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Transitions to Good Governance – Estonia

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Transitions to Good Governance – Estonia Course Paper E 1091 – Prof. Alina Mungiu-Pippidi Transitions to Good Governance – Estonia Fall 2010 - Leonie Dirks Word Count: 2224 I. Country choice Estonia is widely described as one of the least corrupt countries among the EU member states that joined in 2004 and 2007. Compared to the region Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union in 2009, Estonia is the second least corrupt country, only outperformed by Slovenia.1 Between 1998 and 2008 Estonia’s scores in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and World Governance Indicator (WGI) Index (Control of Corruption Indicator) improved significantly. While the CPI score improved from 5.7 (1998) to 6.6 (2008), the WGI Control of corruption score improved from 0,59 (1998) to 0,96 (2008).2 Despite these findings, 82 % of Estonians think that corruption is a major problem in their country.3 This paper has the scope to trace the processes and mechanisms of change in corruption levels within Estonia and tries to identify the drivers of change. II. Estonia in the regional model Variable Regional Average Value of Estonia Relationship Proven? Voice and Accountability Political Participation 6.9 9.3 positive higher Internet Usage 27.9 63.4 positive higher Press Freedom4 47.5 16 positive lower Electoral Process and Pluralism 7.1 9.58 positive higher Political Stability Years in office 5.23 5 negative slightly lower Economic Development Freedom to Trade 7.1 8.05 positive higher Informal Economies 37.9 n/a negative - Government Effectiveness Regulation 6.72 7.35 positive higher Functioning of government 4.43 7.5 positive higher Rule of Law Independent Judiciary 0.5 1 positive higher Estonia is performing extremely well in the regional model, the group elaborated for the region Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union. In all variables used for the model, Estonia scores better than the region’s average. 1 See Annex 1. 2 CPI score ranges from 0-10, Score 10,0 would represent a totally corruption-free country, http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/previous_cpi/1998 and WGI score ranges from -2,5 to +2,5, higher values correspond to better governance outcomes, http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/mc_countries.asp 3 Eurobarometer 11/2009, EB72.2 Attitude of Europeans towards corruption; http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_325_fact_ee_en.pdf 4 Press freedom: the lower the score, the higher the freedom. III. Transition to good governance Explanatory note: This chart shows the percentile rank of Estonia on the Control of Corruption governance indicator. The percentile rank indicates the percentage of countries worldwide that rate below the selected country. The index covers 211 countries. Statistics show that Estonia made steady improvements in the World Banks Governance Indicator Control of Corruption between 1996 and 2005. Since 2002 Estonia remains in the “light green” area, indicating that 75- 90 percent of countries worldwide rate below Estonia. The biggest change can be observed between 1996 and 1998. Afterwards anticorruption efforts have obviously been pursued stringently, explaining the ongoing improvements until 2005. See Annex 2 for the graph on corruption and the development of pluralism. Politics The “Singing Revolution” brought an end to soviet occupation of Estonia in 1991, leading to the Estonian declaration of independence.5 Estonia is a stable parliamentary republic, with a multi-party system; elections have been free and fair since 1992.6 In contrast to many former Soviet Union countries, Estonia did not experience a return to power of the communist successor parties and managed to remove them from the political scene. Coalitions, lead by conservative politicians, seem to have taken anticorruption efforts more serious; most anticorruption legislation and initiatives have been developed under their rule.7 The first Prime Minister Mart Laar (1992-1995 and 1999-2002), leader of the conservative party Pro Patria, did heavily push the anticorruption agenda forward by developing an extensive anticorruption legislation as early as 1995, while his successor Tiit Vähi, part of the centre liberal Estonian Coalition Party (1995-1997), did not promote anticorruption policies at all. He had to resign in 1997, following allegations of corruption concerning an illegally obtained luxury apartment during privatization. Juhan Parts (Prime minister 2003-2005), founder of the conservative party Res Publica, brought the topic back to the political arena. He won elections in 2003 with his very popular anticorruption election platform. 8 Anticorruption policies were a priority of his administration; his government developed the first Estonian anticorruption strategy in 2004.9 5 Kaplan, Cynthia and Brady Henry: “The Emergence of Political Agendas: The Independence Movement in Estonia in 1985-1991”, in: Conference Papers - Midwestern Political Science Association; 2004 Annual Meeting. 6 Freedom House; “Europe”, in: http://www.freedomhouse.eu/images/fdh_galleries/NIT199495/estonia.pdf 7 See Annex 3. 8 Bågenholm, Andreas and Johansson Heinö, Andreas: “Incentives and Disincentives for New Parties - On the Success of Res Publica in the Estonian 2003 Parliamentary Elections”, August 2008, in: http://uit.no/getfile.php?PageId=1410&FileId=1345 9 Estonian Ministry of Justice: Anti-corruption Strategy 2004: “An Honest State”, http://www.just.ee/orb.aw/class=file/action=preview/id=32336/AN%2BHONESTSTATE.pdf Anticorruption legislation and Initiatives Estonia introduced extensive anticorruption legislation very soon after it regained independence in 1991. In 1995, it adopted the Anticorruption Act (amended in 1999), which contains a clear definition of corruption and provides a legal base for corruption prevention measures. In addition, it indicates a broad list of public offices holders, who might be held liable for corruption cases and requires public officials to declare their financial assets and adhere to restrictions on private sector employment.10 Furthermore, Estonians included the concept of corruption and possible sentences in the Penal Code as early as 1995 and thereby laid the foundation for the actual prosecution of corruption cases. In 2004, the Estonian parliament adopted the first national anticorruption strategy called “Honest State”, which sets out specific steps aimed at reducing the risk of corruption, the respective responsible ministry/agency and a date for the measure to be implemented.11 The ambitious strategy has been replaced in 2008, by an even more detailed anticorruption strategy (valid until 2012).12 Estonia has signed and ratified the Council of Europe’s Civil Law Convention on Corruption, the Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and the OECD Anti-bribery Convention. It takes part in the Council of Europe's Agreement Establishing the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO), the Baltic Anticorruption Initiative (BACI) and the Anticorruption Network hosted by the OECD; is however still lacking the ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Institutions Estonia has - in contrast to many states in the region- no single institution responsible for the fight against corruption, but is pursuing a multiagency approach. Anticorruption laws are implemented primarily by members of the security police (operating as an independent board within the Ministry of Internal Affairs) and regular police forces at the investigative stages and by the regular court system once cases go to trial.13 Corruption Cases Estonia has been confronted with quite a few corruption cases, concerning high level politicians. Prominent cases include Tiit Vähi (former Prime Minister), Tonia Palts (former Minister of finance), Tiit Tammsaar (former Minister for Agriculture), Villu Reiljan (former Minister of Environment) and Siim Kallas (former President Bank of Estonia).14 What distinguishes Estonia from other countries in the region is that the existing anticorruption laws are actually implemented and enforced. Media reported extensively about these corruption cases, independent judges investigated the cases and public pressure lead to the fact, that all of them resigned due to the accusations. Estonian citizens are not tolerating corruption as part of their norms. Government Transparency Estonia is one of the countries offering extensive access to information about legislation and government policies. The right to access information held by Estonian authorities is a constitutional right and in 2000 the government issued a law declaring even internet access as a fundamental human right of its citizens.15 The Public Information Act (2000) indicates a broad list of institutions and individuals that have to provide 10 Anticorruption Act, Estonia 1999, http://www.legaltext.ee/text/en/X30032K5.htm 11 Estonian Government’s Anti-corruption Strategy 2004: “An Honest State”, http://www.just.ee/orb.aw/class=file/action=preview/id=32336/AN%2BHONESTSTATE.pdf 12 Estonia’s Anti-corruption Strategy 2008-2012, http://www.just.ee/orb.aw/class=file/action=preview/id=35712/ANTI+CORRUPTION+STRATEGY+2008-2012.pdf 13 Freedom House, Nations in Transit 2002 – Country Report Estonia 14 Freedom House, Nations in Transit – Country Report Estonia 1999-2010 15 Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, http://www.legaltext.ee/text/en/X0000K1.htm information on legitimate request of citizens, thereby strengthening citizen’s rights and government’s transparency.16 Civil Society The development of Estonian anticorruption efforts has been strongly supported
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