Latvia Strives To Spur Info Sharing

How a promising Lithuanian diplomat and
journalist from prominent kin found himself in
the margins of life. Fringe views are to blame.
The Baltics’ independent news source since 1992 l www.baltictimes.com l September 8, 2016 – September 21, 2016 Vol.
PAGE 4
20 #886
Latvia Strives To Spur Info Sharing-Cautious Startups To Talk
REAL ESTATE
Latvia leads pack
Page 5
BUSINESS
Hopes hinged on youth
Page 6
CROWDFUNDING
Going after NYC dream
Page 8
REMEMBRANCE
Memories won’t blur
Page 9 & 16
photo : TechHubRiga
EU’s tax ruling
against Apple
may help
Lithuania attract
more investors
The Latvian Startup Association was established in February by over 50 startup enthusiasts and organisations with the overall goal of developing the local startup ecosystem.
BNS/TBT Staff
Doireann Mc Dermott
The European Commission’s ruling that the US
technology giant Apple must
pay a record 13 billion euros
in back taxes in Ireland may
have indirect effects for Lithuania, which is striving to attract as much investment as
possible.
On one hand, Brussels’
decision may curb countries
with foreign investor-friendly tax systems and prompt
investors to turn their sights
toward other EU member
states, including Lithuania.
On the other hand, a
breakthrough is unlikely,
given that the Lithuanian
State Tax Inspectorate (VMI)
is rather conservative in its
interpretation of agreements
with investors on tax breaks
and that it strictly adheres to
laws and grants no privileges
or exemptions to individual
companies.
Mantas Katinas, managing director at Invest Lithuania, the government’s foreign
investment promotion agency, notes that Lithuania’s
tax system is not listed as a
competitive advantage of the
country.
“Based on the World Competitiveness Index 2015-2016,
Lithuania ranks as low as
91st out of 140 countries in
Page 2 u
EE: €1.60 LV: €1.42 LT: €1.59
Riga’s innovative spirit
is clearly in the air, with an
increasing amount of aspirational entrepreneurs having
the dream of creating a miniSilicon Valley here in the
Baltics. Riga’s entrepreneurs
want to put Latvia on the
global map as a tech hub and
keep its talents in the country. An increasing number of
highly-skilled and creative
workers are leaving their
mundane corporate jobs with
little career growth for a more
risky, but potentially more
rewarding, path of starting
their own business. Estonia
is already the leader of the
Baltic trio, with 420 startups
compared with 240 in Latvia
and 220 in Lithuania.
Association’s ambitious
goal
The Latvian Startup Association was established in
February by over 50 startup
enthusiasts and organisations with the overall goal of
developing the local startup
ecosystem. Startin.LV has set
a 2020 deadline to double the
number of startups in the
country.
Jekaterina Novicka, head
of the Board of Latvian
Startup Association, says its
members and governmental
state stakeholders have developed an action plan with
a special startup tax regime,
startup visa, development of
talent policy attraction, and
events. The aim is to form
new teams and conferences
to build awareness of the Latvian startup ecosystem in the
global scene.
The Latvian Startup Association will monitor this
environment and encourage
other counterparts to follow
one strategy to achieve this
common goal.
Novicka says: “New acceleration and VC funds will be
available starting from 2017
in Latvia with a total amount
of money in the market of 60
million euros.”
Latvia’s first Hackaton
Startin.LV will hold its
first Latvian startup hackathon event from Nov. 11 to
13 focusing on the themes of
Fintech & Insurtech.
The “Startup Slalom”
hackathon in Riga is the perfect place for startup founders
to find the brightest talent for
their team, or for those hoping to get involved in a local
startup.
Arturs Burnins, CEO and
founder of qfer.me and member of the Latvian Startup Association, says from his own
experience that Riga offers
many benefits that are crucial for an early-stage startup. He says: “With the same
budget you have more time
to deliver the product and get
product/market fit. Another
major benefit is the availability of young but talented
developers, who are ready to
join your team if you have
an interesting product and
global ambitions. We already
see positive changes with the
Page 3 u
Estonian Health minister: More money will solve healthcare funding problems
BNS/TBT Staff
The only way to solve the
budget problems of the Estonian Health Insurance Fund
is to find in co-operation additional money, Minister of
Health and Labour Jevgeni
Ossinovski said in reply to Finance Minister Sven Sester’s
demand to eliminate the deficit of the fund.
The performance of the
Health Insurance Fund in
the first half of the year was
indeed considerably weaker
than anticipated, the minister
admitted, and the supervisory board now wants to adjust
the four-year budget position
of the fund, but he added that
the accumulated retained
earnings would ensure the
fund could cope financially
during that period.
“The Health Insurance
Fund must base its activity on
the key objectives of health
insurance and the volume of
outlays has to be estimated on
this basis. Consequently, the
Health Insurance Fund cannot be made responsible for
the state budget, including
the structural fiscal position
of the government sector,”
said the minister, who also
chairs the junior coalition
partner Social Democratic
Party (SDE).
The general demographic situation, the fall in the
number of working insured
individuals, and an increase
in the number of individuals
receiving specialised medical care all indicate that Es-
tonia’s population is ageing,
which increases the sickness
burden and need of healthcare services, Ossinovski
said.
The present situation only
confirms that fundamental
decisions are required with
regard to long-term sustainability of healthcare funding,
Ossinovski said.
Finance Minister Sven
Sester last week sent Ossinovski a letter demanding that
he promptly come up with
proposals for how to restore
the balance of the budget of
the Health Insurance Fund,
as the fund’s growing deficit
is in conflict with the fiscal
strategy and may jeopardise
the state’s finances.
“On your proposal, the su-
pervisory board of the Health
Insurance Fund adopted decisions on Aug. 19 as a result of
which the shortfall in the budget of the Health Insurance
Fund will grow by 10.8 million euros in 2017 compared
with the budget, to 12.1 million euros, and may hit 15.7
million euros by 2020,” Sester said in the letter, adding
that as minister of finance
he was against that decision.
“Please note that the decision
to this effect was made running counter to the 2016 State
Budget Act as well as the government’s budget strategy for
2017-2020,” he said.
While the government has
decided to give the Health Insurance Fund money for additional expenses, it did so pre- Page 2 u
2
u
BALTIC news
(Continued from page 1) EU’s tax ruling against Apple may help
Lithuania attract more investors
the total tax rate and is in
83rd place in effect of taxation on incentives to invest,”
Katinas said.
“Thus, speaking about the
effects of the European Commission’s penalty against
Apple for Lithuania in competing with Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and
others, we may say that this
decision evens out competitive conditions among all European nations,” he said.
Kestutis Lisauskas, a partner with Ernst &Young and
the head of the tax group at
the Investors’ Forum, agrees
with this opinion.
“It may be good for us that
the European Commission
sanctions such unfair players
as Ireland. Perhaps we will
become more attractive as a
country that has not yet come
under the wrath of the European Commission and will
catch the eye of those investors who have not looked at us
so far,” he told BNS.
According to Lisauskas,
the best-known case of state
aid and exceptional treatment
in Lithuania was that granted
to the US company Williams
International during its ac-
quisition of the country’s sole
crude refinery, which was
then called Mazeikiu Nafta.
No significant concessions
have since been made to other
investors in Lithuania.
“Barclays, Western Union,
and other services centres
were granted state aid, but
that was done not through
exclusive tax breaks, but
through one-off grants within permissible state aid limits,” he noted.
Dainoras
Bradauskas,
head of the State Tax Inspectorate, says that Lithuania
currently has no agreements
with a major foreign investor on different tax rates, but
adds that the government
could hold talks if such an investor emerged.
“I believe that if there
were a very large investor
that would change Lithuania’s tax revenue structure,
then we could sit down to the
negotiating table. However,
the principles of equal competition and fairness would
have to be followed,” Bradauskas said. “I don’t see any such
players coming to the Lithuanian market, at least for now.”
(Continued from page 1)Estonian Health minister: More money
will solve healthcare funding problems
suming that the fund would
stick to the levels of spending
set out in its budget and the
additional money would help
it to gradually leave the deficit behind, the finance minister said.
“Please note that the decision to increase the deficit of the Health Insurance
Fund was made in a situation
where the available funds of
the Health Insurance Fund in
the first half of 2016 had increased by 12.6 million euros
compared with the approved
budget,” Sester, member of
Pro Patria and Res Publica
Union (IRL), said in his letter
to the Social Democrat minis-
ter of health and labour.
The supervisory board of
the Health Insurance Fund
decided at its meeting last
month to keep the volume
of healthcare services in the
next four years at the present
level and proposed to the government to adjust the financial position of the fund.
Revenue of the fund increased 7 per cent to 510.9
million euros in the first six
months of the year, while operating costs grew 11 per cent
to 543.8 million euros, making for a deficit of almost 33
million euros, which is 14.5
million euros bigger than projected.
Latvia prepared to discuss sea border with Lithuania
BNS/TBT Staff
Latvia is ready to continue talks with Lithuania
on the maritime border, the
country’s Foreign Ministry
has said.
Lithuania and Latvia
have failed to legitimise their
mutual maritime border for
a quarter of a century now.
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
The Latvian parliament has
not yet ratified a maritime
border agreement with Lithuania that was signed more
than a decade ago.
It is thought that the Latvians are stalling the process because of oil deposits
believed to be present in the
Baltic Sea area.
Out of 23 refugees admitted
to Latvia 21 left for Germany
BNS/TBT Staff
Of 23 asylum-seekers who
have been relocated to Latvia as part of the European
Union’s refugee relocation
programme, 21 individuals
have moved to Germany, Latvian Television has learned.
For example, a Syrian
mother of three, who at the
end of July said she planned
to remain in Latvia and had
already learned some Latvian, informed the TV station
that she had left Latvia as the
mentor offered by the state
was unable to help her family work out various practical
day-to-day problems. Eventually she requested rent money
from her brother who lives in
Germany, but at the end of
last month, the family opted
to move there.
Only the father has stayed
in Latvia, where he is employed by the asylum centre
Mucenieki as an interpreter.
He told the station that he was
not surprised by the news, as
it was nearly impossible for
a refugee to settle in Latvia.
The man stated that he — although it is not his job — has
tried to help mentors communicate with asylum-seekers
arriving in Mucenieki, but
stopped when it became apparent to him that the mentors were uninterested. The
man also remarked that the
mentors have practically no
resources with which to aid
refugees.
Official institutions maintain that they have no information about refugees departing Latvia. The Citizenship and Migration Affairs
Office informed BNS that, by
law, asylum-seekers who are
granted refugee status or an
alternative status do not have
to tell the authorities if they
plan to leave Latvia. They, just
as any other resident of Latvia, have the right to travel to
any European nation.
The Welfare Ministry and
Latvian Red Cross, which offer mentoring services to asylum-seekers, also disclosed
to BNS that they had no information regarding asylumseekers who have left Latvia.
Currently,
individuals
who have received asylum
in Latvia receive monthly
benefits of 139 euros, plus 39
euros for each additional family member. Those who have
been granted refugee status
are paid the benefit for one
year, and those who have received the alternative status
are paid for nine months.
The Citizenship and Migration Affairs Office has
also remarked that it has no
reason to discontinue paying benefits, even if a given
individual is not at the Mucenieki centre any longer. Benefits may only be stopped if
the person dies, earns a wage
higher than the minimum
monthly wage, or has gotten a
prison sentence for a criminal
offense.
As reported, Latvia has
admitted 69 asylum-seekers
under the EU refugee relocation system. The first group
of asylum-seekers was transferred to Latvia in early Feb.
2016.
The Citizenship and Migration Affairs Office has so
far granted refugee status
and alternative protection to
23 people.
The Latvian government
during one of its nearest
meetings will revise the current situation and latest reports in relation to the refugees admitted in Latvia under
the relocation programme,
Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis (Greens/Farmers) told
the press after the coalition
parties meeting on Monday,
Sept. 5.
The prime minister said
that the fact that the refugees
admitted to Latvia under the
EU refugee relocation programme choose to move to
countries with more attractive benefits system is not
unexpected. It is also one of
the reasons Latvia is behind
in meeting its refugee quotas.
Kucinskis admitted that
there are some problems that
refugees face during the admission process, for example,
advance payments needed to
rent an apartment, problems
with jobs, etc.
“We will not be a totalitarian country to build a wall and
stop everybody (from leaving
the country),” Kucinskis said.
Gaidis Berzins, the cochairman of the National
Alliance reminded that the
National Alliance had been
against admission of refugees, but now the Interior
Ministry chaired by the National Alliance is responsible
for the admission process.
Berzins said that Latvia
should immediately stop payment of social benefits to
those refugees who have left
the country.
The Unity’s deputy chairman Edvards Smiltens said
that the EU borders are open
and people are free to move.
He said though that state institutions should be informed
about people who have left the
country. According to Smiltens, this situation points to
integration problems that are
the responsibility of the Culture Ministry.
Latvia has committed to
taking in 531 asylum-seekers
in two years. While most of
them will be relocated from
EU member states Greece and
Italy, 50 people have to be relocated from third countries,
most likely Turkey.
Abeyance does no good
to anyone
Linas Jegelevicius
The Baltic Times
editor-in-chief
[email protected]
Summer is over and all are
back to their usual business. That
is how tersely the mood in three Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and
Estonia can be summed up.
With the pretty wet summer
gone, the harvest is expected to be
worse this year, but, politically, the
autumn has brought an exciting
political season.
Although off to a sluggish
start, Lithuania is hastingly gearing up for the parliamentary
election on Oct. 9 and Estonians
won’t know the name of their new
president until Sept. 24 when the
347-strong Electoral College consisting of the Estonian MPs and local
council representatives will head
to the ballot booths. Two rounds
of voting have not produced a new
head-of-state.
Ironically, speaking of the Baltics, neither the elections, nor Rio
Olympics, nor anything else you’d
think of has been so much heeded
by the region as the US presidential
race, and, specifically, the Republican nominee Donald Trump’s
White House spotlight.
Following Trump’s dubious
comment to The New York Times
on NATO’s defence of the Baltics,
US Vice President Joe Biden himself rushed to Riga last month to
placate the cheesed off region.
Not surprisingly, the topic of
the US election — and Trump —
prevails in commentary sections
throughout the Baltic media pages.
“We are living in troubling
times, so these elections have an
added significance,” wraps it up
best Kestutis Girnius, The Baltic
Times’ columnist of American descent, in the commentary section on
page 15.
In an echoing statement, Jacek
Rostowski, Poland’s former finance
minister and deputy prime minister, puts it bluntly: “A Donald
Trump presidency would be a catastrophe for NATO and the West.”
There’s a line, as a matter of
fact, of those willing to whip the US
business tycoon!
C’mon, Donald, stop spewing
animosity and enmity, otherwise
you risk alienating three tiny but
vociferous allies of the West.
As the Baltics hold an incessant grudge against Russia (the
historical grievances will hardly
blur ever), the region, I bet, would
wholeheartedly embrace Trump
if he ever made it here as a NYC
business mogul, not a White House
wannabe.
Just imagine Donald meeting all the Baltic startups’ CEOs
in Tallinn, Riga, or Vilnius and
throwing a trove of business tips
to all the young local entrepreneurs
glued to Trump’s charisma.
Unfortunately, Trump as a
White House candidate is wedging
splinters and distrust.
Abeyance is what we want least
in our lives, and in politics, too.
Whatever you do, I wish you to
have fewer nagging questions and
a lot more rock-solid answers.
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
u (Continued from page 1)
3
baltic news
Latvia strives to spur info sharing-cautious startups to talk
tion is crucial, revealing that
“Americans can market a bad
product very loudly and it can
go very far, and after feedback
it gets tweaked and then customers want to use it. Sometimes Latvians want to build
a product they think people
will use and it turns out that
they don’t need it. We need to
talk about products at an early stage before building it. 95
per cent is the execution and
future implementation of
‘startup tax’ and adaption of
immigration rules for professionals.”
Challenges
startups
for
new
It takes discipline, motivation, and courage to leave
your stable-salary job to focus
on your own business or join
a friend’s team.
The American dream of
Silicon Valley success is a
tempting one, with many
startups hoping to take their
startup to the next level in
the United States. Burnins is
a strong advocate of Riga as
a good place for early growth,
as it offers low cost of living
and plenty of talent, however,
he also spoke of the lack of
venture capital funds and
business angels as two of the
major obstacles.
“For a young startup it
would be hard to raise funding here; valuations usually
are also lower than in the UK,
Germany, or Scandinavia.
Not being in the big startup
hub with good access to investors and potential partners is
always an obstacle for most
startups and for us in particular.”
Burnins works with restaurant chains and usually
their head offices are located
not Riga; this means it takes
more time for him to establish
partnerships. Qfer is already
operating in Latvia, Lithuania, and Cyprus. He plans to
take the company to the next
step this year by launching it
in the bigger market.
Female startups
As part of its plan to double the number of startups by
2020, Riga’s startup community is on a mission to bring
more women into the sector.
RigaTechGirls is one local
organisation that is focused
“The American
dream of Silicon
Valley success
is a tempting
one, with many
startups hoping
to take their
startup to the
next level in the
United States.
Burnins is a
strong advocate
of Riga as a good
place for early
growth, as it
offers low cost
of living and
plenty of talent,
however, he also
spoke of the
lack of venture
capital funds
and business
angels as two
of the major
obstacles.”
on inspiring and educating
women about technology.
Egita Polanska, Managing Director at Startup Wise
Guys Riga, believes Riga is a
great place for female entrepreneurs, stating that “people
value more what you are doing, not what gender you are
… There are a couple amazing local women startups in
Riga — i.e. Froont, Cheeks
Up, Sorry as a Service, Vividly, inSelly, and many more.
I deeply admire women like
Anna Andersone, Alise Semjonova, Gunita Kulikovska,
and others.”
Communication is the
key to success
The startup community
in Riga is working hard to
promote engagement and
social interaction with numerous events each month
for both the experienced and
newbies in the sector. It is
also using social media to put
Latvia on the map globally to
promote itself with #startinLatvia. TechHub Riga, a coworking space and global
community for technology
entrepreneurs and startups,
encourages communication
and collaboration. TechHub
Riga launched its new office
space on Friday, Sept. 3. Some
of Riga’s most innovative and
creative talent attended the
event, which also celebrated
the launch of TechHub’s
neighbour kim?, the Contemporary Art Centre’s new exhibition space.
Davis Suneps, managing
director at TechHub Riga,
shared some of his own experiences.
“People are fed up with
working for corporations,
they know they can solve
problems by themselves, and
have gained enough experience and money. They are fed
up with the bureaucracy of
those corporations.”
He recommends aspiring startup founders to think
globally from day one. Over
a year ago, he started a web
app with his friend who is
a developer/designer. They
were working on a sharing
economy project, but quickly
realised that the market size
is not big enough. He believes
one of the most important aspects of TechHub is the focus
on nurturing the exchange of
information.
He admits that Latvians
don’t like to talk as much as
Westerners and this can be
one major obstacle during the
very early stages of a startup.
The layout of TechHub’s new
offices on Sporta iela 2 is designed to encourage social interaction with its big kitchen
and table tennis room where
startups can take breaks
and share their experiences.
Suneps believes communica-
“Over 1,000
technology
and startup
entrepreneurs,
policymakers,
experts, and
investors
will gather
in Riga from
Nov. 28 to 29
for the Digital
Freedom
Festival
(DFF).”
not the idea.”
Over 1,000 technology
and startup entrepreneurs,
policymakers, experts, and
investors will gather in Riga
from Nov. 28 to 29 for the Digital Freedom Festival (DFF).
Startups will have the opportunity to speed date with investors, pitch their ideas, and
showcase their products.
Estonian Krediidipank faced with new US sanctions denies ill effects
BNS/TBT Staff
The Estonian-registered
Krediidipank has been added
to the list of businesses affected by expanded US sanctions
against businesses connected
with Russia.
Russia’s BM-Bank PJSC
owns almost 60 per cent of
Krediidipank’s shares. Nordea Bank Finland plc, the
Luxembourg-registered Saratoga Finance SPF S.A., and
the British Virgin Islandsregistered East European
Capital Investment Ltd own
approximately 10 per cent
each, and almost 5 per cent
belong to both the Austrianregistered Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Estoniaregistered Radio Elektroniks
OU.
The United States announced on Thursday, Sept.
1 further sanctions against
Russia
over
supporting
Ukrainian separatists and annexation of Crimea.
The expanded sanctions
target Bank Rossiya branch
CJSC ABR Management, often called the personal bank
of President Vladimir Putin,
and large construction companies PJSC Mostotrest and
SGM Most. Added to the list
were also 17 Ukrainian separatists of whom 11 are members of the Crimean government installed by Russia after
the unlawful annexation of
the peninsula in 2014. The expanded list further
includes Russian companies
operating in Crimea, among
them large shipbuilding firms
and defense contractors.
The US Treasury said the
aim of the measure was to
prevent attempts to evade existing US sanctions on Russia.
But the Estonian Krediidipank said the new US
sanctions will not affect its
customers’ settlements or
its day-to-day activity as the
bank does not intend to issue
bonds for US investors.
“Settlements of Krediidipank’s clients or the bank’s
daily activity are not impacted by US sanctions. Krediidipank has not issued and does
not plan to issue bonds targeting US investors,” the bank’s
communications
manager
Allan Soon said in a press release.
“Although US sanctions
covered all BM Bank subsidiaries already under an
earlier directive, the US authorities apparently deemed
it necessary to list sanctioned
banks’ more than 50 per cent
holdings in foreign banks by
name so it would be easier for
US companies and individuals to follow the implementation of the sanctions,” he emphasised.
Profit of Estonian business sector down 6 per cent in Q2
BNS/TBT Staff
The total profit of the Estonian business sector in the
second quarter of 2016 was
671 million euros, 6 per cent
smaller than in the same period of last year, Statistics Estonia said on Friday, Sept. 2.
Compared to the second
quarter of 2015, total profit
decreased in most economic
activities. The biggest contributors to growth in total
profit were trade and infor-
mation and communication
enterprises. The growth in
the profit of the business sector was negatively influenced
mostly by manufacturing and
transport and storage enterprises.
In the second quarter
businesses sold goods and
services for 12.6 billion euros,
1 per cent more than during
the same period a year ago.
The turnover of trade enterprises, which account for
the biggest part of the total
turnover of the business sector, increased 2 per cent, influenced mostly by a decrease
in the turnover of wholesale
trade. At the same time, the
turnover of retail and motor
trade continued to grow. The
turnover of manufacturing
enterprises grew 3 per cent.
Compared to the same period a year ago, the total costs
of enterprises increased 2
per cent, including a 6 per
cent jump in personnel expenses. The number of indi-
viduals employed as well as
the number of hours worked
increased 4 per cent. The
labour productivity of the
business sector on the basis
of value added amounted to
an average of 5,400 euros per
person employed per quarter,
remaining on the level of the
previous year.
The investment activity of
enterprises continues to be
low. In the second quarter enterprises invested 496 million
euros, 5 per cent less than in
the same period the year before. The investments were
made mostly in machinery
and equipment and buildings.
The biggest investors were
manufacturing, trade, transport, and storage enterprises,
which accounted for around a
half of the total investments
of all enterprises. Compared
to the second quarter of 2015,
investments in transport
equipment and computer systems increased, while other
investments fell.
4
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
q&a
Defiant upstart from prominent Lithuanian kin
He had a promising diplomatic career, which, with
the boost of the prominence
of his kin (his father is a former member of the European
Parliament and grandfather
was one of the key though
controversially-seen figures
in the changeover of political
formations back in the 1940s
-L.J.) could have taken off far.
But now Algirdas Paleckis, 45,
former chairman of right-left
Lithuania’s Socialist People’s
Front (SLF), which Lithuanian intelligence named as
serving Kremlin’s interests
and, therefore, a threat to national security, is left with little but a trust in God and himself. This defiant man agreed
to take The Baltic Times’
questions.
The interview, like all
your public appearances, in
media or in a public gathering, is likely to be followed
up by Lithuanian intelligence in whose focus you
are. How does life under
the lens feel?
It is not a big deal, after
all. It used to be when I was
a bit younger, but not now. If
you do what you believe in
and, most importantly, if you
remember that God is watching you and that it is Him
who will judge you in the end,
then it is all right. Moreover,
my supporters and I do not
break any Lithuanian law or
the Constitution.
Can you provide any
evidence that your emails
have been hacked or phone
conversations have been
wiretapped by local security services?
Why should I? But, if you
ask that, I can say that in my
political career I did notice
signs of my being an object
of specific attention. But,
you know, if Angela Merkel’s
phone conversations have
been wiretapped, why should
I complain? (Laughs)
How trying is such a life
for your wife and children?
What keeps you together?
Love, which is the strongest force. Nothing more. It
is trying, but, believe me, living under the poverty line as
many families do in Lithuania is even more trying,
so, again, why should I complain?
Can you elaborate on
your relation with your
father, a prominent Lithuanian diplomat and former
MEP? He told me once in
Brussels your relations had
been quite rocky…
They had. But not so anymore. I think it is normal that
we agree on some points and
differ on others. Isn’t it the
case in other families? Ours
is just a bit more known, and
that’s it.
Most importantly, how
do you manage to make
your ends meet when no
employer, I reckon, would
risk giving you a job?
politicians, of European civil
servants working in Brussels,
and then compare them with
their own.
By asking this question
you basically admit that we
have a kind of McCarthyism in Lithuania, that is, the
direct or indirect governpolitical pressure on a person
that is in opposition, creating
material conditions unsupportable to that person. And
in a way, you are right. Fortunately, I do have friends in
small business who value my
journalistic and analytical
skills and who offer me that
type of job.
As much as it may hurt
you, let me remind you that
you have drawn fire — and
criminal conviction — with
the allegations that our
own people (Lithuanians)
were shooting at the defenders of the Vilnius TV
Tower during the bloody
Jan. 13, 1991, events when
the records say the Soviet
paratroopers shed blood of
the innocent people there.
Do you have any regrets
over the claims that cost
you a lot?
“As I do analyse
European
societies, I see
that the political
class is not
prepared for huge
challenges ahead.
Look into the
huge and rising
social exclusion
in Europe. Look
into the spread of
Islamist terror.
Look into the
millions of new
refugees who
are of different
mentalities
compared to the
European one.”
Article 170, point 2, of the
Penal Code basically provides
that in case you state an opinion different from the official
one (regarding the events of
1991), you risk getting a fine
or imprisonment of up to two
years. I can only regret this
degradation in the field of
freedom of speech. As long as
it persists, we shall not have
a complete picture of these
events.
If you were to go back in
time, is there anything that
you would like to change?
What would it be?
If you mean the start of
my political career in 2003
and the time since, and suppose I had a time machine,
well, I would be more patient.
Simple as that. It is a general
rule in life, alas: when you
are young, you want social
changes you believe in to happen promptly. But you cannot
accelerate history. I like this
thought expressed by some
philosopher: in history so
many different actors with
such different interests do
interact that in the end of the
photo : Algirdas Paleckis’ personal archive
Linas Jegelevicius
Algirdas Paleckis: “Let God judge all at the end.”
day no one is satisfied with
the result which is unexpected to everyone.
You’ve long headed Lithuania’s Socialist people’s
Front (SLF). Why do you
believe the party failed to
gather support in the masses?
Each party, in order to
be effective, must have for
elements: an idea, a team,
a leader, and finances. If it
lacks at least one of them, it
fails. An idea, we had it — social solidarity. It as an idea
you cannot kill, it is as old as
the world and as young and
charming as a sunny morning in spring. A team, that
was more difficult. True politics is a mission, a true politician is a missionary who fails
if he does not make a life-long
commitment of serving his
people, not his family or his
own pocket. A leader, that
was me, and let others judge
me. I am a human and everything human is applicable to
me. Finances, we had very
little, compared to the parliamentary parties that get state
subsidies.
What was the biggest
lesson, or lessons, you
made from the political engagement?
My lesson is the following:
the decisive factor in politics
is a strong team truly committed to a noble cause.
Why did you quit chairing the SLF? Do you remain
in its ranks?
No, I don’t. For the reasons
I’ve just mentioned.
Western Social democratic parties’ base voters are usually blue collar
workers, youth, and minorities. How different do
you find Lithuania’s Social
Democratic party (LSDP)?
Is it good or bad?
It is hard to compare the
Western and Eastern Europe
due to a different history and
geopolitics. In a nutshell, the
core structure of LSDP is an
organisation inherited from
the old communist party and
“komjaunimas” (communist
party’s youth branch). Quite
naturally, it was and is more
experienced in running the
state than the newcomers
(right-wing parties) who were
dilettantes in politics and administration. The problem
was and is that they, I mean
current social democrats,
give little attention to ideology and much more to pure
management. So their base
voters quite naturally are civil servants and middle-rank
managers, and that is proven
by opinion surveys. Poor people, who are many in Lithuania, do not vote for LSDP
anymore. They voted once
for it in 1992 in hopes that it
would stop the march of wild
capitalism but they were soon
disappointed. Young people
rather vote for right-wingers.
Is it good? No, because a huge
part of Lithuanian people, I
mean poor people, are not represented in the Parliament.
What do you dislike
about the Lithuanian political system? Could you
name its three biggest
shortcomings?
I do dislike precisely what
I’ve just described, namely
the system that is disconnected from the grassroots and
that is doing well mainly for
big companies. Secondly, or
even firstly, I dislike top-level
politicians who serve their
ego and not their people. And
the third biggest shortcoming
is the lack of independent,
strategic thinking of our political class.
There is no secret that
many people in Lithuania
just don’t believe in the
state, its authority, and
rather go in search for a better life to the West, thence
Lithuania’s worst, EU-wide
emigration starts. Can it be
reversed? And how?
Many people do not believe in the state not only in
Lithuania but in a big number of European countries,
too. There is only one way out
of the lasting general crisis
in our country and in Europe
in general. Countries do need
new political teams that are
committed to serving their
people and are guided by big,
noble causes, not by their
greed, as often is the case now.
Look what happens in many
European countries. People
distrust politicians because
they do not see positive social
changes; quite the opposite.
They see the huge salaries of
As I do analyse European societies, I see that the
political class is not prepared for huge challenges
ahead. Look into the huge
and rising social exclusion
in Europe. Look into the
spread of Islamist terror.
Look into the millions of
new refugees who are of
different mentalities compared to the European one.
And what about the upcoming intensification of the
world fight for natural resources which are getting
scarce?
Yet the main problem in
the West is “homo economicus.” The Western societies
became exclusively consumeristic societies, having no
supreme values apart from
consumption. The main aim
of such societies is the maximisation of material goods.
History shows that such societies are extremely vulnerable. Take the example of the
Roman Empire.
So, let me sum up: who in
Europe will manage all this,
who is up to all these historic
challenges? I do not see such a
team in place, at least for now.
And time is short.
You served almost 10
years as a Lithuanian diplomat. Can you elaborate on
Lithuania’s foreign policy?
Yes, I did, being posted in
the Lithuanian Mission to the
European Union in 1990s, and
then working in our Foreign
Ministry’s European Department. The main problem of
Lithuania’s foreign policy is
the negligence of reality. It is
not realistic for us to change
societies in Russia or, say,
Belarus, but this is precisely
what we are mainly striving
to achieve. Even if we are not
happy with what is happening
in these countries, we should
stop preaching them democracy, more so that exporting
democracy implies that we
have a surplus of it at home,
which is not at all the case,
given the many problems we
have in the Baltics.
Another important point
is that instead of becoming
a fortress of NATO preparing for conflicts, we should
try building bridges. You may
mention the case of conflict
in Ukraine but I am sure it
could have been avoided if the
Eastern Partnership policy
of the EU was not so unprofessional, pushing Ukraine
to choose: either you are with
EU, or with Russia. That was
a too narrow choice for that
country.
States which are between
two big geopolitical, even
civilisational entities, like
Ukraine or even in a way the
Baltics — being between East
and West — have a unique opportunity of bringing East
and West together, and not
tearing them dangerously
apart, which is being done
right now, with unforeseeable
consequences for world peace.
Thank you.
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
5
baltic real estate
Baltic real estate investment transactions up 11 per cent,
Latvia leads the pack
Investor appetite for commercial property in the Baltic
States continues to grow rapidly. The first half of 2016 has
been particularly successful
for both the buyers and sellers
of modern commercial property. A total of 22 investment
transactions were concluded
during this period in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as a
result of which 423,000 sqm of
modern commercial property
(offices, retail, warehousing
and industrial buildings, and
premises) were purchased.
The total value of the acquired properties amounted
to 436 million euros, which
was 11 per cent more than
during the first half of 2015,
presents Ober-Haus review
of the commercial real estate
market.
Latvia, which was for a
long time lagging behind Estonia and Lithuania, is in the
lead this year. The total investment in commercial real
estate in Latvia over the period reached 220 million euros,
or almost 51 per cent, of all investment in the Baltic States.
In the main this is due to
two large investment transactions in Riga involving acquisition of the shopping centres
Domina and Riga Plaza totalling 168 million euros.
In Estonia, investment
transactions amounted to 126
million euros, or almost 29
per cent, of all investments in
the Baltic States. The largest
investment transactions in
Estonia were recorded in the
retail premises sector involving the purchase of two shopping centres Mustamae Keskus and Magistral in Tallinn.
With the total value of
acquisitions amounting to
90 million euros, investment
amounts in Lithuania during the first half of this year
were the smallest. The largest
single transaction in Lithuania was the acquisition of
the remaining part of the
shares from the developer of
Nordika shopping centre in
mid-2016. At the end of 2015,
the Estonian company Zenith
Capital Management already
acquired half of the shares
of management company of
Nordika. One of the most interesting transactions in the
Investment Volumes in the Baltics
(modern commercial property, million EUR)
H1 2015 H2 2016
Lithuania
153
90
Latvia
103
220
Estonia
136
126
photo: Ober-Haus
Saulius Vagonis
Source: Ober-Haus
Data: H1 2015 - H1 2016
Investment Volumes in the Baltics
(modern commercial property, million EUR)
H1 2015 H2 2016
Lithuania
153
90
Latvia
103
220
Estonia
136
126
Saulius Vagonis is head of Valuation & Analysis at Ober-Haus.
Source: Ober-Haus
Data: H1 2015 - H1 2016
Investment Distribution by Real Estate sectors in the Baltics
436 million EUR
%
Industrial
10
Office
31
Retail
59
Source: Ober-Haus
Data: H1 2016
Investment Distribution by Real Estate sectors in the Baltics
436 million EUR
%
Industrial
10
Office
31
Baltic States was reported in in the Baltic States managed
Retail 2016 where
59 Laurus, since 2007 by Homburg Invest.
March
a joint venture of Partners
Group
Northern Horizon
Source:and
Ober-Haus
Capital, acquired 40 different
Data: H1 2016units across the
commercial
Baltic countries (mainly current or former units of SEB
bank) from the Dutch company Geneba. In 2014, Geneba
took over the major portion
of the real estate portfolio
The scope of investment
in the Baltic States per real
estate segments shows that
retail property has been most
popular this year. According
to Ober-Haus, out of 436 million euros invested in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, 59
per cent was investment into
the retail property sector. In-
vestment in offices accounted
for 31 per cent of total investment and investment in warehousing and industrial traditionally accounted for the
smallest (10 per cent) portion
of total investment. The largest transaction in the latter
sector was reported in June
where the Estonian EfTEN
Real Estate Fund III acquired
three logistics centres in Vil-
nius, Riga and Tallinn from
DSV, the international transport and logistics services
group.
“Evaluation of investment in this year and previous years shows that the
commercial real estate in the
Baltic States continues to be
of interest only to local and
Scandinavian capital investors. Investors from other regions are mostly companies
which are not directly related
to real estate, or larger investment funds, which acquire
large international real estate portfolios and as a result
sometimes take over properties in the Baltic States,”
says Saulius Vagonis, Head of
Valuation & Analysis at OberHaus. For example, in 2015
the fund of the US asset management company Blackstone
acquired a high value real estate portfolio in Scandinavian
countries, including three
shopping centres in Riga. Despite individual larger investors arriving directly to the
markets of the Baltic States,
statistics have for a long time
shown a steady trend.
According to the expert,
over the first half of 2016, it
was mostly funds of the Baltic States and private investors who invested in modern
commercial real estate (47
per cent of total investment).
Scandinavian capital investors accounted for 19 per cent
of total investment and investors from other countries
(Switzerland, Russia, Malta,
etc.) accounted for the remaining 34 per cent of total
investment.
“It is likely that the second
half of the year will remain
sufficiently active in the investment transaction market.
Despite growing expectations
of property owners concerning the value of the property,
buyers continue to be actively
interested in and negotiate
acquisition of different types
of commercial property. The
pending transactions, which,
it seems, will be completed by
the end of this year, are likely
to yield most positive annual
results in the Baltic States,”
Vagonis summed up.
Lithuania announces tender for National Stadium concession holder
BNS/TBT Staff
Lithuania on Sept. 6 called
a tender for a concession holder of the National Stadium
estimated at 73 million euros
in preliminary value, excluding VAT. The winner of the
tender will have to build and
maintain the multifunctional
health promotion, education,
and cultural complex located
near the Akropolis shopping
centre in Vilnius.
The contract among the
municipality, the Physical
Education and Sports Depart-
ment, and a private investor
will be signed for a period of
25 years. The construction of
the stadium is estimated at
73.1 million euros (excluding
VAT), including 33.6 million
euros in EU money and 2.9
million euros in the munici-
pality’s contribution.
The contract with the concession holder should step
into force in April 2019, with
the start of construction to
follow shortly.
The stadium next to Akropolis supermarket in Vil-
nius was started in 1987 and
conserved in 1993. After investing a further 33.6 million
euros in the project in 2008,
the construction work was
dropped due to a shortage of
funds.
Latvia: Government’s social partners agree on minimum wage at 380 euros
BNS/TBT Staff
Social
partners
have
agreed to the government’s
plans to increase the minimum monthly wage to 380 euros in 2017.
Although the government
already announced the increase of the minimum wage,
the National Tripartite Cooperation Council (NTCC) expressed its acceptance of the
decision during a meeting of
social partners.
Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia representative Egils Baldzens reiterated
during the meeting that the
possible increase of the nontaxable minimum income
should also be discussed. “We
want to balance these things,
so the losses of employers,
employees, the state, and municipalities are balanced,”
Baldzens said.
But he did accept the pro-
posal to increase the minimum wage as did Latvian
Employers
Confederation
President Vitalijs Gavrilovs.
After the NTCC meeting
Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis (Greens/Farmers) announced that next year residents can expect a minimum
wage of 380 euros, a differentiate non-taxable minimum
income and growth of the national economy.
As reported, the government agreed that in 2017 the
minimum wage will be increased by 10 euros to 380 euros per month.
Vol. 20 #886
september 8 , 2016 – september 21, 2016
Latvian business
Latvian business faces a myriad of issues, but the youth bring hope
A throng of issues are
plaguing Latvian business,
and failure of EU-US negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP) is just
another addition to Latvia’s
amassing disappointments.
In light of this setback, The
Baltic Times spoke to Latvian business-savvy entities,
like the American Chamber
of Commerce in Latvia, Riga
Business Union, and Latvian
Farmers Federation on the
challenges currently facing
the Latvian business environment.
Missing free trade
mentality
Harking back to the importance of the TTIP agreement for Latvia, the trade
volume of which with the US
amounts to a miserable 1.4
per cent, Arnis Kakulis, the
president of the American
Chamber of Commerce in
Latvia, who is a staunch supporter of the trade deal, says
he “was not surprised” talks
haven’t been successful.
“The striving is just too
ambitious,” he says.
In his words, talks on the
TTIP have always been difficult as parties have to agree
on issues regarding trade
barriers, licence certification, regulations, standards,
and so on. There is lack of
political consensus and support; countries like France
and Germany have said they
are not ready to sign yet.
“The deal is a monster,
a huge endeavour to accomplish — to agree on common
terms between so many stakeholders, multiple economies,”
he notes.
The EU alone has 28 states
with their local laws, customs, and culture. Geopolitical risk is present as well. For
example, the Ukraine crisis
gave more momentum to the
deal, as European economies
were suffering from Russian
sanctions. It could’ve helped
with market diversification.
Kakulis names other benefits that could’ve come from
the deal — it’s a vehicle to
allow stronger trade with a
market that isn’t easy to enter
for Latvian businesses. Trade
with the US is only 1.4 per
cent of all Latvian export.
An agreement between
the EU and US could create a
stronger investment environment, assist in agricultural
entrepreneurship, instantly
grow jobs because labour
supports trade. Competitiveness is mostly presented in a
negative light, he says, but “it
makes the consumer smarter.”
In his words, Latvians are
proud of their heritage and
it would make the value of
niche products greater and
bring more sophistication to
the market.
Kakulis doesn’t believe
people prefer generic products, rather specialty products that Latvians can offer.
It’s most likely products with-
out “shelf life” that would get
exported most from US, like
electronic goods, health products, and pharmaceuticals.
However, he sees the trade
agreement
with
Canada,
CETA, as being much more
solid. It is more specific and
more likely to be signed.
photo :The American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia
Paula Justovica
TTIP is beneficial only
to some
Agita Hauka from the Latvian Farmers Federation is
happy to hear that TTIP talks
are stalled.
“For the time being we are
saved from the cheap and the
“‘This legislation
is currently just
on paper,’ points
out Edite Elksne,
deputy chairman
of the board of
the Riga Business
union. The lack
of working
hands and
administrative
burden echoes
through our
interviews.
Businesses lack
interest to seek
opportunities
in engaging the
unemployed and
they have to be
willing to invest
in their skill. It’s
a vicious cycle —
they lack labour,
but they are not
willing to invest.”
unknown,” she says. “Our
concern is cheap production
coming in from the US. That
would be a death sentence for
our farmers.”
She says Latvia is still a
small and fairly new country
that doesn’t have the quantity
to export on a big scale.
“However, it’s very green
and could potentially export
exclusive
biological
food
which is one of our more
competitive areas. Latvia
lacks purchasing power and
export to Europe is needed.
However, TTIP might not be
the best format,” she says.
“It could help IT technology, innovations, scientists —
but not those who work with
their hands.” Those she sees
as the most suitable for export. But for manual labour
workers the most important
is social support and this is
often overlooked by higher
economic growth. “Politics
have to be directed towards
one’s own people, not others.
Given our territory, we are
hard-working, but we lack
support. We represent very
different trades and no one
should be left behind,” she
Arnis Kakulis, the director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia.
told The Baltic Times.
Asked if CETA would be
a potential better standard
providing trade agreement,
she is optimistic: “They could
have better quality.”
She says Latvia produces good food but that is not
enough to compete, because
imported foods are produced
industrially and have lower
standards, thus they are
cheaper to the customer.
“To stand for higher standards is to stand for higher
prices. And people buy what
they are able to purchase,”
she is convinced.
‘Nothing here is
hopeless’
Although Hauka says that
farmers lack financial support as EU funds have already
been distributed, she sees
hope.
“Nothing here is hopeless.
There are people returning
from abroad to work at their
family farms. Many farms
are first generation and don’t
have someone to leave the
work to, so people buy the
farms of other families to
work at in Latvia.”
“Regarding
emigration,
which has become a hot button issue in Latvia,” she emphasises that “the country
starts and ends in the countryside.”
In her opinion, the policymakers have to support farmers who are new to the business and have an extremely
big administrative load that
they cannot manage.
“Big corporations have
their own accountancy structure, but small farms are
often run by families or unilaterally. The tax burden is
also inadequate. I’d suggest
all to look up to the Polish
system, in which the farmer
only pays one toll for the land
and doesn’t have to deal with
managing taxes from all state
structures. They have one
fund for farmers that is managed by the state which they
make contributions to,” she
points out.
“If the people currently
living in Latvia are not doing well, we are unlikely to
get back those who have emi-
grated to make a better living,” Kakulis says. He feels
that the economy is not doing great; as a gage for this
he looks at how many cranes
there are in a city, how many
buildings are being built. It’s
not happening as aggressively as in other European cities,
which signals timid development, he observes. How to inspire people to come back? “A
stronger salary base needs to
be established,” Hauka suggests.
Lack of real
legislation to support
businesses
Another concern for businesses is instability, which
stems
from
government
changes in normative acts
causing uncertainty for the
long term. The priorities of
entrepreneurs in policymaking are social tax and tax for
micro businesses.
“This legislation is currently just on paper,” points
out Edite Elksne, deputy
chairman of the board of the
Riga Business union.
The lack of working
hands and administrative
burden echoes through our
interviews. Businesses lack
interest to seek opportunities
in engaging the unemployed
and they have to be willing
to invest in their skill. It’s a
vicious cycle — they lack labour, but they are not willing
to invest.
Kakulis says that the unemployed are more likely
to be uneducated and lowskilled, but those who migrate are usually educated
and expensive.
There are many issues
that have to be tackled politically to foster entrepreneurship, according to Kakulis.
“There is political risk in Latvia that scares the investors
— the court system is unpre-
dictable, there is corruption,
the geopolitical environment
is unstable, and the party system is hard to understand,”
he underlines.
Kakulis holds dual citizenship — in Latvia and the
US — and says that given
everything he is still happy
to be living here. The political risk created by Donald
Trump’s candidacy is much
greater, even for Latvians.
None of the candidates look
good to him from a relations
standpoint.
Hope in the youth
Elksne says there is potential in youngsters, who are
the risk-takers. She speaks
highly of a company founded by a student who started
“from a small micro business
(and has grown) to a business
that now exports to Poland
and is looking to export to
Sweden. They chose not only
one, but several types of entrepreneurship for their business in order to diversify the
risk.”
Co-operation is key, she
insists, with government and
non-government institutions
crowdsourcing information
on how to start and manage
a business. It can take the administrative load off the novice’s shoulders.
Hauka, too speaks, highly
of youngsters who have innovative ideas and open their
businesses. They are looking
to publish a guide for new entrepreneurs on the website
latvija.lv.
“There currently isn’t
one. Startups are a prospective area for entrepreneurship,” she says. There are
business angels, donors who
are willing to invest. “There
is hope in the young people,”
she concludes.
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The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
7
estonian ECONOMICS
Estonia’s ever bullish economy sees slowdown in 2016’s first half
Linas Jegelevicius
Although the volume of
total output in Estonia at the
end of last year was close to
its pre-crisis peak and was
expected to surpass that level
this year, the first half of 2016
has been sluggish in the Baltic
country, admits Birgit Strikholm, economist at the Bank
of Estonia. “We have not seen
a considerable pickup of the
Estonian economy this year
so far,” she told The Baltic
Times. She kindly agreed to
answer TBT questions on the
Estonian economy.
What are the shifts/
trends in Estonia’s major
macroeconomic data during 2016’s first half-year?
What factors have impacted them?
Q2 GDP growth estimates
(including major revisions
to the past values and information on the composition
of GDP) will be published on
Sept. 8 and this could change
the perception considerably.
In Q4 2015, the volume of
total output was close to its
pre-crisis peak and is expected to surpass that level this
year. During the first half of
2016, we have not seen a considerable pickup of the Estonian economy, though. The
quarter-on-quarter
growth
has been near zero and the
year-on-year growth rate of
GDP has slowed to 0.6 per cent
according to the Q2 flash estimate. The growth so far has
mainly been supported by private consumption and generous tax receipts, while investments have been down and
industrial sector riddled with
problems in the energy and
mining sector. Strong growth
in imports of capital goods in
Q2 points to green sprouts in
investments activity.
Yearly growth in retail
sales volume (to be exact:
turnover volume at trade
enter­prises), which covers
a large part of private consumption, has been fast at
around 6 per cent in the first
half year. This growth is in
line with the developments
of disposable household income, as yearly wage growth
accelerated to an average of
7.8 per cent as well in the first
six months. Strong consumption growth has not brought
along a rapid credit growth
this time, though, and the economic growth is deemed to be
sustainable.
The flash estimate put the
Estonian current account at
86 million euros in surplus in
June and the Estonian economy was a net lender to the
rest of the world. Despite the
sluggish external demand the
value of goods exports grew
about 4 per cent in the second quarter, yet the exports
of services were down 0.5 per
cent due to weaker activity in
the transportation and tourism sector.
The consumer prices deflation in Estonia, which is
due to external factors, is into
its third year. Deflation deepened in the first half year of
2016 to 0.5 per cent mainly because prices for oil and food
were down on world markets.
External factors, primarily
higher global market prices
for imported oil and food,
should provide the base for
a rise in consumer price inflation in the second half of
2016.
How is Estonia’s average
salary this period? Can you
break it down to separate
sectors? How has the aver-
age salary changed over the
last three years?
During the past three
years wage growth (average
monthly gross wages) has
been fast. Average monthly
gross wages have increased
from 948 euros in 2013 to 1060
euros in 2015.
The yearly rise in the average gross monthly wage
reached 8.1 per cent in the
first quarter of 2016, but
slowed slightly to 7.6 per cent
in the second, when the average monthly wage reached
1,163 euros. The largely unanticipated acceleration of
wage growth was driven by
two main factors, bonuses
and structural changes, as
the share of workers in jobs
paying less than the average
wage decreased and the share
of high-wage jobs increased. In general, wage pressure
stems from the tight situation
in the labour market. There is
a shortage of qualified labour
and the number of young labour market entrants is decreasing. Wage growth has
equally been boosted by the
minimum wage rising faster
than the average wage.
Real wages have been increasing since the second
half of 2011, and real wage
growth has been faster due
to negative consumer price
inflation.
On the downside, the fast
wage growth has not been
matched by increasing labour
productivity. In 2015, real productivity fell and the first
half of 2016 will probably not
bring a recovery either. In the
past four years, labour costs
per unit of value added, or
unit labour costs, have been
on the increase, which means
that wages have been growing
on the account of profits in
the business sector. What are the changes in
Estonia’s
unemployment
statistics over the last three
years?
Over the last three years
the average unemployment
rate has decreased steadily,
more than a percentage point
a year, reaching 6.2 per cent in
2015. In 2016, the average unemployment rate has been 6.5
per cent.
When it comes to registered unemployment, having
increased for about half a
year in 2015 (due to the Work
Ability Reform launched in
2016 that aims to bring those
with decreased working ability back to the labour market),
registered unemployment fell
at the start of 2016 in quarter-
ly comparison.
Labour force participation rate has been on a slight
upwards trend, growing from
about 68 per cent in 2013 to an
average of 70 per cent in 2016.
In the second quarter of 2016,
both the employment rate
(66.9 per cent) and the labour
force participation rate (71.5
per cent) were the highest in
the last 20 years.
How big are Estonia’s
gold reserves?
Eesti Pank holds 8,250
Troy ounces or 256.6 kg of
gold.
What political/economic factors are to be watched
for as influencers of the Estonian economic situation
for the remainder of the
year?
There are some keywords
which may be mentioned:
pickup in external demand
and accommodative monetary policy, Brexit and possible uncertainty regarding investments and developments
in Europe, movements in oil
and other commodity prices,
competitiveness and “smart
investments,” and moderation of strong wage growth in
Estonia.
8
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
Chasing the dream
Lithuanian seizes crowdfunding opportunity to fulfill his Columbia University dream
Linas Jegelevicius
Tell us a little about
yourself, please... How did
you end up being in the US,
NYC?
I have never dreamt of
such an opportunity in my
life. Although, I was a good
student in high school and I
have always been actively involved in many extracurricular activities, I did not think
I was exceptional enough to
study at the world’s top universities in the US. Therefore,
I chose a less competitive alternative in Europe, which
matched well with my expectations. However, studies at
Sciences Po in France showed
that I can succeed even in a
very challenging environment. After the first year, I
had a chance to apply for the
Dual BA programme with Columbia and as you see, here I
am today — starting the new
school year in New York City,
at the university once attended by the President B. Obama.
How is the crowdfunding effort going? How did
you resort to it?
The crowdfunding campaign requires a lot of effort,
indeed, but I am happy that
most people support this idea.
Thanks to them, I can successfully start my studies and
pursue this degree. Actually
it was the only possible solution in my case, therefore, I
put a lot of effort into presenting it seriously.
Do you know how much
money you have garnered
at this point? Are you able
to follow the donations’
flow on your bank account?
In total I have received
12,000 US dollars in donations
(through GoFundMe and my
bank account) and 40,000 dollars in scholarships. I am also
waiting for a few responses
from different foundations in
the USA that should provide
me with an additional 5,000
dollars.
I was going to study in Lithuania, but Sciences Po was an
opportunity to acquire more
experience, learn new skills
such as the French language,
and analyse my own country
from a broader perspective.
photo : Justinas Grigaitis
We all cherish earthly
and not so earthly dreams,
with fewer of us going after
them. But Justinas Grigaitis,
a 20-year-old Lithuanian with
his first year at a French University under his belt, has
taken the dream a little farther than most of his peers, to
NYC’s Columbia University,
at which he seeks to enroll
should his crowdfunding effort to scoop up enough money pan out. The Baltic Times
spoke to the well-rounded
youth about his strives.
Justinas Grigaitis: “My parents’ income is not sufficient to take a loan and I could not receive a student loan from the Lithuanian
government because it only sponsors students who study in Lithuania.”
not borrow money in the USA
because I am not a US citizen
and I do not have a close relative there who would cosign a
loan for me.
I’ve read you are a devoted Christian. Why don’t
you ask Christian organisations for help?
Although faith is very important in my life, it is a personal thing to me. I think that
all people should help one
another when it is needed, despite their religion or beliefs.
How was the experience at France’s Po Paris
University? I’ve read you
have been among the best
students after your sophomore year. How talented
must you be to accomplish
that, considering that the
studies were conducted in
French?
I was at the Sciences Po
Paris campus in France’s Dijon and I was among the best
students after the freshman
year.
However challenging this
experience was, I absolutely
loved my studies there. I could
discover the subjects that I
have never studied in Lithuania before and find fields
that I am really interested
in. I think that helped me to
achieve such results the most.
It is scientifically proven
that learning a new language
is the most stimulating process and if you commit to it,
it makes you happy every day.
school supplies, keeping in
mind that prices in New York
are really high.
How can one be sure
that the money collected
through the public effort
will be used by you for the
purpose of education?
For this reason I update
my expenses online on www.
tinyurl.com/JustinasBudget
and describe my time in New
York on Facebook, on my “I
Support a Dream” page. Most
of the people who donated
know me personally, thus,
they can tell that my way of
living is very modest and I
have never wasted any money. I will also save as much as
possible in order to finance
my second year of studies.
What are the reactions
you’ve heard since you
made the plea on Lithuania digital media? Some
of them have been quite
averse, you have to admit.
Anonym reactions were
negative — people accused me
of things such as “cheating,
stealing and wasting money,
being arrogant and lazy.” I do
not take them personally because I can understand that
from the outside perspective
this campaign might appear
as such. However, those who
know me have actively supported my dream — a thousand people shared it on Facebook, many of them sent me
private messages with advice
or positive comments.
Did you get your parents’ approval on crowdfunding?
My parents supported my
crowdfunding idea because
they saw how important this
academic project is for me
and they knew that they cannot help me to finance it anyhow.
How much do you need
for studies at Columbia?
One year at Columbia
costs 70,000 dollars. However,
Columbia together with Sciences Po finance the major
part of tuition, therefore, the
real cost for me is 30,000 dollars. Besides that, my scholarship for the second year can
be increased based on academic results, therefore, I will
try to do my best at school, so
that I do not need any additional help.
I reckon crowdfunding
in the West is a widespread
tool to scoop up necessary
money for a purpose, is it
not? How popular do you
find it in Lithuania?
It is true that crowdfunding is much more popular in
the Western Europe and in
the United States than in Lithuania. I only found out about
it when I lived in France, so
I can say that there is a lack
of information about such
ways of financing personal
or business projects. However, it is a pity that in Lithuania the donating culture has
not developed yet in general.
Many people still think that
the state should take care of
everything and do not get involved in civil initiatives.
Why don’t you try to
get a grant for the studies,
which is what most students do?
My parents’ income is not
sufficient to take a loan and
I could not receive a student
loan from the Lithuanian
government because it only
sponsors students who study
in Lithuania. Similarly, I can-
Can you break down the
expenses for a freshman’s
year at the university?
Basically, 95 per cent of
the money goes directly to the
university. Tuition is 52,000 dollars, housing is 10,000 dollars, insurance and other fees
4,000 dollars. I added 4,000 dollars for living expenses such
as food, transportation, and
Forgive me for my bluntness, but some of the people who wrote comments
under the story on your
crowdfunding
endeavor
have simply ridiculed or
condemned
you.
Many
would argue that all the
cancer patients out there
are way more worthy of
funding through a public
What other languages
do you speak?
I fluently speak Lithuanian, English, and French. I
do speak and understand Italian quite well, too, and I also
have the basics of Russian.
initiative like yours. What
would you tell these kinds
of people?
Obviously there are thousands of far more urgent and
important causes to donate
for. However, I would not have
started my campaign if I was
not convinced that my studies
are worth such investment
and will pay off in near future. Then I will donate all the
money that I have received for
charitable purposes that you
have mentioned.
Anyway, I am pretty sure
that those who donated money for my campaign, also donate for other causes, whereas those who criticise me are
more likely to be egoistic and
do not help anyone at all.
For all people who write
hateful comments, I would
suggest to first check the basic facts (most of them had no
clue what Columbia University is, many people have not
noticed how much money I
received in scholarships) and
then talk to me in person.
As a graduate of one of
the best Lithuanian gymnasiums, Kaunas Technology
University, can you enroll
many of universities and
colleges out there? Why are
you specifically interested
in Columbia?
Firstly I was interested
in studies at Sciences Po and
only then I found out about
the opportunity to study at
Columbia. Besides the excellent quality, unique programmes, and a great variety
of courses, Columbia University is situated in the centre
of New York and living there
is a very enriching experience in itself.
If you can be honest,
what you dislike about
Lithuania’s education system?
The major problem with
the system of universities is
the logic of “quantity over
quality.” Universities are
being financed by the state
based on the number of students, thus, their goal is to
attract as many of them as
possible and the easiest way
of doing it is to lower the requirements. Then neither
institutions, nor the students
have financial incentives to
improve their quality and
performance. I think university level studies should
require more serious engagement from those who want to
attend them.
Why did you decide not
to continue education in
Lithuania? Have you considered this possibility?
I have always thought that
By the way, do you know
where the dreams — and
fate — have taken your former classmates in Kaunas?
Some of them integrated
into world’s famous universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, or Harvard, others
successfully continue their
studies all around Europe
from Berlin to Edinburgh,
from Amsterdam to Paris.
For me it is no surprise
that those who stayed in Lithuania are doing very well, too
— one friend has just received
a permanent position as an
electronics engineer, another
has worked at a private laboratory since their very first
semester, a third works part
time at an IT company — as
far as I know, everyone has
already had a chance to gain
some professional experience
although we are all only 20 to
21 years old. It shows that especially for young people opportunities are everywhere
around. One just needs the
motivation and persistence to
look for them.
Why do you want to
study educology and economy, two quite unrelated
fields, at Columbia?
In my case those two fields
are very much related because I want to do economic
research:
analyse
public
spending on education and
find the most efficient ways
to invest in it. Also, such a
study programme will improve my quantitative and
communication skills, analytical thinking, and leadership
abilities. Finally, education is
my passion — I would like to
teach economics and work to
improve school programmes
later on.
Do you have any message to all of your peers
back in Lithuania?
Don’t be afraid to take
challenges that seem impossible — it is the only way to
progress.
What has been the most
stunning discovery about
New York so far?
What I appreciate the most
is New York’s diversity. There
is no way to describe what the
city really is because every
tiny part of it is completely
different. That what makes
New York unique. When it
comes to people, New Yorkers are busy, determined, goal
oriented, but very helpful and
open at the same time.
And, most importantly
for you, what is the bank
account through which interested people can make
your dream come true?
For those who are interested, I invite to watch a short
video about me and support
my story here — www.gofundme.com/LithuanianDream.
Also, it’s possible to donate
through the bank — Justinas
Grigaitis “For studies at Columbia” LT39 7300 0101 3186
3773 (IBAN - HABALT22)
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
9
remembrance
The stones of Moletai:The Shoah lesson in Lithuania
Moletai — which was
Malat before all its Jewish
residents had been annihilated — is the place, an hour’s
drive from Vilnius, where all
its Jews were locked up for
several days without food
and drink in the one of the
town’s several synagogues in
the end of summer of 1941 before they were marched two
kilometres to the specifically
prepared pit. The 50-metre by
3-to-4-metre pit, which was 4
metres deep, had been dug by
40 arrested Jewish men the
day before. The digging took
almost 24 hours. All the people forced to the death march
were methodically killed next
to the pit by over 20 members
of the Lithuanian white-band
local police under the supervision of one Nazi officer,
one translator, and the head
of the Moletai District police.
The decision of the massacre
was made by the Nazi headquarters in Utena, the district
where Moletai was located.
The massacre was photographed by the Nazis.
The general figure of victims could be substantially
higher: according to the official records of the Lithuanian Jewish Cemeteries register, 3,782 Jews from Malat
and Utena together were
murdered at the pit. It is also
believed that none of the 5,443
Jewish individuals registered
as residents of the Utena District as of Jan. 1, 1941 survived.
History does have miraculous threads for us in its arsenal. A couple of letters of
the people from the doomed
Malat had reached their rela-
The event drew around 3,000 people.
tives outside Lithuania later
on with help from local Christians. The letters are preserved at Yad-Vashem now. So
we could read the rows nervously scribbled in a rush by
the victims themselves, just
prior to their annihilation:
“For two days now we have
not eaten and soon we are going to be murdered ... Everyone is dressed (and ready) with
their beloved children and
everyone is waiting. We are
all (imprisoned) in the study
house. Enough time remains
so that sometimes we wish
death would come already ...
Observe this day in our memory: it will be the 19th of August
… Tsipora” ( YVA, O.75/158).
Three generations of
oblivion
The following 75 years,
three generations of time,
were the years of oblivion.
It is telling, indeed, that the
commemorative march for
the 75th anniversary of the
massacre has become the first
such event for the victims of
this terrible crime.
For
several
previous
years, the efforts of Israelbased relatives of the brutally murdered Moletai Jews to
commemorate their memory
at the place of their annihilation were fruitless and frustrating. And also shameful,
as well-known Lithuanian
director Marius Ivaskevicius
has shown so well in his exceptionally powerful writings on the issue of facing the
truth about the Holocaust in
Lithuania by modern Lithuanian society. As I see it, it
was Ivaskevicius’ personal
stand that has triggered the
awakening of the public conscience on the matter — and
this is both healthy and timely.
The issue started to be
discussed in Lithuania much
more intensely than ever
before. For several years, a
handful of Jewish activists,
such as Sergey Kanovich,
have been publicly challenging the very concept of the
Lithuanian attitude toward
the Holocaust and the way of
remembrance of the unparalleled tragedy and mega-crime
in which 94.6 per cent of the
country’s Jewish population
had been exterminated in
world record proportions. The
heart of the matter is that the
crime has been committed
“‘For two days
now we have not
eaten and soon
we are going to
be murdered
... Everyone is
dressed (and
ready) with their
beloved children
and everyone is
waiting. We are all
(imprisoned) in
the study house.
Enough time
remains so that
sometimes we wish
death would come
already ... Observe
this day in our
memory: it will be
the 19th of August
… Tsipora’ ( YVA,
O.75/158)”
largely and enthusiastically
by the local police, known as
white-band Lithuanian police, under the supervision
and command of the Nazis.
Understandably, it is just impossible for the descendants
of the Lithuanian Jewry to
accept any kind of glorification of the Lithuanians who
were participating in any way
in such hideous crimes.
Ruta Vanagaite’s recent
book “Ours. The Journey
with the Enemy” had also
been quite a bitter settling of
the account between Lithuanians on the matter of the
Holocaust and the active participation of many local people. Neither Ivaskevicius nor
Vanagaite are Jewish.
Just one month prior to
the March in Moletai, a wide
and heated discussion, both
in Lithuania and beyond,
has erupted on the scandal
around the previously priva-
tised 7th Forth in Kaunas, the
first concentration camp in
Lithuania. This was the place
where 5,000 Jews and 3,000
POWs had been murdered
about the same time as the
massacre in Moletai in the
summer of 1941.
At the same time, we shall
not — and never will — forget those many heroic Lithuanian people who did save
Jews or who were trying to
do so, among them many
clergy and nuns. In his deep
and emotional letter on the
eve of the Moletai March, famous theatre director Kama
Ginkas, whose entire family are Litvaks, had asked his
friend and colleague Marius
Ivaskevicius to put stones
from him and his ten grandchildren, who were saved by
several brave Lithuanians.
The people’s river of
memory
What happened in Moletai
on Aug. 29, 2016, exceeded the
expectations of many people
who were familiar with the
project. At least 3,000 people
in attendance, all by their own
will, normal, ordinary people,
many young ones, many with
children, joined the visiting
relatives of the massacred
Jews of Malat. There were
priests, Franciscan monks,
women in the Lithuanian
national dresses, high ranking Lithuanian military and
soldiers, students, teachers,
engineers, in the human river
that flooded the streets of the
small resort town. In addition
to many Israeli flags, there
were Polish, Lithuanian, and
Latvian flags, too. The President of Lithuania Dalia Gribauskaite attended the ceremony along with Amir Maimon,
the Ambassador of Israel
in Lithuania and, in a truly
thoughtful gesture, the Lithuanian Ambassador to Israel
Edwinas Bagdonas was also
present. The Lithuanian Minister of Defence was there
on behalf of the Lithuanian
government, and the Chief of
Staff of the Lithuanian Army
with a beautiful arrangement
of white flowers represented
the country’s military force.
In the first row of the
March’s column, our good
friend, the first president of
the post-Soviet Lithuania legendary Vytautas Landsbergis,
was marching with his wife
in a physically demanding effort. There are rare moments
in life when one is deeply
proud of one’s friend, and
seeing 83-year old Landsbergis and his wife marching in
Moletai on Aug. 29, 2016, was
the one such fundamentally
important moments. Our
other dear friend Emanuelis
Zingeris was there, and many
well-known members of the
public as well.
The other people were
marching with oversized yellow Stars of David pinned to
their clothes. Those were not
Jewish people.
A black marble monument
had been unveiled by the Ambassador of Israel at the location of that horrific ditch,
with so many people queuing
quietly and patiently in order
to put a stone on the memorial and to light a candle there.
“We are walking this
road for them...”
The idea of how the 75th
commemoration of the massacre in Moletai had been conducted, the participation of
so many different people, the
role of the state in the commemoration — all this has
created important precedent.
It also contributed into what
we all, Jews or not, do need
essentially: personal connection. We do need it for ourselves, for decency of our life
today and tomorrow. During
the March, a small girl who
got tired along the way, asked
her mother: “Why do we have
to go so far, mummy?” And
her young mother told her, in
Russian: “Many years ago, a
little girl and her mom, similar to us, were forced to go
all the way on this road too.
At the end of this road, they
were murdered. Today, we are
walking the path for them.”
And the girl did continue to
march bravely despite being
quite tired.
Not one of the many young
children in that column will
forget that experience, not
to speak of the very many
teenagers and older youth in
attendance. And this is the essential part of the March in
Moletai.
It has become a memorable, crucially important lesson on the Shoah in real time,
photo : www.rogatchi.org
“Observe that day in
our memory...”
Moletai (Malat) Jews in 1915.
photo : www.delfi.lt
Aug. 29, 2016 has become
a truly important day for the
Lithuanian people, for Israel,
and for all of us who do not
know the past term for the
Holocaust, “Shoah” in Yiddish. On that day, the small
Lithuanian town of Moletai
became a scene of tangible
and penetrating lessons on
the Shoah. It was a rare event
— unpretending, quiet, and
sincere, determined and devoted; the real thing.
Yet a couple of months
ago, the people who were organising the March in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Moletai massacre were thinking that there
would be 200 to 300 people in
attendance, mostly guests
from Israel, South Africa, and
the other countries where the
relatives of the victims of
Moletai are living today.
photo : Lithuanian archives
Inna Rogatchi
They are gone but not forgotten.
16 u
Vol. 20 #886
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
ESTONIA
Sept. 9-11, Tallinn
Marathon,
Freedom
Square, Tallinn
Tallinn Marathon —
one of the largest running competitions in
the region for amateurs
as well as professional
athletes, bringing over
20,000 runners from all
over the world to Tallinn. More information
on event program can be
found at: www.jooks.ee
Sept. 12-18, XI Tallinn Design Festival,
various
locations
around Tallinn
Taking place all over
Tallinn, the renowned
Estonian 11th annual
design festival called
Design Night promotes
all aspects in the realm
of design and serves as
an introduction to the
work of Estonian designers as well as a few
shining stars from an
international pool of
talent. The entire city
will be involved; everyone can participate
as long as they have a
spirit of experimentation and curiosity. During the festival, you can
visit high-level exhibitions presenting design,
showrooms, galleries,
and exhibits by professionals and design
schools. For detailed festival program and tickets please visit: www.tallinndesignfestival.com
Sept. 15, Light in
the Kadriorg, Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn
At this one-night festival dedicated to light,
everyone is welcome
to attend and participate in everything for
free! This family event
is set in the romantic
Kadriorg Park and features fireworks, torches, candles, concerts,
Irish dancing, musical
fireworks, and so much
more. Hopefully, they’ll
remove the swans from
the pond before setting
off the fireworks — or
at least offer them ear-
10
IN&OUT
EVENT GUIDE
plugs and specially fitted welder’s masks. For
more information on
the event please visit:
www.kadriorupark.ee
Sept. 18, Estonian
Bread Day and Autumn Fair, Estonian
Open Air Museum,
Tallinn
No
wonder
that
only in Estonia one can
witness a large event
dedicated to... bread. It
makes sense as bread
has been the main provider of sustenance for
Estonians throughout
history and whenever
Estonians travel abroad
they are often disappointed that they can’t
find any “real bread.”
This event is always a
lot of fun though and
has loads of vendors
offering all sorts of authentic Estonian food
and handicraft items.
You can also have a look
at what Estonians have
eaten throughout history — but perhaps the
best reason to attend
is that you’ll have the
opportunity to sample
some fine, countrybrewed beer. Additional
information can be
found at: www.evm.ee
LATVIA
Sept. 10, Riga Flea
Market, Spikeri Creative
Quarter
and
Promenade, Riga
The
Riga
openair flea market takes
place every Saturday
in the Spikeri quarter,
where you can find old
knick-knacks and useful things, as well as
original design objects,
clothing, and fashion
accessories. The market
is set up in a spacious
and cozy square within
the quarter. Historically,
Spikeri was made up of
warehouses for goods
to be sold in Riga, so
this place isn’t foreign
to merchants, and the
market only revives that
atmosphere. Here you
can buy not only oldfashioned objects and
vintage items of clothing, but also new works
by young Latvian designers. Hurry up — the
final flea market of the
season will take place
on Sept. 10 from 11a.m.
till 4 p.m. Additional information is available
at: www.spikeri.lv
Aug. 31-Sept. 11,
Gastronomy Festival
and Riga Food Fair,
Kipsala International
Exposition
Centre,
Riga
It’s time for gourmets and you can be one
of them! Gastronomy
Festival, an opening
fringe event of Riga
Food Fair 2016, is taking place from Aug. 31
to Sept. 11. During the
festival,
restaurants,
cafes, bars, tea rooms,
wine bars, patisseries, pizzerias, gourmet
restaurants, and other
culinary tourism destinations offer special
prices, unconventional
menus, great discounts,
and excellent service.
Riga Food Fair is an excellent event for those
who love cooking as
much as eating. All visitors will have a great opportunity to enjoy food
and drinks and find out
more about the eatingout culture, get inspiration from a diversity of
menu ideas, taste new
products, and watch
professional chef, pastry cook, and bartender
competitions,
while
the participants (professionals) will be welcome to show off their
unique specialties and
reveal coziness of their
establishment, as well
as derive ideas, knowledge and information
for their further professional and business development. For more information please visit:
www.rigafood.com
Sept.
8,
Season
Opening Gala Concert,
Latvian National Opera House, Riga
The 2016/2017 season
opening will be celebrated with a gala concert,
featuring performances
by favorite local opera
and ballet soloists, as
well as international
performers. A preview
of the forthcoming season’s productions will
be presented to the audience. For more information on repertoire and
schedule please visit:
www.opera.lv
Sept. 10-11, White
Night 2016, various locations in Riga
White Night is a
modern urban culture
forum — one night a
year locals and tourists
are invited to enjoy a
vigil creativity aimed
to change their perception of environment and
cultural life. Metaphori-
cally speaking, white
nights mean “sleepless”
nights, and this year as
well in early September,
everyone is cordially invited to join the crowd
in experiencing a sleepless night full of surprises. A major nighttime event in Riga this
year is the opening of
the Sculpture-Quadriennale-Riga. The theme
this time is Conservatism vs. Liberalism. The
long list of entertainment includes contemporary art, music, and
dance circus acts, and
excursions into the sciences, literature, and
philosophy. All White
Night events can be attended free of charge
and are hosted in different parts of the city. The
most active locations
this year are in and near
the Spikeri Quarter, Old
Town, Miera Street, the
active centre of Riga as
well as the left bank of
River Daugava. White
Night forum in Riga is
organised by the City
Council in co-operation
with active Latvian culture organisations, including many Latvian
and foreign artists. The
forum is actively supported and joined by
local cafes, galleries,
bookstores, clubs, and
other enterprises. More
information about the
forum and locations can
be found at: www.baltanakts.lv
Sept. 14, Max Raabe
and Palast Orchester,
Riga Congress Centre
Sept. 17, Riga Ball
2016, The House of
Blackheads, Riga
Latvian singer Natalija Tumsevica and
ballroom dance champion Vjaceslavs Visnakovs have joined forces
to bring the grand cultural event, the Vienna
Ball, to Riga. The ornate
House of Blackheads in
Old Town is perfectly
suited for the Riga Ball
— its interior creates
the atmosphere of a
grand-scale ball from
the past. Fine dining
from 36.Line Restaurant and specially chosen drinks from Noble
Wine will be offered to
treat guests, accompanied by live music performances all night long
and an exquisite concert
program. The event requires strict dress code
— black tie for gents
and ball gown for the
ladies
(floor-length).
During the second part
of the ball the guests
will have a possibility, without leaving the
dance floor, to enjoy the
magic of such dances as
quick and slow foxtrots,
waltzes, tangos, rumba,
cha-cha-cha, and samba.
Tickets can be booked
and purchased by calling +371 28100843 or
writing to rigasballe@
inbox.lv
LITHUANIA
The ever-elegant musician is bringing to Latvia the concert program
Eine Nacht in Berlin (A
Night in Berlin), comprising compositions of
the Weimar period in
Germany in the 1920s
and 1930s. Eine Nacht in
Berlin is something far
more than a concert —
it is unforgettable emotions, a unique travel
in time to witness artists perform original
compositions from the
1920s and 1930s, as well
as fitting arrangements
of popular contemporary songs. Whenever
Max Raabe and Palast
Orchester perform, they
earn critical acclaim
and accolades, and such
epithets as charm, intelligence, a unique show,
refinement, and class
radiated from the stage.
For more information
on concert go to: www.
bilesuserviss.lv
Sept. 6-24, International Early Music
Festival
Banchetto
Musicale, the Palace
of the Grand Dukes
of Lithuania and the
Franciscan Monastery
Church, Vilnius
Now in its 26th year,
the early music festival
Banchetto Musicale is
again greeting September with a rich menu
of new ideas, extraordinary programs of music and dance, top performers, and stagings.
Starting on Sept. 6, the
festival will honour one
of the greatest English
poets and playwrights,
William Shakespeare,
on the 400th anniversary of his passing. Five
concerts will present
music that is associated
with the poet’s name,
his artistic legacy, and
creative contexts. More
information on the festival program and tickets
is available at: www.bmfestival.lt
Sept. 10-11, Festival
NowJapan 2016, Exhibition and Convention
Centre Litexpo, Vilnius
NowJapan is a festival of traditional and
contemporary
Japanese and East Asian
culture in Vilnius. This
autumn, for the eighth
time in a row, it will
bring tons of extraordinary and unforgettable
experience. The two-day
adventure (Sept. 10 and
11) will cover the intrigue of nowadays Japan on a tremendously
large scope. “The land
of the rising sun” is not
only about tea ceremony, geishas, or Samurai.
There’s much more to it:
cosplay, manga, anime,
geek, eGames, otaku —
these are the keywords
to enter the Japan of today. This year, festival’s
program gives special
attention to families and
the activities for family leisure time, offering
anime, Japanese theatre
for children, traditional
crafts, origami, and
mysterious calligraphy
workshops. NowJapan
festival will compound
areas for everyone’s
taste: Workshop space,
Entertainment
area,
Art Alley, Cinema Hall,
and, most importantly,
the Grand Stage with
amazing performances
and notable presentations from Lithuanian
and foreign speakers as
well as Cosplay stars.
Cosplay contest is the
main feature of the festival, inviting contestants to make a costume,
dress-up and impersonate their beloved characters from computer
games, movies, anime,
or manga comics. The
best one gets a chance
to represent Lithuania
at the European cosplay
convention in London!
More information on
the festival program is
available at www.nowjapan.lt, and tickets can
be purchased at:
www.bilietupasaulis.lt
Sept. 11, Vilnius
Marathon 2016, Cathedral Square, Vilnius
Now in its 11th year,
the annual Vilnius marathon takes place again
this September along
a route that takes in
Old Town, starting and
finishing in Cathedral
Square. There’s also a
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
in&out
Movie Guide
half-marathon and 4.2 km
family run. For more information please visit:
www.vilniausmaratonas.lt
Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016) — in cinemas Friday, Sept. 16
The much-anticipated third installment of the Bridget
Jones franchise will reunite Renee Zellweger and original installment helmer Maguire with Hugh Grant and Colin Firth
with Patrick Dempsey on board as a new love interest. Bridget
is back and (thankfully) a lot closer to the charmingly awkward Bridget we met in the first movie. Firth and Dempsey
are both great in their roles, and Emma Thompson is a genius
scene-stealer as usual.
After breaking up with Mark Darcy (Firth), Bridget Jones’
(Zellweger) “happily ever after” hasn’t quite gone according to
plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on
her job as top news producer and surround herself with old
friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything completely
under control. What could possibly go wrong?
Then her love life takes a turn and Bridget meets a dashing
American named Jack (Dempsey), the suitor who is everything
Mr. Darcy is not. In an unlikely twist she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch… she can only be fifty per cent sure of
the identity of her baby’s father. The plot deals with Bridget’s
uncertainty over whether the father of her baby is longterm
love-turned-ex Mark Darcy or newcomer Qwant.
For more info on this movie please visit the official webpage: www.bridgetjonesmovie.com
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Editor in chief: Linas Jegelevicius
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Web editor: Emma Ikstruma
Production design: Jeanna Baikova
Copy editor: Emma Ikstruma
11
Restaurant Pick
Situated in an old building
right in the heart of the city,
Momo Grill restaurant is a
lovely and charming place for
eating in the coastal Lithuanian city of Klaipeda. It’s
a small and cozy restaurant
with modern, democratic and
relaxed atmosphere along
with superb meat dishes that
attracts both tourists and locals.
The restaurant was designed by Ramunas Manikas,
Lithuanian interior designer
and photographer, who applied a well-thought out interior solution to the rather
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small venue, paying particular attention to the combinations of colors and textures:
black Scandinavian chairs
and furniture frames create
an almost sensual contrast as
they are set against the white
tiles of the walls, while the
coarsely-sanded plywood on
the tables adds an interesting
texture to the otherwise sleek
interior. An unusual thing
is that due to an open-space
concept restaurant guests
can interact with the staff by
watching the cooks work in
the kitchen.
Why not enjoy a proper
meal and spend some great
time? Come visit at 20 Liepu
gatve, Klaipeda. For reservations call +370 693 12355,
and more information on
restaurant can be found
at www.momogrill.lt and
www.ramunasmanikas.lt
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12
culture
The Kaunas Requiem born of ghost haunting
Lowfield Heath
RIPTION
FORM
SCRIPTION FORM
edition
print edition
and Europe
altics and Europe
portance, the Cultural
Heritage
Department
ensures that the building is well maintained.
On paper, this sounds
like a good thing, but
in reality what’s really
going on is that the average Lithuanian tax
payer (myself included)
contributes money every month to stop an
empty building from
falling down. There’s
quite a lot of ridiculous
nonsense going on in
Kaunas at the moment,
but this is probably the
stupidest example of
them all. What we’re
doing is offering to take
away this unnecessary
burden from the state
and to breathe life back
into the building.
like me to continue?
No, that’s quite
enough thank you.
There
are
two
schools of thought on
this issue. On the one
hand there are the angry people — many
Jews among them incidentally ― whose only
purpose in life appears
to be to stand on the
sideline and pour scorn
on Lithuania in general
and generalise the Lithuanians as all being Jew
killers. This is a political strategy that’s about
as useful as the proverbial chocolate teapot in
my opinion, and doesn’t
nothing to help solve
these issues. On the contrary in fact. And then
there’s a growing number of individuals who
realise that the problem
is ignorance, a great
deal of it originating in
schools and newspapers
(and, increasingly, on
social media). A lot of
Lithuanians I meet simply don’t know the full
history of their country and therefore end
up believing all sorts of
stupid things. This was
highlighted by the Lithuanian playwright
Marius Ivaskevicius’
recent article translated
into English in which he
described his own personal Road to Damascus
moment when the mask
fell and he realised the
Are you already a The Baltic Times subscriber?
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Not a Baltic Times subscriber yet? Subscribe now!
Three years ago, a collection of over 100 family photographs that
once belonged to a Litvak family from Kaunas, the Varsavskis, was
discovered.
Please, think if youa campaign
would like
use all attractive benefits The Baltic Times
to to
digitise
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can Please,
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youiflong
with
– always
information
news Times
of the Baltics,
youprocess
would
toup-to-date
use all attractive
benefitsabout
The Baltic
oflike
identifyingand
the exclusive
family. Using
people
reflecting
independent
reports
interviews
withinformation
the most influential
can provide
you
with
– always
up-to-date
about news
of the
Baltics,
the magic of social media andfinancial
the exclusive
generous
the political,
economic,
and cultural
life inwith
thethe
region.
independent
reports
and
interviews
most influential people reflecting
support of a wide range
of volunteers,
we notand cultural life in the region.
the political, economic,
financial
ry is properly respected.
As a photographer who
understands the power
of images, it seemed
like a good idea to set up
the International Centre for Litvak Photography, the organisers of
a wide range of events
including The Kaunas
Requiem.
The Kaunas Requiem?
Indeed, The Kaunas
Requiem. It’s a long story, but basically three
years ago I discovered
a collection of over 100
family
photographs
that once belonged to
a Litvak family from
Kaunas. The story was
that someone from the
family, someone at the
time unknown, managed to smuggle the
photographs out of the
Kaunas Ghetto where
they were incarcerated
before vanishing in the
flames of the Holocaust.
I realised the photographs were important
in some way and started
only managed to idenRidiculous nonsense?
tify the family but also
Ridiculous
nondiscovered they have
famous living relatives
in the United States. We
also discovered that the
mother of the family,
Anna Varsavskiene, was
a professional singer.
These and other related
facts led me to commissense!
The
Kaunas
sion a 75-year-long
piececountries.
e three
of music, which, along street named after one
with copies of the pho- of the architects of the
tographs and some large Holocaust in Lithuprojections, will start in- ania. The mass murder
side the abandoned New site in the middle of
Sanciai Synagogue in the city that organises
Kaunas next Saturday children’s parties. The
synagogue
evening (Sept. 27). The unmarked
synagogue belongs to where you can get your
the Lithuanian state in- car serviced. Would you
cidentally, and our NGO
is currently in the early
stages of trying to buy
it for 1 euro and bring it
back to life as a cultural
The Baltic centre
Times
offer
forsubscription
the city.
One euro?!
Aha. It’s quite a
lot of money isn’t it? I
mean, we really should
get it for free, but that’s
Title
capitalism
for you. It’s
Are you already a The Baltic Times
subscriber?
a stunningly beautiful
If yes, kindly check your subscription – it might be expired soon. Then it is theName
best
building
constructed
time to renew it now.
VAT is not
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during
the interwar peVATriod.
is not
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Company
Because
of its hisNot a Baltic Times subscriber
yet?
Subscribe
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EUR imyear 2 years Period torical and cultural
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TBT Online version is accessible at our web-site www.baltictimes.com. It provides
but this is no reason to
TBT
Onlinetoversion
accessible
at our web-site
provides
useful
options
searchisarticles
published
from 1998www.baltictimes.com.
through the present Itand
includes
celebrate the British
or to even make
to search
articles
published from 1998 through the present and Empire
includes
countries.
dailyuseful
news options
update from
the three
excuses for it. It was a
brutal regime and I for
daily news update from th
one am glad it no longer
Title
The Baltic Times is the only Englishlanguage newspaper in the three Baltic States.
The Baltic Times is a general news weekly
with permanent News, Business, Finance,
Opinion, Out&About, Sports, Outlook, Real
Estate and Jobs sections. Every week an
additional special section focusing on different
business and branches of economy is
published.
Holocaust in Lithuania
is a Lithuanian issue,
not a strictly Jewish
one. More and more people are realising this,
and realising too that
it’s ok for your country
to have some pretty dark
moments in history. As
an Englishman I know
this better than most.
Our national cuisine is
Indian, a direct result
of the British Empire,
If yes, kindly check your subscription – it might be expired soon. Then it is the best
timeIftoyes,
renew
it now.
kindly
check your subscription – it might be expired soon. Then it is the best
time to renew it now.
photo :Varsavskis family album
An ambitious and
distinctly unusual arts
in Lithuania
Times is event
the only
English- to
mark the 75th anniverwspaper in thesary
threeofBaltic
States.
the Holocaust
Baltic
Times
is
the
only
Times is a general
weeklyEnglishopens news
in Kaunas
on
age
in the 17.
threeThe
BalticBaltic
States.
nentnewspaper
News, Sept.
Business,
Finance,
Times’
occasional
Arts
Baltic TimesSports,
is
a general
news
weekly
ut&About,
Outlook,
Real
correspondent
Lowfield
permanent News,
Business,
Finance,
Heath
visited
Lithuania
Jobs sections.
Every
week
an
to talk
to the
Kaunason, Out&About,
Sports,
Outlook,
Real
pecial section based
focusing
on
different
English photograe and Jobs sections.
Every week an
nd branches pher
of Richard
economySchofield
is
onal special section
on different
about focusing
The Kaunas
Requiem, aofhugely
ambi-is
ess and branches
economy
tious experimental projshed.
to be launched
Times hasecta due
comprehensive
in the city next month
and
network
in Estonia,
under
auspices of
Baltic Times
has the
aLatvia
comprehensive
ncludingnetwork
airports
and airlines,
his singularly
unusual
Latvia
and
bution
in Estonia,
NGO, trade
the International
els
and
restaurants,
fairs
and
ania includingCentre
airports
and
airlines,
for Litvak Photravel
agencies,
newsstands
and
. It’strade
a lazy
rts,
hotels
andtography
restaurants,
fairs afand
ternoon in the old town,
itions, travel and
agencies,
newsstands
and
Richard
and myself are drinking cups
stores.
Times is widely
readclose
all over
the milof tea
to the
dew-waftingreside
n.
Our Times
major is
subscribers
in ofthe
Baltic
widely readcarcase
all over
Kaunas’ former Jewish
Scandinavia,
and Central
c region. Our Western
major
subscribers
reside in
Hospital.
Tell
me
if
you
can
North
America.
Our
readership
altic, Scandinavia, Western and Central
just exactly what it is
eignandembassies,
international
and
pe
North you’re
America.
Our readership
doing.
businesses,
a wideinternational
range
and foreign
That’s
an
easyofone.
des
embassies,
and
Less than
80 years ago
agencies,
academic
establishments
a wide range of
NGO and businesses,
there were over 200,000
persons
in 40 countries
all establishments
over the
nment agencies,
academic
Litvaks
(Lithuanian
Jews)
in
rivate persons in 40 countriesLithuania
all over the
whose loyalties to the
.
country stretched back
Times Onlinecenturies.
available They’re
at TBT not
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earch articles published
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nspresent
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from 1998
quiet published
forest
all
andarticles
includes
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news
over
the
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before
ghwith
theitspresent
and
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regular
coverage.
being shot and buried
e along with itsinregular
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them. I’m
haunted by
these ghosts and refuse
to rest until their memo-
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is included
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The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
13
culture
Aiste Ptakauske
The annual Tytuvenai Summer Festival
has ended with a world
premiere of a concerto
for violin and chamber
orchestra with winds
by esteemed American
composer David Aaron
Jaffe. The concerto was
performed in a packed
church of the Tytuvenai
monastery by America’s
leading contemporary
violinist Karen Bentley
Pollick and the Lithuanian National Opera
and Ballet Theatre Orchestra conducted by
maestro Robertas Servenikas.
Celebrity admitted
his Lithuanian
heritage
Being known as a
composer and audio
software architect of an
international
reputation, he has written over
90 works and has taught
at Princeton, Stanford,
Melbourne University,
and University of California in San Diego. His
Silicon Valley Breakdown for synthesised
plucked strings is regarded as a landmark of
computer music.
How did it happen
that these two internationally renowned
musicians came to
Tytuvenai, a small
Lithuanian town with
the population of less
than 3,000 people,
mostly known to pilgrims who come here
to visit the Tytuvenai
monastery regarded
as one of the gems of
the Baroque architecture in Eastern Europe?
“I am very happy to
be for the first time in
Lithuania where three
of my four grandparents were born,” was
the opening sentence of
David A. Jaffe’s pre-concert talk.
The audience exploded with applause.
“I think it was very
important to the people
of Tytuvenai,” Karen
Bentley Pollick later
commented on this revelation.
I also thought that
this news came as a
surprise. David A. Jaffe
came to Vilnius a week
before the premiere. He
worked with the orchestra, the conductor, and
the soloist through all
rehearsals of the concerto. He gave a talk to
composition and electronic music students
at the Lithuanian Music
and Theatre Academy.
He met with the Chairwoman of the Lithuanian Composers’ Union.
And he did not mention
his Lithuanian heritage
once until the very last
day of his visit.
“As a kid, I was not
even sure of the geography of my grandpar-
ents’ birthplace,” David
A. Jaffe explained when
I asked him what he
knew about Lithuania
before actually visiting
it.
“They came to the
US before World War
One. I knew they were
from Vilna (they always
called it the Yiddish
name). But Vilna was
not even necessarily a
part of Lithuania when
my grandparents were
there. So sometimes I
heard they were from
Poland, sometimes I
heard they were from
Russia, but I knew for
sure they were from Vilna. Until I arrived here,
Vilnius was a vague
place on the map to me,
somewhat surreal. So
it is very enlightening
to have it become a real
place.”
Last-minute decision on Lithuanian
folk music inclusion
It turns out the composer’s
grandparents
never talked about their
homeland much. The
only cultural legacy that
David A. Jaffe inherited
from his ancestors was
the Yiddish language
and folk music.
“My
grandfather
was a mandolin player.
So was my father. At the
turn of the 20th century
in New York City there
were a lot of mandolin
orchestras. My father
played in them. I learned
a lot of music from him,
mostly, Yiddish and European folk tunes,” the
composer reminisces.
In fact, David A. Jaffe
was initially thinking
of including Lithuanian
folk music into his concerto “How did it Get so
Late so Soon?” But the
more he thought about
this intention, the more
he realised that he did
not know enough about
Lithuanian folk music
to make it meaningful to
Lithuanian audiences.
“I have used a lot
of Yiddish music that I
learned from my father,
instead,” the composer
explains. “Of course, often what I thought was
Yiddish music many
times was not Yiddish
music at all. It could be
Bulgarian or something
else … These tunes were
simply things that my
father had heard and
learned on the mandolin. Then I learned
them from him. It is an
influence on which I
often draw in my music. The folk is part of
my language that helps
me cross time and continents. When they appear in my music, folk
elements often symbolise grassroots strength
and creativity of people
in the face of difficult
economic or political
situations.”
David A. Jaffe took
the title of the concerto
from a short poem by
Dr. Seuss who was a po-
photo : http://jaffe.com
Worldwide famous composer pays tribute to his homeland,Vilna (Vilnius)
Esteemed American composer David Aaron Jaffe is proud of his Lithuanian heritage.
litical cartoonist during the Great Depression. Later, he wrote
children’s books whose
characters were magical
creatures that the author invented himself.
All of these stories always had an allegorical
moral, usually, making
fun of power and selfishness. The composer
chose this title for a reason: “The title means
a number of different
things to me, and one of
them is the idea of my
grandparents, big geographical distances, and
time passing so quickly.
Music is uniquely able
to convey meaning that
is very difficult to convey in other art forms.
You have counterpoint
and you have pitch so
you can basically say
multiple things at the
same time that may be
contradictory and still
make sense.
“The theme of Dr.
Seuss’s stories and the
theme of connection in
time may seem to have
nothing in common,
but to me they are related in the sense that
Dr. Seuss grew up during the time of Depression when there was a
lot of folk music, a lot
of which was played by
people who were having
a hard time. I may not
know much about Lithuania, but I know enough
to realise that Lithuanian people have lived
through many struggles. So when I was looking for stories that could
draw the audience into
my thought process and
give them images to associate my music with,
I was looking for stories
to which Lithuanian audience could relate.”
Concert given
for free
So David A. Jaffe
chose the following
three stories as the
source material for the
three movements of
his violin concerto: a
story about a tyrannical turtle who climbed
on other turtles’ backs
so that he could reach
the stars and rule over
the universe, but was
overthrown by a sneeze
of a little turtle at the
bottom of the pyramid;
a story of two creatures
who would not give way
to each other on a narrow bridge; and a story
of one race of magical creatures who oppressed another race of
magical creatures because the latter did not
have stars on their bellies, both races reconciled when they had to
unite against a greedy
opportunist who started
removing from and adding stars to bellies for
money.
One more extraordinary fact about the
world-premiere of David A. Jaffe’s violin concerto in Tytuvenai, as if
there were not enough:
the composer donated
the concerto to the Tytuvenai Summer Festival
for free.
“We made efforts to
do fundraising, but we
were not very successful,” admitted the composer before adding, “So
I decided I was going to
do it anyway because it
was an opportunity to
work with a good conductor, a good orchestra,
a good violinist, and to
see Lithuania for the
first time.”
“If one is a musician, one wakes up every morning and must
play or be involved in
music somehow. There
is no choice in the matter,” firmly asserts violinist Karen Bentley
Pollick, who played the
solo part at the world
premiere of “How did it
Get so Late so Soon?” in
Tytuvenai. “The crime
would be to not do it if
you have an idea. So we
did this beautiful project. This whole event
was beyond my wildest
dreams. It was an opportunity of a lifetime
for David A. Jaffe. He
worked extremely hard
on this since May 2016.
I believe this will be
his signature piece. My
dream is that future, especially American, violinists will want to play
it. David A. Jaffe is currently re-orchestrating
the piece for a chamber
orchestra in Boulder,
Colorado. On that programme there will also
be Appalachian Spring
by Aaron Copland originally commissioned for
Martha Graham.”
“‘I find
Lithuanian
music very
compelling.
I noticed that
Lithuanian
composers use
minimalist
composition
techniques,
but their
root material
derives
from folk
music. There
is a certain
rhythmical
element in
Lithuanian
classical
music that
makes it so
compelling.
It is pulsing. I
would
love to
perform many
of
these pieces,’
Karen Bentley
Pollick said.”
Lithuanian
element of musical programme ahead
Pollick moved back
to Evergreen, Colorado
only 10 weeks ago. Before that, she lived in
Lithuania for two and a
half years.
“My husband used to
work in the Belarusian
college in exile here, the
European Humanities
University, and he is of
Belarusian
heritage,
which explains why I
would be here in Lithuania for two and a half
years,” says the violinist. “I believe that if life
offers you a path and a
chapter, you have to take
what it has to offer.”
Pollick’s
biggest
takeaway from her two
and a half years in Lithuania, in her opinion, is
her acquaintance with
Lithuanian music.
“I find Lithuanian
music very compelling,”
states the musician.
“I noticed that Lithuanian composers use
minimalist composition
techniques, but their
root material derives
from folk music. There
is a certain rhythmical
element in Lithuanian
classical music that
makes it so compelling.
It is pulsing. I would
love to perform many of
these pieces,” she said.
Pollick turns out
to be a woman of her
word. She has already
added a few pieces by
Lithuanian composers
to her solo programme,
Violin, Viola, and Video
Virtuosity, that she will
perform on Sept. 22 in
Klaipeda, at the Music of Change festival
(“Permainu muzika”).
“I like to think about
this entire project as an
autobiographical piece
with many chunks: people I have met and made
art with,” the violinist
reflected on her upcoming performance.
“The Lithuanian element of the programme
will be a lyrical piece
by Gediminas Gelgotas
called To the Skies, Loreta Narvilaite’s solo
piece for violin, Zibuokle Martinaityte’s
beautiful
13-minute
piece called Serenity
Diptychs. The grand finale of the programme
will be Duetto con Bobik, American composer Brian C. Moon’s piece
featuring my late hound
dog’s singing, which I
play to a video created
by Lithuanian director
Aiste Ptakauske,” she
says.
Pollick will continue
showcasing the abovementioned Lithuanian
music and video art in
her Violin, Viola, and
Video Virtuosity programme all around the
world. She has already
got
a
performance
scheduled in New York
City on Sept. 28. She
will give a repeat performance of David A.
Jaffe’s violin concerto
“How did it get so Late
so Soon?” with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra,
conducted by maestro
Bahman Saless, in Boulder, Colorado on Nov. 11,
Veterans Day.
14
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
ukraine
Ukrainian government needs a nudge in tackling Crimean crisis
Ukraine’s future is largely
dependent on the resolution
of Crimean crisis. If our
country starts the legal deoccupation of the peninsula,
the entire civilised world will
support it with such intention. And vice versa, the continuous passive position will
cause serious frustration of
the international community.
Two years ago Ukraine
lost Crimea. During this time
the Ukrainian government
did not take any decisive steps
towards the de-occupation of
the peninsula. They were never able to develop a comprehensive strategic programme
to return the lost territories.
The decisions that were taken
in this direction were mostly
populist. For example, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided to create a free economic
zone in the peninsula which
allowed opening casinos. At
the same time, the cities of
Crimea were renamed within
the decommunisation process. However, all of these
orders remained on paper for
one simple reason — today
Ukraine does not control the
situation in Crimea in any
way, shape, or form.
Consequently, for Ukrainians, the Crimean topic has
been lost among other more
acute and urgent matters. We
are talking about the military conflict in the East of
Ukraine provoked by Russia
in April 2014. In two years,
approximately 10 thousand
people have become victims
of this conflict. The number
of internally displaced persons from the Lugansk and
Donetsk regions has exceeded
1 million.
A severe economic crisis
has played its part in this situation. This has forced Ukrainians to think more about the
many problems it has given
rise to. Therefore, it is international partners who cared
about the fate of the annexed
peninsula. They introduced
anti-Russian economic sanctions and promised not to
remove them until Crimea
would be returned to Ukraine.
Recently, the situation on
the peninsula started playing the first fiddle in the news
of the Ukrainian and foreign
media again. Independent experts and politicians are now
giving it more attention. Ordinary citizens are also demonstrating increased interest
in the topic. Some of them are
watching the development
of the Crimean events, with
fear that the current RussianUkrainian conflict in Crimea
may move into a heated phase.
The fact is that Russia has
decided to toughen its position on the Crimean issue.
The rights of the local populations are grossly violated.
First and foremost, it concerns the indigenous people
— Crimean Tatars. They are
photo : http://aeaep.com.ua
Alexey Starodubov
Alexey Starodubov is director of the Crimean Experts’ Centre.
going through real repressions: fabricated criminal
cases, prohibition of activities of NGOs, opposition media, and so forth.
However, Russia is not limited to the strictly Crimean
Tatar theme. It actively portrays Ukraine as an enemy. In
early August, Russia accused
Ukraine of terrorism. In order to prove the point Russia came up with a story of
a Ukrainian sabotage and intelligence group, which allegedly planned to sabotage strategic facilities in the Crimea.
Such a development suggests that in the near future
Kyiv and Moscow are unlikely to find a compromise on the
Crimean conflict. This means
that Ukraine should form a
strong policy aimed at both
the short- and long-term period, taking into account national interests.
First of all, a number of
important steps should be
taken. One of them would
be filing a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice
regarding the illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory
by Russia. Thus, Ukraine will
formalise its status quo and
clarify its standpoint on the
Crimean crisis. Ukraine’s
position here has to be very
clear: the territorial integrity
of Ukraine has been violated
and therefore Kyiv is trying to
restore it through the framework of international law.
These actions comply
with the principles of the international community. One
of them is respect for the
sovereignty and territorial
integrity of States and the
recognition of their borders.
Therefore, Ukraine can count
on the decision of the UN International Court of Justice
in its favour.
Filing a lawsuit against
Russia in the International
Court of Justice provides a
second benefit. The proceedings can take a long time, and
until the court has given its
decision, Ukraine could turn
to its partner countries, so
that they do not remove the
economic sanctions against
Russia. Their effectiveness
has been proven to work as
the stagnation processes intensifies in the Russian economy.
The establishment of an
international working group,
which would be created to
assist the resolution of the
Crimean crisis, is no less a
serious and urgent step for
Ukraine. As such, it should
become an analogue of the
Minsk negotiation process.
Respected politicians and experts from Ukraine’s security
guarantor countries, who are
interested in the full resolution of the Crimean conflict
between Ukraine and Russia,
should be members of the
group.
The need for such a group
is obvious. Today, there is no
international observer in
Crimea. This allows Russia
to form a favourable situation
for itself on the peninsula. All
of the local events are inter-
preted in the most flattering
light for Russia. Hence the international community often
does not know how and what
is really going on in Crimea.
The task of the international working group is
to monitor the situation in
Crimea on a daily basis and to
make this information public.
This will cool the hot heads
of those in Moscow who are
looking for any excuse for
the deterioration of relations
with Ukraine and are ready to
use it even for armed conflict.
The story of the so-called
Ukrainian sabotage and intelligence group is proof of this.
The competence of the
international working group
should also include issues
relating to the situation of
human rights protection on
the peninsula. In particular,
transnational issues, religious freedom, speech freedom, and others.
It is important that an international working group
would record the incurred
Ukraine’s economic, cultural, and other losses. Ukraine
has lost a large source of
raw materials in Crimea as
a result of the annexation.
There are still many Ukrainian enterprises, including
those that were built in the
period of independence. We
are talking about both state
and private property. For example, Chernomorneftegaz,
Theodosia Oil Terminal State
Enterprise,Simferopol International Airport, a number of
State ports, and others. Right
now Russia actively uses all
of these. In addition, recently
38 paintings were taken from
The Aivazovsky National Art
Gallery to Moscow for the
Russian National Exhibition.
Tracking the corresponding Ukrainian losses by the
working group will allow
them to address issues of restructuring the external debt
more easily.
By initiating an appeal
to the International Court
of Justice and by an international
working
group,
Ukraine sends a signal to the
world that it is not indifferent
about the fate of Crimea and
is ready to fight for it. In the
short term, Ukraine is hardly
able to wait for immediate
positive changes. However,
these actions will testify that
it is seeking them.
Therefore, in the long
term we can already expect a
positive decision of the International Court of Justice and
compensation of economic
damage suffered as a result of
Crimea’s annexation. Kyiv’s
role will increase substantially through this activity. It will
become a full-fledged player
on the world political arena.
Its opinion will be more valued and listened to.
However, the second scenario is possible and it is
more pessimistic. Ukraine
will continue to monitor the
developments of the Crimean
crisis and will not attempt to
actively influence its resolution. In this case there is a
risk of lifting of sanctions on
Russia, which Russia seeks.
The West cannot recognise
the annexation of Crimea
and enter the close political
and economic relations with
Russia at the same time. In
this case, Ukraine becomes
irrelevant.
“Two years ago
Ukraine
lost Crimea.
During this
time
the Ukrainian
government
did not take any
decisive steps
towards the deoccupation of
the peninsula.
They were never
able to develop a
comprehensive
strategic
programme
to return the
lost territories.
For example,
Verkhovna
Rada of Ukraine
decided
to create a free
economic
zone in the
peninsula which
allowed opening
casinos.
However, all of
these
orders remained
on paper for
one simple
reason — today
Ukraine does
not control the
situation in
Crimea in any
way, shape, or
form.”
Moreover, Russia may
already claim economic imperatives against Ukraine. It
can even accuse Ukraine of financing terrorism and appeal
to the International Court of
Justice. This is a real threat,
since Russia is already talking about it.
The choice is up to the
Ukrainian authorities. Today,
the initiative is precisely in
their hands. It is very important that the Ukrainian Government takes decisive actions for the resolution of the
Crimean issue.
Alexey Starodubov is director of Crimean expert
centre.
Poroshenko: Russia won’t be allowed to establish Donbas protectorate
UNIAN
Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko said that Russia
will not be allowed to establish a protectorate in Donbas,
eastern Ukraine, according to
a UNIAN correspondent.
“Russia wants to turn
the areas it has occupied in
Donetsk and Luhansk regions into, as someone said,
a ‘Donbas’ protectorate, and
infiltrate it into Ukraine on
its own terms to undermine
us from inside,” Poroshenko
said during his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada
on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
“Let me be clear: We won’t
allow this and this will never
happen,” he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin said that
the autonomy of Donbas
might weaken Ukraine and
even break it up, as Russia
wants.
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
15
commentary
Jacek Rostowski
A Donald Trump presidency would be a catastrophe
for NATO and the West. Aside
from threatening to withdraw
the United States from the
North American Free Trade
Agreement and to start a
trade war with China, Trump
praises Russian President
Vladimir Putin and suggests
that America should not honour its commitment to defend
its NATO allies unless they
pay more for that protection.
Although Trump’s chances are slipping away by the
day, the European Union
should consider his candidacy a wake-up call regarding its own defense. The EU’s
total GDP is slightly higher
than America’s, yet it contributes only 25 per cent of
NATO’s defense budget, while
the US accounts for 72 per
cent, and Canada and Turkey
supply the rest.
If Russia attempted a
conventional incursion into
NATO territory, and was
defeated, it might consider
launching a nuclear first
strike in Europe. After all, unlike the Soviet Union, Russia
has not ruled out the offensive use of nuclear weapons.
In such a scenario, America’s nuclear umbrella would
amount to Europe’s only credible protection. But if the US
retaliated against a Russian
nuclear strike, it would risk
facing a Russian counterstrike on its own territories
or forces. Such is the grim
logic of mutually assured destruction.
Why should the US risk
so much for a continent that
gives short shrift to its own
conventional defense capabilities? This is not an unreasonable question to ask, and
where previous US presidents
have feared to tread, a populist demagogue has rushed in.
One problem is that NATO
members’ commitment to
spend at least 2 per cent of its
GDP on defense is not nearly
enough. The US spends 3.5
per cent of its GDP on defense, and there is no reason
why the EU should be spending less than the US, given the
manifold threats it faces, from
Russia to terrorist incitement
by the Islamic State.
Moreover, most European
NATO countries’ defense
spending falls short of the
obligatory 2 per cent of GDP,
with only the United Kingdom, Poland, Greece, and
Estonia maintaining defense
spending at or above that
level. This complacency has
become so entrenched that an
agreement at the 2014 NATO
summit in Newport, Wales,
that no member would cut defense spending any further —
and another agreement this
year to meet the 2 per cent
target — was seen as a major
breakthrough.
The problem is not that
EU countries are inherently
unreliable. It’s that they have
tied their hands with fiscal
austerity. I experienced this
firsthand as Poland’s finance
minister during and after the
2008 financial crisis. On two
occasions when I suddenly
had to cut spending to comply with the EU’s Stability
Jacek Rostowski is Poland’s former
Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime
Minister
photo : alchetron.com
Taking Trump seriously about NATO
and Growth Pact (SGP), a 1997
agreement among EU member states to enforce fiscal responsibility, I had few options
other than to cut the defense
budget.
Fortunately, Poland’s 1998
Public Finance Act requires
that 1.95 per cent of GDP be
spent on defense. So, after the
immediate crisis was over,
Polish defense spending returned to its NATO-mandated
level.
This points to a possible
solution: the US should restructure the NATO collective-defense commitment so
that it is self-policing — what
economists call “incentivecompatible.”
For starters, EU countries’
defense
spending
should
be excluded from the SGP.
France has long pushed for
this, but Germany — which
spends a meager 1.2 per cent
of its GDP on defense — opposes it, claiming that it
would open a Pandora’s box
of other demands and exclusions.
In 2015, then-Polish Prime
Minister Ewa Kopacz proposed that if the full defense
budget could not be excluded
from the SGP, at least increases in defense spending up to
the 2 per cent-of-GDP NATO
commitment should be exempted for one year. Poland
would not have benefited, because it had already fulfilled
the NATO requirement; but
the change would have made
it easier for other European
members to meet their commitments.
Germany rejected the Polish proposal — again on the
grounds of Pandora’s box.
But, if anything, Kopacz’s
proposal was too modest.
Global politics has become
even more precarious since
last year. With the US looking more toward Asia, where
China’s unilateral assertion
of territorial claims in the
South China Sea has jeopardised regional stability, it
may become stretched too
thin to provide a credible
deterrent to Russian aggression, especially when it takes
the form of unconventional,
hybrid attacks.
The EU should respond to
these changing geopolitical
dynamics by adopting the Polish proposal and extending it
for more than one year. The
SGP should exempt increases
in general defense spending
for five years, and increases
in spending on equipment
procurement for ten years.
And that’s not all: the European Commission should be
able to waive the 2 per cent-ofGDP exemption limit for individual countries or for the
EU as a whole, depending on
external security risks and
economic needs.
This change will not be
easy, but the US must insist
on it, despite continued German resistance in the name
of supposed fiscal rectitude.
Germany, which has loudly
demanded that Greece keep
its promises to the EU, is now
standing in the way of NATO
members’ ability to meet
their commitments to collective defense. Worse still, Germany’s misguided imposition
of austerity on the euro zone
has undermined European
political cohesion, thereby
opening the door for Russian
revanchism and aggression.
Trump is right about one
thing: NATO allies should
pull their weight. But that
message should be sent to
Germany, not Estonia. The US
should tell Germany — in the
same no-nonsense terms that
Germany used with Greece —
that it cannot defer to the US
for its security while undermining Western unity to protect its taxpayers from possible intra-eurozone liabilities.
As the EU’s de facto leader,
Germany should be making it
easier, not harder, for NATO
members to meet their obligations to collective defense.
It can start by embracing
the Polish proposal — and it
should move forward from
there.
Jacek Rostowski was Poland’s Minister of Finance
and Deputy Prime Minister
from 2007 to 2013. This commentary initially appeared
on ednet.project-syndicate.
org
Kestutis Girnius
The US elections are
the most important in the
world. Because decisions
taken in Washington resonate
throughout the planet and
have far-reaching effects on
the lives of millions, some philosophers have even claimed
that non-citizens should have
some say in determining who
will be the US president for
the next four years. This is a
pipe-dream, since the US has
no intention of transforming
itself in the universal state so
desired by institutional cosmopolitans, particularly now
when the outside world seems
so menacing to many Americans.
We are living in troubling
times, so these elections have
an added significance. A resurgent and aggressive Russia is challenging the postSoviet order, the Middle East
is mired in multiple conflicts,
international terrorism is
growing, China is more assertive in its claims to dominion
in the South China Sea. The
European Union, Washington’s closest ally, is fraying,
unable to find a solution to
mass immigration, anemic
economic growth, the rise of
populist anti-establishment
political parties. And then
there is the Republican Party’s candidate Donald Trump,
whose character and his utterances are deeply troubling.
He has promised to build a
wall on the Mexican-US border to keep out migrants, deport 11 million illegal aliens,
bar Muslims from entering
the country. Many recent US
presidents, including Bill
Clinton, George W. Bush, and
Barack Obama, were foreign
policy neophytes, but foreign
policy is not rocket science
and a basic competence can
“Clinton is not
a saviour, but a
deeply flawed
candidate, considered
untrustworthy
and dishonest
by a majority
of Americans.
Assertions that she is
supremely qualified
to be president
are risible. While
Clinton is extremely
knowledgeable about
policy matters, she
lacks judgment about
matters both private
and public.”
be acquired in a startlingly
short period. What is far more
worrying is Trump’s supreme
self-confidence, vanity, and
inability to comprehend the
depth of his ignorance, factors that ensure that he will
remain benighted.
There is a bright side. Bar-
photo : www.tspmi.vu.lt
White House race: Great challenges, flawed candidates
Kestutis Girnius is of US descent,
currently teaching at the Institute of
International Relations and Political
Science at Vilnius University.
ring a new scandal Hillary
Clinton seems sure to defeat
Trump. The Baltic States
are rooting for Clinton to
win, since she is a firm supporter of the Baltic States
and reliably anti-Putin. She
also believes in American exceptionalism and a forceful
foreign policy. In contrast to
Obama, she does not intend
to “lead from behind.” She
supported the Iraq invasion,
was instrumental in getting
Obama to agree to the disastrous intervention in Libya,
and has called for a US military role in Syria. Clinton
could well decide to increase
substantially military aid for
Ukraine, a move that would
cheer many Baltic politicians.
But such “forceful policies”
can be counterproductive.
The military interventions
of George W. Bush weakened
rather than strengthened the
US, and undermined its soft
power.
Conventional
wisdom
holds that a Trump presidency would be a disaster for the
Baltics. It is one thing to call
for all NATO members to pay
their fair share of the common defense, it is quite another to suggest that Washington’s commitment to defend
its neighbours is conditional
on their fulfilling certain obligations, particularly when
NATO’s credibility is based
on the belief that its defense
of fellow members is unconditional and automatic. Trump
has praised Putin as a forceful leader, better than Barack
Obama. In turn, Putin does
not hide his hope that Trump
will be the next occupant of
the White House. There is
reason to fear that Trump
would be either consciously
pro-Russian or a more traditional “useful fool,” easily
manipulated by the Kremlin.
Or else that he would seek “to
make America great again”
by pursuing isolationist policies. While such concerns are
grounded, several provisos
are in order. Trump’s reactions are so unforeseeable,
his policies so disruptive that
they may confound the potential puppet master in the
Kremlin. Moreover, bipartisan opposition would seriously limit Trump’s efforts redirect the course of US strategy.
Clinton is not a saviour,
but a deeply flawed candidate,
considered
untrustworthy
and dishonest by a majority of Americans. Assertions that she is supremely
qualified to be president are
risible. While Clinton is ex-
tremely knowledgeable about
policy matters, she lacks judgment about matters both private and public. Note her decisions to use a private email
server while Secretary of
State, to address special interest groups for huge payments,
her failure to distance herself
from the Clinton Foundation.
No president can aspire to
greatness if she cannot inspire her fellow citizens, win
their trust and confidence.
Clinton cannot.
Matters are further complicated by the fact that the
US government has been
largely dysfunctional for the
last six years because of the
intransigence of the Republican Party and its bitter animosity toward Obama. Deadlock is sure to continue, if
not increase during a Clinton
presidency, unless the Democratic Party wins control of
both houses of Congress, a
very unlikely occurrence.
Clinton should win, thus
preventing
Trump
from
becoming the most powerful man in the world. Her
presidency will not be transformative, she will not roll
back Russia or force Putin to
change his policies (although
economic difficulties might
induce moderation). But one
can hope that she will be a
steady leader, cognizant and
appreciative of the ties that
bind the US and the Baltic
States.
16
The Baltic Times
september 8, 2016 – september 21, 2016
remembrance
“It is not ‘us’ and ‘them’
any longer...”
I cannot help but compare
the March in Moletai with
another recent commemoration of the 75th anniversary
of another awful crime of the
Shoah, the Kielce pogrom in
Poland. Despite many efforts
to run a representative event
of commemoration by those
who care, we saw very few
people in attendance, mostly
the foreign relatives of the
survivors of that absolutely
black page of Polish Holocaust history. Present there
was just one low ranking official from the administration of the president of Poland who did not say a word
at the small, short, extremely
sad, and almost non-existent
ceremony. On the very same
day of that utterly shameful
“During the
March, a small
girl who got
tired along
the way asked
her mother:
‘Why do we
have to go so
far, mummy?’
And her young
mother told
her, in Russian:
‘Many years
ago, a little girl
and her mom,
similar to us,
were forced to
go all the way
on this road
too. At the end
of this road,
they were
murdered.
Today, we are
walking the
path for them.’
And the girl
did continue to
march bravely
despite being
quite tired.”
episode, the minister of education of Poland made herself internationally infamous
calling a very well-known
and documented factual side
of that pogrom in Kielce “a
matter of opinion” on Polish
TV, to the visible shock of the
presenter.
For some reason, the acting Polish authorities very
persistently neglect the core
element in the current perception of the Holocaust and
post-Holocaust legacy: that
the truth about that terrible,
relatively recent past is badly
needed for societies in which
both the war crimes and moral atrocities were committed.
Back in Lithuania, the
March of Living in Moletai
has been true to its name,
and it is really encouraging.
Among the comments on my
first reaction to the March,
there has been one from a
young Lithuanian journalist
who is interested in history
and its lessons: “This is a historic day. From today one, it
is ‘us’ in Lithuania, and not
anymore ‘us’ against ‘them.’”
I personally find this kind of
development precious.
Dr Inna Rogatchi is a
writer, scholar, filmmaker,
and public figure, co-founder and president of The Rogatchi Foundation — www.
rogatchi.org. She is the author of internationally acclaimed The Lessons of Survival film on Simon Wiesenthal — www.rogatchifilms.
org/lessons-of-survival — a
series of historical analyses
on Raoul Wallenberg, and
of the forthcoming book on
the Post-Holocaust Legacy
and its Challenges.
When stones speak...
photo : www.rogatchi.org
by real people, among whom
the prevailing majority were
non-Jews. The majority of attendants were Lithuanians,
but there were people coming
from Latvia, Russia, Belarus,
Poland, to join the hands with
relatives of the victims who
did fly in from Israel, South
Africa, Mexico, Argentina,
Australia, and the USA.
The fact that it has happened 75 years after the
massacre, after many years
of oblivion, and amidst the
complicated context of the
attitude towards the Holocaust in Lithuania currently,
indicates that it is not “Never
Again” which seems to be
rather wishful thinking, sadly, but it is “Never Too Late”
to learn and to admit. And
to put that absolute pain and
horror into one’s own heart,
Jewish or not, which is the
only recipe for decency.
photo : www.rogatchi.org
The Stones of Moletai:The Shoah Lesson in Lithuania
Aug. 29, 2016 has become a truly important day for the Lithuanian people, for Israel,
and for all who do not know much about the Holocaust.
photo : www.rogatchi.org
u (Continued from page 9)
Moletai memorial for slain Jews.
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