Estonia - Political criteria

Short-term priorities:

• adoption of measures aimed at simplifying the naturalisation process and improving the integration of non-Estonian nationals, in particular stateless children;
• improving access to Estonian language teaching for non-Estonian speakers.

Assessment (October 1999)

Estonia has amended the law on citizenship with regard to stateless children. Steps have also been taken to assist the integration of non-Estonian speakers, but further efforts are needed. The current version of the language law represents a step backwards in the political integration of non-citizens. This priority has therefore been only partially achieved.

Assessment (November 2000)

Amendments have been made to the language law to bring it into line with the Europe Agreement. A programme of national integration for non-Estonians has been adopted.

Assessment (November 2001)

Estonia has continued to develop the programme of national integration.

Assessment (October 2002)

The independence and efficiency of the judiciary have continued to be strengthened. Court infrastructure and computerisation is improving, although citizens' access to justice is not. The new Code of Criminal Procedure must be adopted.

Assessment (November 2003)

Please refer to the fact sheets on the adoption of the Community acquis.

Medium-term priorities:

• continuing with the integration of non-citizens by improving training in Estonian for Russian speakers in primary and secondary schools and organising courses for adults;
• adoption of additional measures to speed up the process of naturalisation.

Assessment (October 1999)

Estonia has upheld its commitment to a policy of greater integration of non-citizens. Amendments have been made to the law on citizenship to allow citizenship to be granted to stateless children. Other steps have also been taken to enhance the learning of Estonian in schools.

Assessment (November 2000)

The implementation of the programme for the national integration of non-Estonians needs to be monitored.

Assessment (November 2001)

The programme contains measures which improve the teaching of Estonian to allophones.

Assessment (October 2002)

The integration of non-citizens is continuing through the implementation of the integration programme. Efforts must be made to ensure that the implementation of language legislation complies with international obligations and respects the principles of justified public interest and proportionality.

Assessment (November 2003)

Please refer to the fact sheets on the adoption of the Community acquis.

Following the signing of the Accession Treaty on 16 April 2003, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004.

REFERENCES

Decision 98/264/EC of 30.03.1998Official Journal L 121 of 23.04.1998

Decision 1999/855/EC of 6.12.1999Official Journal L 335 of 28.12.1999

Commission opinion COM(97)2006 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(98)705 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(1999)504 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(2000)704 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(2001)700 final - SEC(2001)1747/2Not published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(2002)700 final - SEC(2002)1403Not published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2003) 675 final - SEC(2003) 1201Not published in the Official Journal

Treaty of Accession to the European Union [Official Journal L 236, 23.09.2003]

Last updated: 19.11.2004