Germany admires Estonia’s ability to cope with Euro

As Europe faces difficulties with debts and Euro, more and more countries are under surveillance by rating agencies. The euro-stars in Tallinn, however, have no debts and they receive better ratings, writes German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of the Republic of Estonia sees its country as an average college graduate – it feels nice to have passed all exams, but it is still unclear how to move on.

Ilves compares launching Euro in Estonia with being dubbed a knight. He adds proudly that in addition to Estonia, only Luxembourg reaches the Maastricht criteria, allowing deficit of budget only as 3% of the GDP. He says that dividing Europe as East and West is history – the mental border now separates North and South.

Ilves insists that even if the majority of 1,4 million Estonians vote against it in most of the surveys, Tallinn will definitely partake in the financial support packages of the countries in debt. The Estonian elite is putting its stakes on Europe and positions itself economically next to Germany, Netherlands and Scandinavia.

In the first quarter of the year, Estonia had the biggest economic growth of the EU (8,5%) and the national debt is a ‘fantastic’ 6,6% - Germany, in comparison, has 80%. The unemployment rate fell faster than anywhere else in Europe as well.

The rating agency Fitch has lifted the credit capacity of Estonia on the A+ level, explaining it with exceptionally strong state of the country’s finances.