NCSJ - Estonia page

Population: 1.3 million

Ethnic Composition:
67.9% Estonian, 25.6% Russian, 2.1% Ukrainian, 1.3% Belarusian, 0.9% Finnish, 2.2% other

Religion: 13.6% Evangelical Lutheran, 12.8% Russian Orthodox, 1.4% Other Christian (Methodist, Seventh Day Adventist, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal), 34.1% unaffiliated, 32% other/unspecified, 6.1% none

Jewish population: 3,000-3,500
2006 Aliyah
(emigration to Israel): 6

Size: 45,226 sq km
Capital: Tallinn
Major cities: Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, Kohtla-Jarve, Pärnu

Freedom House Rating:
Free

Currency: 11.09 Estonian kroon = $1

GDP: $23.55 billion (2008 est.)
GDP per capita: $21,400 (2008 est.)
GDP Growth: -3.6% (2008 est.)

Head of State:
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Head of Government:
Prime Minister Andrus Ansip

Foreign Minister:
Urmas Paet

Ambassador to United States:
Väino Reinart

U.S. Ambassador to Estonia:
Michael C. Polt

Chronology of all U.S. envoys to Estonia

SUMMARY

One of the three Baltic States occupied by the Soviet Union from 1940 until 1991, Estonia – one of the smallest former Soviet republics both in size and population - has seen impressive economic and political growth since regaining independence, having passed through a difficult initial period of restructuring. Thanks to a vigorous regimen of reforms and its clear-cut commitment to joining Euro-Atlantic institutions, Estonia was accepted into both NATO and the European Union in 2004, despite some unresolved legacies of Soviet rule.

Estonia’s ties to the Nordic countries are particularly strong, thanks to centuries of rule by Danes, Swedes, and Germans. Relations with Russia have improved somewhat since the 1990s but remain tense, strained over Estonia’s past and current policies such as its determined pursuit of NATO accession, its no-nonsense treatment of its large ethnic Russian minority, its clearly pro-American alignment, and sharply clashing views on Russia’s wartime role in Estonia.

Estonia’s Jewish community was severely depleted as a consequence of Estonia’s war-time occupation by both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The current Jewish population is small and relatively self-contained, though several American Jewish groups are active in the community. While the Estonian government has good relations with the Jewish community and anti-Semitism is not prevalent, fierce controversy persists around the emotional issue of World War II Estonian veterans, who fought with the Germans against the Soviets, and are seen by many of their countrymen as patriots and freedom fighters rather than as Nazi collaborators.

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ESTONIA

INTRODUCTION
POLITICAL SITUATION
Foreign Policy
ECONOMIC SITUATION
JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM
Holocaust and Memory
U.S. POLICY

Estonia, slightly smaller in area than New Hampshire and Vermont combined, is bordered by Latvia, Russia, the Baltic Sea, and the Gulf of Finland. Ruled for centuries by Denmark and then by a German knightly order, Estonia was conquered by Sweden in the 17th century, ushering in a “golden era” that ended with Russian conquest in the Nordic War in 1721. Under Tsarist rule until the 1917 Russian Revolution, Estonia declared independence in 1918, only to be forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, occupied by Germany in World War II, and re-conquered by the Red Army in 1944. The United States never recognized the Soviet annexation of Estonia, and neither did many Estonians, some of whom fought with the German army against the Soviets during the war and then waged a guerrilla resistance campaign in the early postwar years. During Stalin’s rule, Estonia initially suffered draconian ethnic and political purges that deported, exiled, or executed as much as one-tenth of its prewar population; it was also forced to accept large numbers of Russian-speaking settlers who manned local industry and helped staff a large Soviet military presence. As a result, the percentage of ethnic Estonians fell to 61 percent of the country’s population in 1989 (that figure rose to 69 percent by 2006 due to large scale emigration by Russian speakers and the removal of the Russian military after independence).

Later, Estonia – widely viewed during the Soviet period as the most Western in culture and outlook of all the Former Soviet Union Republics – was used for various economic experiments under the Soviet regime, and particularly during Gorbachev’s perestroika, when Estonia was allowed to have a significant amount of private enterprise and even some foreign direct investment from Finland. Such economic advantages, as well as a growing mass movement for independence in the late 1980s and its historic and cultural ties to the West, were instrumental when Estonia regained independence in August 1991, allowing it quickly to rebuild economic and political ties with Western Europe. Estonia is widely considered to be the most successful of the former Soviet republics in terms of economic stability and political freedom, and it has been called “the reform star of the post-Communist world.” Along with Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia acceded into both NATO and the European Union in 2004. EU membership has proved highly beneficial to Estonia’s economy, as has Estonia’s earlier entry into the World Trade Organization in 1999.

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Political Situation

Estonia is a mature, stable parliamentary democracy with legislative, executive and judicial branches, of which the unicameral Parliament (Riigikogu) holds the most power. Its 101 members are popularly elected every four years; the last elections were in early March 2007 and produced a strong win for the center-right Reform Party, which plans to continue its pro-market policies in partnership with two other centrist parties. The Parliament appoints and confirms the Prime Minister and elects the President every five years. In April 2005, the Riigikogu installed Andrus Ansip of the Reform Party (and former mayor of Tartu) as Prime Minister. In 2007, Ansip became Estonia’s first sitting prime minister to win elections since independence in 1991, and was reappointed by Parliament as Prime Minister heading a three-party coalition government in early April 2007. In September 2006, Toomas Hendrik Ilves – a prominent Social Democrat who grew up and was educated in the United States, and then returned to independent Estonia, where he became a diplomat and rose to Foreign Minister – was elected by parliament as the President. The judiciary is widely described as independent and generally free from state interference. Freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, and religion are constitutionally guaranteed and are respected in practice.

Estonia’s remaining civil liberties issues largely center on the status of its large Russian-speaker minority and its long-term policy of transitioning from Russian to Estonian as the official language. Government documents are written solely in Estonian and thus exclude non-Estonian-speakers from citizenship, employment, and the right to vote. Changes to the 1998 Citizenship Law made all Estonian natives born since February 26, 1992, eligible for citizenship – if both parents are stateless. As of November 2006, 84.6 percent of Estonian residents were citizens, 7.6 percent were citizens of other countries (primarily Russia), and 8.8 percent were officially stateless (an estimated 170,000), most of them Russian-speakers who settled in Estonia during Soviet rule and have proven unwilling to learn Estonian or apply for Estonian citizenship. Estonia has pointed out that more than 100,000 Russian speakers have learned Estonian and gained citizenship since independence. In 1992, 32% of the population had no citizenship; in 2006, that figure is 10%.

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Foreign Policy

Estonia has good relations with its Baltic Sea neighbors (except Russia), and is a member of the Council of Baltic Sea States and of the Baltic Assembly. Cooperation with Lithuania and Latvia has grown in recent years, given common Baltic interests in the EU and NATO; the three Baltic States also have formed joint infantry and naval units as part of their contributions to NATO and peacekeeping operations. Estonia participates in regional cooperation among Nordic and Baltic states under the NB8 formula, discussing and coordinating common economic, foreign policy and regional issues.

The Nordic countries and the United States welcomed Estonia’s 2004 accession to NATO and the EU. Estonia has hosted several military training exercises and programs jointly with NATO and the U.S. on its territory as part of the accession process. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) closed its Estonian mission in 2001 in view of Estonia’s successful transition.

Estonia’s ever-closer relations with Western Europe contrast with its historically strained relationship with Russia. After 1991, Estonian-Russian relations have often been tense, marred by persistent bilateral irritants: friction over visa requirements; recurrent clashes over the interpretation of the historical role of the Soviet Union in Estonia during World War II (exemplified by the heated debates over the proposed removal of Soviet war memorials, and over repeated attempts by Estonian veterans to memorialize their participation in the war on the side of the Germans); Russian allegations of Estonian mistreatment of the Russian speaking minority in Estonia, particularly relating to Estonia’s stringent and lengthy naturalization process, which Russia alleges has kept many of Estonia’s Russian speaking residents from citizenship; and unresolved disputes over the final demarcation of the Russian-Estonian border, whose current line differs slightly from the borders of pre-war Estonia. In early 2005, Estonia’s then-President declined an invitation to attend World War II Victory Day celebrations in Moscow due to Estonian criticism of the historical Soviet role in Estonia; a long-anticipated border treaty between Russia and Estonia was signed in May 2005 but soon foundered due to Estonian parliamentary inclusion of language referring to the Soviet occupation of Estonia, which led Russia to withdraw from the treaty the following month.

In 2006, bilateral relations again suffered when a proposal to remove a controversial and prominent Soviet-era war monument to the Red Army in central Tallinn (“the Bronze Soldier”) was sharply criticized by Russia (and by some Russian speaking residents of Estonia) as insulting, and was ultimately vetoed by President Ilves. Estonia’s latest parliamentary elections in March 2007 initially were not expected to bring major changes to the Russian-Estonian relationship, which observers said were likely to remain tense but not hostile under the current center-right government in Tallinn. The March 2007 signing of a border treaty between Latvia and Russia left Estonia as the last Baltic State lacking a definite border agreement with its giant neighbor.

However, in March and April 2007, Estonian government plans to relocate “the Bronze Soldier” from central Tallinn to a military cemetery, and to exhume and rebury the remains of Soviet soldiers buried near the monument, sparked strong Russian criticism, including calls by the Russian Foreign Minister for the EU and NATO to persuade Estonia to change its plans. Some Russian speakers in Estonia also protested. The actual relocation of the “Bronze Soldier” in late April 2007 to the Tallinn military cemetery triggered two nights of rioting by largely young Russian-speakers in Tallinn and two other cities dominated by Russian-speakers, which also included widespread looting, arson, and vandalism. One person was killed (apparently by another rioter), over a hundred and fifty protesters and police were injured, and hundreds were detained before order was restored. The riots and the removal of the statue provoked a sharp reaction from Russia, where calls sounded for breaking off diplomatic relations and for boycotting Estonia, and the Estonian Embassy in Moscow was assaulted and besieged by protesters for several days afterwards, prompting an Estonian diplomatic protest to Moscow. Estonia’s Foreign Ministry also protested what it described as misinformation and lies in Russian media coverage of the events, and accused Russian diplomats of trying to escalate tensions in Estonia. The April 2007 rioting in Estonia was the worst public disorder in any Baltic State since 1991.

Estonian-Israeli relations are friendly, and diplomatic relations were established in early 1992. An Estonian consulate operates in Tel Aviv, Israel. Estonian Honorary Consul Joseph Shekel has represented Estonia in Israel since March 1992. Israel’s ambassador to Finland is also accredited to Estonia, and the Israeli Embassy in Helsinki, Finland, handles Estonian relations. Estonia and Israel export relatively small amounts of goods to each other (in the range of 2.5-3.5 million EUR in 2005), but export volumes are growing. Estonia has imported weapons produced by Israel Military Industries, including the Uzi submachine gun, Galil rifles and IMI Negev machine guns. Tourism between the two nations is relatively small but has grown in recent years. In May 2003, the Estonian-Israeli parliamentary group was re-established in the Estonian parliament. Estonia’s then-Prime Minister visited Israel last in November 2004, and Israel’s President Katsav visited Estonia in September 2005.

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Economic Situation

Widely considered the economic success story of the former Soviet Union, Estonia has transitioned successfully to a modern market economy and has become strongly integrated into Western institutions. Independence in 1991 was followed by several years of economic decline, marked by disputes with Russia over agricultural trade and imports of energy and raw materials, and made worse by the 1998 Russian financial crisis, which caused unemployment to spike. Conditions improved as trade with the EU increased and as EU accession became ever more probable, fueling a strong recovery that began in 2000 and has continued to the present; in 2006, GDP growth was estimated at 9.8 percent, and was even higher in 2005, giving Estonia the highest rate of GDP growth in the EU. Previously high inflation and unemployment rates were reduced to about 4.4 percent and 5 percent in 2006, respectively.

In 2006, Estonia was judged to be one of the most liberal economies in the world, on the level of the United States and Great Britain. Increasingly known for its strong technology sector, Estonia (nicknamed “E-stonia” thanks to its omnipresent wireless connections) has one of the highest per capita rates of Internet connections among EU member states, exceeding even some Western European states, and leads the world in electronic voting: in October 2005, Estonia became the first country to allow Internet voting as legally binding, and Internet voting was used by approximately 3.4 percent of its citizens in the March 2007 legislative elections.

The Estonian currency is pegged to the Euro. Finland, Germany, and Sweden rank among Estonia’s biggest trade partners. It enjoys free trade agreements with Russia, Ukraine, the other Baltic States, and several East European countries. In 1999, Estonia became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In 2001, the Estonian Stock Exchange was taken over by the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Assistance from international institutions has been critical to Estonia’s economic success. World Bank aid, focusing on private sector development and infrastructure improvement, has totaled $150 million since 1992. The Estonian government announced in 2006 that it intends to graduate from World Bank borrower status to that of donor partner. Aid from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) totaled $367 million since 1992. International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank assistance, substantial during the first years after independence, has now ceased due to Estonia’s economic progress. In 2006, Estonia reported a $19,600 GDP per capita.

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Jewish Communal Life & Anti-Semitism

Jewish settlement in Estonia began only in the late 19th century, as Tsarist laws forbade Jews entry to Estonia prior to 1865. The local Jewish population grew rapidly to an estimated 5,000 Estonian Jews by 1913, with the biggest communities in the university city of Tartu and in Tallinn. The Jewish community continued to grow and flourish in independent Estonia after 1918, and even enjoyed government-granted cultural autonomy and its own Board of Jewish Culture. Soviet occupation in 1940 and the German invasion in 1941 marked the beginning of a steep decline: Jewish cultural autonomy was liquidated, an estimated half of Estonia’s 6,000 plus Jews migrated to other areas of the Soviet Union, some 500 were forcibly resettled or deported, and about 1,500 were killed during the German occupation. Thousands of Jews deported from elsewhere in Europe to Estonia were also murdered there by the Nazis. After the war, many Soviet Jews migrated to Estonia due to its general lack of anti-Semitism and relative liberalism in comparison to the rest of the USSR; they revitalized the local community, but were not allowed to recreate its pre-war cultural life.

Estonia has traditionally been a religiously tolerant nation. In 1993, the Estonian Parliament passed the new Cultural Autonomy Act, based on a previous 1925 stature guaranteeing minorities a legal right to preserve their national identities. Under this protective legislation, the small but well organized Jewish Community of Estonia has flourished. Numbering today approximately 2,500-3,000 people, it is centered on Tallinn, with smaller communities in the regional centers of Tartu, Narva, Kohtla-Jarve, and Pärnu. A high percentage of the local Jewish community is intermarried, and the majority is Russian-speaking.

In Tallinn, Jewish life is concentrated around a Jewish Community Center (JCC) and a new synagogue. The JCC, known as Dor V’dor (“Every Generation”), offers a range of programs, services, and clubs. Social services of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC/“Joint”) are organized under the auspices of the JCC, providing food packages, medical care, and home care to the elderly. Part of the JCC houses a state-sponsored Jewish day school with over 250 students. A kindergarten opened in Tallinn in 2002. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has a special financial and programmatic relationship with the Baltic Jewish communities, including in Estonia, where it supports community development and welfare efforts.

The Jewish community publishes a newspaper, Hashakhar (“Dawn”), and broadcasts a monthly radio show, “Shalom Aleichem.” With the help of JDC, Estonia established a large Jewish library in 2000. In 2004, the first Jewish Culture festival “Ariel” was held. Coinciding with the celebration of Tu Bishvat, a new branch of the Adin Steinsaltz Institute for Judiasm Research opened in Tallinn in 2006. Events were dedicated to different aspects of Jewish culture, including book presentations, lectures, art and film events, radio programs and concerts. Survivor organizations are active in Estonia, namely the Former Ghetto Prisoners’ Association and the Union of Veterans of World War II.

The Progressive Movement under ARZA/World Union supports small congregations in Haapsalu, Narva, Pärnu, and Tallinn. Sunday schools function in Estonia’s smaller communities. The Jewish Community of Estonia is active in several regional and international Jewish organizations. It is an active member of the Baltic States Committee of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS. On a regional level, the community participates in the Baltic Jewish Forum, an advocacy and aid network active in the states bordering the Baltic Sea. The Jewish Community of Estonia is also a member of the World Jewish Congress, the European Jewish Congress, and the European Council of Jewish Communities. International organizations play an active role in Estonian Jewish life. The community receives support from JDC, the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the Baltic Jewish Forum, and other foundations. Representatives of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI/“Sochnut”) and the Israeli
Embassy (in Helsinki) are in regular contact with the community, and the Israeli government provides Hebrew teachers for the Jewish day school.

In December 2004, construction of Tallinn’s first new Synagogue to be built since the 19th century officially began in the Estonian capital, its $2 million cost funded by local and foreign donors, including a prominent Estonian-Russian Jewish entrepreneur and an American Jewish foundation. The 200-seat synagogue is next to a reconstructed JCC, which hosts a museum dedicated to the Jewish community in Estonia as well as a kosher restaurant. An official groundbreaking ceremony was held in September 2005 by then-Israeli President Moshe Katsav during his first official visit to Estonia. Katsav was joined by then-Estonian president Arnold Rüütel. Construction of the synagogue and JCC was completed in 2007, with official dedication ceremonies held in May. Tallinn’s last synagogue was destroyed during World War II.

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Holocaust and Memory

There is no official or institutionalized anti-Semitism in Estonia, and the Estonian government has committed itself to respond swiftly and thoroughly to reported incidents. Holocaust denial is not a crime in Estonia, although incitement to ethnic hatred is. No major anti-Semitic incidents have occurred in recent years. Most issues relating to anti-Semitism in Estonia reflect the country’s contentious World War II legacy and a historical perspective that differs significantly from the Western European, North American, or Russian outlook. Many Estonians continue to view their country’s successive wartime occupations by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as equally reprehensible, and do not see the 1944 return of the Red Army as a liberation; Estonians suffered relatively more under Soviet rule than under German occupation; some Estonians fought with German troops against the Red Army in an Estonian SS unit (which included, for some Estonian volunteers, participating in the Holocaust). As a result, many Estonians still see veterans who collaborated with the Germans against the Russians as patriots and freedom fighters, rather than as suspect collaborators and possible war criminals, as would be more likely in the former Allied countries. Russia’s government and public in particular have proven highly sensitive to what they see as attempts to rehabilitate allies of their war-time Nazi German enemy.

An example of this was an attempt in 2002 by veterans to erect a monument in the city of Pärnu that represented an Estonian soldier in a Waffen SS uniform. Following criticism, the SS insignia were removed from the statue, and later the monument was removed altogether. In 2006, Estonian veterans dedicated two new monuments to Dutch and Belgian members of the SS who had fought on Estonian territory against the Soviets. Regrettably, sentiments such as these have given Estonia the unhappy distinction of reputedly having one of the largest numbers of monuments to soldiers who fought on the side of Nazi Germany in the world.

In 1998, then-President Lennart Meri established Estonia’s International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against Humanity. At the time, Meri stressed that the aim of the commission was not to build cases against suspected Nazi war criminals and collaborators, but simply to clarify the historical record. Jewish organizations have raised concerns about implicit parallels between the Holocaust and the Soviet occupation of Estonia.

In 1999, Alfons Rebane, the commander of Estonia’s World War II-era SS division, was buried with honors in the national cemetery, sparking much controversy among Jewish and ethnic Russian groups within Estonia. In 2000, a public dispute arose with the Russian government after President Meri included 19 veterans of the wartime Estonian SS division among 168 anti-Soviet fighters to receive special decorations.

Estonia participated in the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets in 1998, as well as the Vilnius Forum on Holocaust-Era Looted Cultural Assets in 2000. In April 2004, an Estonian delegation participated in the OSCE Anti-Semitism Conference held in Berlin, led by the Minister of Population and Ethnic Affairs Paul-Eerik Rummo. Mr. Rummo also led an Estonian delegation to the conference on Anti-Semitism and Intolerance in Cordoba, Spain in June of 2005.

The government’s 2002 decision to officially commemorate the Holocaust initially sparked controversy and criticism among some ethnic Estonians when it declared January 27 to be Holocaust Memorial Day (the anniversary of the Soviet liberation of Auschwitz). The first observance in January 2003 was implemented primarily through the Estonian schools, incorporating the study of the Holocaust and the events of World War II. Although some initial reactions were quite negative, even among government officials, the first Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed successfully in Estonia.

In 2005, the Estonian Ministry of Education announced that certain elements of Judaism will be included in the curriculum taught at all of Estonia’s public schools.

On January 27, 2006, an event was held to commemorate victims of the Holocaust in Klooga, Estonia, site of a wartime massacre, as part of Estonia’s commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day. Estonian and local Jewish community leaders attended, including the Chief Rabbi of Estonia, Shmuel Kot (representing Chabad-Lubavitch) and other members of the Jewish community. In July 2005, the Estonian government unveiled a Holocaust memorial at the Klooga site.

The Estonian government continues to make strides toward reconciliation. In September 2002, while visiting Washington, then-Prime Minister Siim Kallas visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, gave a speech afterward on Capitol Hill, and met with representatives of American Jewish organizations.

Several minor anti-Semitic incidents were reported in 2006 in Estonia: a Holocaust-denial book was published by the mayor of a small town, who had published similar materials in the past; a Russian-born Israeli citizen was reportedly attacked by neo-Nazis in Tallinn, and subsequently complained of alleged police indifference to his report; and a Holocaust memorial near Tallinn was vandalized on Holocaust Memorial Day.

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U.S. Policy

The United States never recognized the incorporation of Estonia into the Soviet Union, and continued to recognize Estonia’s pre-war mission in the U.S. as a legal representative of the Republic of Estonia throughout the 1940-1991 period of Soviet occupation of Estonia. Since the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn on September 4, 1991, the United States and Estonia have maintained close and strong relations, particularly on matters of trade and defense. The U.S.-Baltic Charter, signed in 1998, strengthened multilateral ties among the United States, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Estonia is part of the Northern European Initiative (NEI), a U.S. program to encourage broad-based cooperation among the Baltic States, Poland, Russia, the EU, and Norway. In place since 1997, it has also committed the United States to bolstering trade and investment in the NEI countries. The United States is one of the largest direct investors in Estonia. Although U.S. imports to Estonia continue to be relatively small, Estonian imports to the United States surged in recent years, and the U.S. is now Estonia’s eighth largest export market.

In conjunction with the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, Estonia and the United States have signed an agreement to establish frameworks for the protection and preservation of cultural sites. The United States “graduated” Estonia and the other Baltic states from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment in December 1991, following the Soviet collapse, and subsequently granted the Baltics permanent normal trade relations.

Following September 11, 2001, Estonia declared its national support for the global war on terrorism. Estonia sent three mine-clearing dogs and a small delegation from the Estonian Rescue Board to aid U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, in addition to providing them unconditional overflight and landing rights. As a reward for Estonia’s help in the war on terror, the U.S. was instrumental in the decision to accept Estonia as a full member of NATO, taken during the 2002 NATO summit in Prague. Estonia officially joined the North Atlantic alliance on March 29, 2004.

In the spring 2003, the Estonian government proclaimed its support for U.S.-led military action in Iraq. Estonia is part of the “Vilnius 10," a group of Central and Eastern European countries that pledged support for the U.S. position. The Estonian government sent troops to Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq in fulfillment of a pledge to help provide security in the region after the war. Estonia currently has small numbers of its troops participating in coalition and peacekeeping activities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Bosnia, and has been a strong ally of the United States.

In May 2005, President Bush met with Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Estonia President Arnold Rüütel and Lithuania President Valdas Adamkus during his European trip commemorating the World War II victory over the Nazis. In November 2006, President Bush became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Estonia. Seven months later, in June 2007, President Ilves in turn visited the White House to discuss various issues of concern with President Bush.

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