DISINFO: The "Brussels occupation" has already cost Estonia 2.5 times more than the Russian and Soviet one
SUMMARY
For a couple of decades in the EU, the damage from the “Brussels occupation” was 2,5 times higher than of its 300 years stay in Russia and the USSR. The population has also decreased: from 1.57 million in 1990 to 1.32 million in 2017. The “EU occupation” of Estonia led the country to massive emigration. Estonia is not capable to maintain its infrastructure at least at the level of so-called Soviet “occupation”.
RESPONSE
Russia occupied Estonia from 1940-1991. It has been estimated that as many as 80,000 Estonians were deported between 1945 and 1953. More than 22 000 of them never came home, because they were murdered or died due to inhuman living conditions in imprisonment or in forced banishment. Most of them are buried in graves without names. Massive immigration from Russia and other parts of the U.S.S.R. decreased the indigenous proportion of the population. Before the war ethnic Estonians made up almost 90 percent of the population. By 1990 the proportion had sunk to about 60 percent. The highest decrease of Estonian population is registered during 1991-2010 and it was mainly caused by the emigration of ethnic Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. According to Statistics Estonia, the population of Estonia is now increasing. According to the Statistics Estonia, the length of asfalt highways has increased from 8016 km in 1991 to 11 880 km in 2017. For example, in 2017 an EU-funded project replaced 40-year-old electric trains that had reached the end of their usefulness with modern, efficient models. Ratings for Estonia's transport infrastructure have improved across all modes of transport. Read more about EU funded projects in Estonia here. According to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Estonia’s prosperity has grown during the time of membership of the EU".