The Estonians won the Eurovision and are in love with the idea of joiningthe EU, as Derek Scally found in Tallinn
Estonians are firm believers in the power of music.
This is where "The Singing Revolution" began, when over 400,000 people came together over four nights in June 1988 to show their opposition to the Soviet regime by singing Estonian national songs. Three years later, Estonia declared independence and the Soviet Union collapsed.
The country put its faith in song again earlier this year to host the Eurovision Song Contest, showing 100 million viewers that far from being a joyless former Soviet republic, Estonia is a vibrant, modern European country with a beautiful capital city, Tallinn.
"We are no longer knocking at Europe's door. We are walking through it, singing," said the former prime minister, Mart Laar, after Estonia won the competition in 2001.
Winning and hosting the Eurovision was a confidence boost to a country that already has more self-confidence than its two Baltic neighbours combined.
"We are the little country that could. If we have learned anything in the last decade, it is to stand on our own two feet," said Mr Simmu Tiik, an adviser to prime minister, Mr Siim Kallas.
Estonia is the outstanding economic success story of the Baltic region, the result of its shock treatment transition to capitalism. The government threw open Estonian markets to world trade a decade ago, abolishing customs tariffs and imposing minimum restrictions on foreign investment.
The free market regime of the past decade has been a survival of the fittest in Estonia, particularly after the 1998 collapse of the economy in Russia. Some of the greatest hardships of the past decade have been borne by the agricultural sector, now a key concern in Estonia's EU accession negotiations.
"Estonian farmers have come through hell in the last decade. Those who have survived until today can survive the EU no problem," said Mr Toomas Kevvai, an official in the Ministry for Agriculture.
But the patience of Estonian farmers is wearing thin, particularly since the proposal was announced to phase in direct payments to them at 25 per cent of the full rate.
"The zero trade tariffs meant years of sacrifice for Estonian farmers. Finnish butter here was cheaper than our own, but we told farmers it's important to stay friendly with the EU," says Mr Kevvai. "It's a slap in the face for them to be told now that we aren't going to be on equal footing."
He says the only way to sell the 25 per cent proposal to Estonian farmers is if the EU gives some ground on milk quotas, the last bone of contention between the two sides at the negotiating table.
In the long term, EU membership will benefit Estonia's agricultural sector: being inside the common market will allow Estonia to compete fairly with other member-states.
It will also mean an end to the double tariffs currently imposed by Russia, increasing the attractiveness of the market in St Petersburg, a city with a population greater than Estonia's.
The Estonian government is confident it will be able to sell EU membership to voters in time for the referendum, planned to be held together with Latvia and Lithuania in September. But officials admit that an Irish No vote next month could upset their plans.
"We are not able to predict what would happen to public opinion here after a No vote, there would be so many new problems," said Mr Hannes Rumm in the Office of European Integration. With the number of Estonians in favour of the EU in the minority, according to a recent EU poll, Mr Rumm doesn't rule out the growth in organised opposition to the EU.
The first victim of EU membership is likely to be the ferry operators who carry over four million people annually on the 90-minute run between Tallinn and Helsinki. Finnish customers, in particular, enjoy the bargain prices on duty-free alcohol and cigarettes, which generate more revenue for the ferry companies than ticket sales.
That was clear on a recent trip between Helsinki and Tallinn. The ferry had yet to leave the harbour and already the Finns were swarming around the shop filling their baskets with tax-free cigarettes and whiskey.
"The government has promised aid, but that won't bring the customers back," said one ferry cashier.
"The most important thing for us is free market access," said Mr Tiik in the prime minister's office.
"We want to be able to compete fully and fairly. We think we should be readmitted into the family we were born into."