Visiting Researcher's Guide - EURAXESS Estonia

22
2.1 Estonia in brief
ESTONIA
Estonia is the northernmost of the three Baltic states and has an area of 45,000 square
kilometres. It is bounded on the West and North by the Baltic sea and on the East by lake
Peipsi and the Narva River. On the East and south-East it is bordered by Russia and on the
south by latvia. Tallinn is only about 85 km south of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, across the
Gulf of Finland. sweden is Estonia’s nearest Western neighbour across the Baltic sea.
Estonia stretches 350 km from East to West and 240 km from North to south. Islands form one
tenth and lakes about one twentieth of Estonia’s territory. Almost half of Estonian territory is
covered by forest and woodland.
According to the Constitution, Estonia is an independent and sovereign democratic republic
wherein supreme state power is vested in the people. The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu,
has 101 members who are elected for a period of four years.
The head of state is the President, elected by the Riigikogu for a five-year term. In addition
to symbolic functions, the President has representational tasks and formal duties. Toomas
Hendrik Ilves, the President of Estonia at the time of the publication of this book, was elected on
23 september 2006 and inaugurated on 9 October 2006.
The Government carries out the country’s domestic and foreign policy, which is shaped by the
Riigikogu; it directs and coordinates the work of government institutions.