Estonia: United electoral bloc pushes bilingualism

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From the Baltic Times, 04.09.2005

1. United electoral bloc pushes bilingualism

By TBT staff

According to the draft, the City of Tallinn must communicate with
Russian-speakers in their native language as according to Article 51 of
the Constitution. The electoral bloc is also applying for the preservation
of Russian-medium secondary education after 2007. Project authors agree
that some subjects should be taught in Estonian in Russian schools, as
long as respective preparations are guaranteed and the board of trustees
has given its consent.

Tallinn, for its part, must ensure professional Estonian teaching in
Russian-medium schools. The draft consists of 15 points, including a
proposal to stop the privatization of municipal cultural institutions. The
Linnahall Concert Hall, the Salme Cultural Center, the Botanical Garden
and the Russian Cultural Center are quoted as examples.

The council consists of representatives from the Estonian United Peoples
Party, the Russian Party in Estonia, the Left Party and several other
public organizations. During their Aug. 2 meeting, the council decided to
publish the draft for public discussion. The ticket of the electoral bloc
should be drawn up by the middle of this month.

Estonian United Peoples Party deputy chairman Anatoli Yegorov told the
Baltic News Service that ideally, the ticket could be composed of 123
people. He said about 80 of them could be members of Estonian United
Peoples Party and about 40 could come from the Left Party. Yegorov said
that the Russian Party could be represented by members of the Lasnamae
chapter.

2. Estonian MEP fights for national press officer

By TBT staff

My mother tongue is the only official language of the European Union in
which the European Parliament has stopped writing news and drawing up
reviews of plenary sessions at the moment, Marianne Mikko said before a
full house at the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg on May 12. The
Estonian press is only represented by one permanent correspondent in
Brussels. Therefore, scarcity of information is doubly poor in the
European Parliament and must be solved immediately, Mikko said.

http://www.baltictimes.com/hot1.php?art_id=13503