This project is co-funded by the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Union D3.3.3 Process-tracing case study report on Estonia Author: Valts Kalniņš Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS 28 May 2015 KEYWORDS Corruption, Anti-Corruption, Particularism, Reforms, Universalism, Estonia Valts Kalniņš Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS (
[email protected]) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ © 2015 GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies. Acronyms CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union ECP Estonian Communist Party ESSR Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic EU-FS European Union – former Soviet MEP Member of the European Parliament MP Member of Parliament NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Introduction By a number of measures, Estonia is the most successful country of the former Soviet area, although its level of wealth lags behind Western European countries. Estonia was forcefully incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 and regained its independence in 1991. In 2004, the country acceded to NATO and the European Union. In 2011, it introduced the Euro. Estonia is still relatively poor compared to the average level in the European Union. The country’s GDP per capita was EUR 14,200 in 2013 (EUR 26,600 for the EU 28) (Eurostat 2014a). Estonia’s population was 1.3 million in 2014 and it is one of the smallest populations among the countries of the EU (Eurostat 2014b). Ethnic Estonians made up approximately 70% of the population in 2011 (Statistikaamet 2014: 54). The majority of the rest of the population are Russian speakers, many of whom are Soviet-era immigrants or their descendants.