Every small country should be able to seize the opportunity if policymakers get a few fundamental things right. I am now going to name four of these fundamentals. Four cornerstones of competitiveness The first, if not the most important, cornerstone of competitiveness is society’s openness to new ideas, its willingness to communicate and ability to adapt. Of all factors that support economic growth, openness is universally considered the most important. Openness to ideas allows better understand and make use of the global marketplace. Policy-makers can do a lot to promote openness. Efficient telecom infrastructure and Internet penetration serves as one way to do it. Market liberalization and competition are the keywords here. Another equally important factor is the country’s ability to attract highly mobile professionals. Consequently, issues like security, quality of public and social services, language skills and clean environment are also becoming increasingly relevant in ensuring competitiveness. The second and equally important factor in supporting innovative society is the spirit of entrepreneurship and culture of risk-taking. Openness makes the world and its ideas accessible to people. However, you need an entrepreneur to make use of these opportunities and ultimately bring benefits to the whole society. Today, competitiveness is directly and positively correlated to the ease of doing business. There are several areas where policy developers can encourage risk-taking. For instance, better access to public services is one of the most instrumental ways to reduce red tape and increase the efficiency of business environment, either by means of the Internet or any other means.
Uncertainty is part of the cause as well: the exact date of the euro adoption is not known and there is no time to look deeper into the matter against the background of everyday life. Nevertheless, Estonians are one of the most pro-EU nations in the whole Union. More than 70 per cent of us hold positive or very positive views on the EU. However, the origins of euro scepticism and EU optimism are the same. The European Union and EU membership represent common European values, economic prosperity and security for our citizens. Our own currency stands for the same values: credibility, prosperity and economic security. The Estonian kroon represents these values for a very specific reason. Namely, our currency has been pegged to the euro for already 15 years. I cannot resist joking that from the monetary policy perspective we are one of the oldest members of the euro area. A whole generation of Estonians has grown up without having to ask what the interest rate of Eesti Pank is. Instead, they know that the value of the kroon will not change and interest rate changes come from Europe. Most probably, what matters for Estonians is that while being part of Europe we still wish to retain something our own. This is not the most convenient situation for Eesti Pank. On one hand, we should be proud of the trust we have earned at home. On the other hand, we know that joining the euro area is beneficial and necessary for the whole country.