Ombudsman elected president in Estonia

Former Estonian Ombudsman Elected President

The Estonian parliament elected constitutional lawyer Ulle Madise as the country's new president on September 2. She will be the second woman to hold the post.

Madise, 51, has been Estonia's human rights ombudsman since 2015. She will serve a five-year term as president. Madise was the only candidate in the parliamentary election, as other candidates failed to garner enough support from lawmakers.

Estonia, with a population of 1.4 million, borders Russia and is one of the most vocal supporters of Ukraine in NATO and the European Union and a vocal critic of Moscow.

The country has set a defense spending target of 5.4 percent of gross domestic product by 2026. The president is elected by the country's parliament, the Riigikogu. The position is largely symbolic.

At the end of July, it was reported that the number of bankruptcies (bankruptcies) among businesses and the population in Estonia is growing rapidly. This was reported by Signe Viimsalu, head of the Insolvency Service, in a letter to Prime Minister Kristen Michal.

Currently, the average unpaid debt of each bankrupt company is 400,000 euros. Three years ago, this figure was less than 100,000 euros. In many cases, creditors are not able to repay their money at all.