no results. In 1995, a law was passed granting the Government the right to take decisions on the country's administrative-territorial division. Both the local authorities and the central government can initiate changes in the administrative-territorial division. By the spring of 2012, there were 226 local governments in Estonia, including 193 rural municipalities and 33 cities. The administrative-territorial organisation of Estonia needs changes. The average population of Estonian rural municipalities is less than 2,500 people and, in spite of mergers, there are still inexpedient units where the centrally located settlement is separated from its hinterland in administrative terms. However, one should be objective when preparing and implementing the administrative-territorial reform. The often expressed opinion that decreasing the number of rural municipalities would result in retrenchment of resources in terms of the number of local officials and administrative costs is misleading.