Estonia

French presence

French community: 340 French nationals registered
Estonian community in France: 686 Estonian nationals registered

Visits

In May 1992, President François Mitterrand was the first Western leader to visit Estonia following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations. President Jacques Chirac made an official visit in 2001. On 9 April 2018, President Emmanuel Macron received President Kaljulaid, for the celebration of Estonia’s centenary and the inauguration of the Symbolism in the Baltic States exhibition organized by the Musée d’Orsay. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was received by the President of the French Republic at the Élysée Palace on 24 November 2021.

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe met with the Estonian President and Prime Minister on his visit to Tallinn in June 2017, in preparation for the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

On 26 January 2021, Minister Le Drian received his three Baltic State counterparts in Paris, for the first ministerial “France + 3 Baltic States” meeting, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the de jure recognition of Estonia. He received the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eva-Maria Liimets, on 9 June 2021 and travelled to Tallinn on 1 April 2022 for meetings with the President of the Republic of Estonia and his Estonian counterpart. As part of the preparatory visits for the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Minister of State Clément Beaune travelled to Tallinn on 3 and 4 September 2021.

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Estonia joined the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) as an observer in 2010. French ranks 6th in foreign languages learned in Estonia, and has become the second-widest learned language in the Estonian civil service thanks to a programme which trains 400 civil servants per year (over 4,000 Estonian civil servants have signed up). Since the 2013-2014 school year, a French-language class has been opened at the European school in Tallinn.

Inter-university research partnerships have been established between the University of Tartu and the universities of Tours and Lille, between the Tallinn University of Technology (TUT) and the French National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon, and between Tallinn University and the Paris Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Dijon. A Hubert Curien partnership (G.F. Parrot programme) aims to support joint research projects (51 projects selected since 2002). There is also a focus on new technologies and conducting projects with European funding (Horizon 2020 and Erasmus).

In 2018, Estonia’s centenary was celebrated jointly with events in both Estonia and France. A Symbolism in the Baltic States exhibition was held at the Musée d’Orsay from 10 April to 15 July 2018. Institut Français in Estonia: http://www.ife.ee/fr/

Other cooperation

Tallinn is twinned with Carcassonne (the partnership includes a professional aspect with training in hospitality and cultural cooperation). Competitiveness clusters in Grenoble and the Rhône-Alpes region are aiming to develop exchanges with Estonia from a digital technology perspective.