In December 2021, the interior and culture ministries signed an agreement with Ore Meedia OÜ to create the English-language news online environment Eesti.life, which was supposed to help immigrants better integrate into Estonian life.

The website was allocated €150,000 in EU funds and the company spent €101,251.

However, according to a final report on its activities released last year, the project was a disaster. It was not possible to determine the number of news stories published or how many readers the website had.

At the beginning of February this year, Ministry of the Interior Secretary General Tarmo Miilits wrote to Ore Media demanding the return of €25,000 to the state budget.

But, as of June 21, this has not happened. Instead, Minister of Interior Lauri Läänemets (SDE) signed a directive authorizing the legal advisor of the Ministry of the Interior to initiate enforcement proceedings to enforce the decision made in February.

Ore Meedia has previously said it disagrees with the ministry's assessment saying most of the stated goals were met. It said the conclusion of the contract was delayed, the ministry processed the interim report for too long, and did not transfer the interim payment in full. It also said the war in Ukraine had a negative impact on the project. The compay said it provided evidence that required meetings took place with the target group.

Seven people were associated with the portal, but the plan was to involve freelance authors as well. It was supposed to work on the principle of a news portal and create new content every day. However, the project was delayed, and as late as October 2022, the Ministry of Culture could not say whether the project would go ahead or be closed.

Previously, a representative of Ore Meedia told ERR that it was not money thrown away, because the site will remain up and all the stories written will remain.

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