Kaul Nurm: Estonia's regional policy is like a Midsummer bonfire sputtering in the rain

EVEA vice-president Kaul Nurm criticises Estonia's Tallinn-centric regional policy and proposes dividing Estonia's economic territory between Tallinn's golden ring and the rest of Estonia to direct EU structural funds more fairly to other regions.

Kaul Nurm, vice-president of the Estonian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (EVEA), has expressed concern that Estonia's regional policy has become too focused on Tallinn and resembles a Midsummer bonfire sputtering in the rain rather than a living flame that brings warmth to distant corners of the country.

In Nurm's view, Estonia should seek an exemption under European Parliament and Council regulation that would allow the country's economic territory to be divided into two separate regions: on one hand, Tallinn together with the surrounding "golden ring" municipalities, and on the other hand, the rest of Estonia. Such a division would create the opportunity to direct EU structural funds much more effectively to regions that have not benefited from the capital's growth boom.

The current situation, where EU support is calibrated on the basis of the national average, damages entrepreneurship and vitality in peripheral areas. Tallinn's high standard of living inflates the country's average figures, which means that counties and small towns appear wealthier than they actually are and consequently receive less EU funding.

According to EVEA's vice-president, it is time to end regional policy that in practice supports only the capital's immediate surroundings and to create conditions where regions such as Ida-Virumaa, South Estonia and the island areas also receive a fair share of EU structural funds. Nurm emphasises that this requires political will and concrete steps in Brussels, not merely declarative promises.