The Estonian Association of Journalists (EAL) supports the criticism of the Nordic press associations against the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), but unlike the Finnish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic associations, it has not yet decided to withdraw from the IFJ, said EAL Chairwoman Helle Tiikmaa.

"We fully support the Nordic criticism of the International Federation of Journalists, but we ourselves are neither able nor willing to take such a step at this time." Tiikmaa told ERR on Wednesday.

"First of all, it requires us to convene an annual congress and discuss the issue there, because such decisions are not board-level decisions. But the second thing is that for some members of the Estonian Association of Journalists, the international press card is an important working tool and we need to find an alternative to this issue first before we really leave," Tiikmaa explained.

"However, we are still discussing these issues with Latvia and Lithuania and considering how we can support the Nordic countries," added the CEO of the Estonian Journalists' Association.

The Finnish Journalists' Association announced on Tuesday that the Finnish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic press associations have decided to leave the International Federation of Journalists, while the Swedish Press Association will remain a member of the IFJ.

The organisations cited the umbrella organisation's failure to stop cooperating with a journalists' union controlled by the Russian authorities, the admission of the journalists' union of the Russian-occupied separatist Abkhazian region of Georgia as a member of the IFJ, as well as accusations of corruption against the IFJ by Nordic journalists' unions, as reasons for leaving.

Tiikmaa admitted that there is also a feeling in the Estonian Union of Journalists that the IFJ has not done things right: "The International Federation of Journalists should not tarnish its reputation as a journalists' protection organisation by its inaction."

"Their (Nordic press associations - ed.) experience is considerably greater and broader, we have relatively little power to deal with the affairs of an international organisation. But the feeling that things are not done right is exactly the same for us," he added.

According to Tiikmaa, the IFJ's role for the Estonian Association of Journalists has been limited mainly to issuing international press cards, and all EAL activities are conducted through the European Federation of Journalists.

"As far as the very drastic steps taken by the Nordic unions are concerned, we fully understand that at some point there can be no more compromises and no more endless explanations, excuses, postponements," he commented.

Tiikmaa said that the Estonian Journalists' Union congress is usually held before the summer and the issue can be discussed then.

The EAL pays an annual membership fee of around €1,000 to the IFJ, while the membership fee of the European Federation of Journalists is around four times less, but the association gets back a lot of support and opportunities for cooperation projects, according to Tiikmaa.

All Nordic countries are still members of the European Federation of Journalists.

At the end of October, the journalists' unions of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia and Lithuania called on the IFJ to expel the Russian Union of Journalists from the Federation because of its support for aggression in Ukraine.