Minister Taavi Aas made a political statement before the Riigikogu in connection with electricity price

NordenBladet —

At today’s sitting of the Riigikogu, Minister for Economy and Infrastructure Taavi Aas made a political statement in connection with a steep rise in electricity price. He underlined that, in order to solve the energy crisis, both long-term measures and quick decisions regarding short-term measures were needed.

“The biggest energy crisis of the century has been going on for a short while, but it has already had a painful impact on the subsistence and daily life of a large part of the Estonian people. Energy bills for November have already reached families and companies and the reality is harsh. Unless we do something about it together, we will continue to be getting monthly price shocks,” Minister for Economy and Infrastructure said.

Aas underlined that, besides developing long-term solutions, it was necessary to see to the implementation of temporary measures. He pointed out that the state had approved several support measures, suspended the rise in excise duty for liquefied gas, reduced the network charge twice and decided to pay compensation for the price rise to low-income people. “According to plans, the web application for partial compensation of the rise in energy price will be launched next week,” Aas noted. The minister added that broad-based measures such as value-added tax reduction or stock exchange price ceiling were also needed. “The measures will have to be implemented together and at the same time because only in this way will they be effective.”

The minister also emphasised the importance of longer-term solutions and pointed out what had been done in connection with renewable energy generation. He added that it was also necessary to find a long-term solution for controlled energy generation. “The national nuclear energy working group formed at the Government is analysing, with the help of foreign experts, the opportunities to implement nuclear energy in Estonia,” Aas said. He added that the provisional deadline for the analysis was autumn 2022 but the process could be sped up.

Aas urged to act jointly and to focus on supporting people.

During the debate, Lauri Läänemets (Social Democratic Party), Jaanus Karilaid (Centre Party), Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa), Jürgen Ligi (Reform Party) and Henn Põlluaas (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor on behalf of their factions. Minister for Economy and Infrastructure Taavi Aas also made his closing remarks.

A Bill passed the second reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Act on the Ratification and Implementation of the Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism (480 SE), initiated by the Government.

The Agreement Amending the Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was signed on 27 January and 8 February 2021. The agreement is intergovernmental and it is amended by an intergovernmental agreement where all member states of the euro area are parties.

The agreement that amends the Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism, which entered into force in April 2012, will provide the legal basis for the reform of the ESM, agreed upon by the euro area heads of government and heads of state at an inclusive format summit in December 2018. The Agreement is a part of a wider package of measures endorsed at that summit to strengthen the European Economic and Monetary Union and to work on building a banking union.

The essence of the reform is the broadening of the mandate of the ESM. In addition to supporting member states that have temporarily lost access to market funding, the ESM will also have a stabilising role in the banking union that is being created in the European Union from 2012. The ESM will become a backstop provider to the banking union’s Single Resolution Fund, with the task of supporting the functioning of the Single Resolution Mechanism. Besides that, the reform will update the ESM’s support instruments and extend the role of ESM in crisis resolution. The reform will not change the scope of the ESM.

The national procedures relating to the implementation of the ESM are provided in the Act on the Ratification and Implementation of the Treaty Establishing the ESM. As the Agreement Amending the Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism will make changes to the existing ESM instruments and the task of providing a backstop will be added, this Bill will provide for amendments to the procedures of the Government of the Republic and the Riigikogu relating to ESM issues, arising from the amendments to the Treaty.

During the debate, Anti Poolamets (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Tarmo Kruusimäe (Isamaa) and Aivar Sõerd (Reform Party) took the floor.

The Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction moved to suspend the second reading of the Bill. 23 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and 46 voted against. Thus, the motion was not supported and the second reading of the Bill was concluded.

Interpellation concerning the rapid tests procurement

Auditor General Janar Holm replied to the interpellation concerning the rapid tests procurement of the Ministry of Education and Research (No. 90), submitted by members of the Riigikogu Helir-Valdor Seeder, Heiki Hepner, Priit Sibul, Andres Metsoja, Tarmo Kruusimäe, Aivar Kokk, Üllar Saaremäe, Sven Sester, Mihhail Lotman and Urmas Reinsalu.

The interpellators wished to know if the Ministry of Education and Research had acted in accordance with the law when procuring the rapid tests, done everything in its power to prevent problems, ensured fair competition and transparency during the procurement and used taxpayers’ money cost-effectively. The interpellators also asked for the National Audit Office’s assessment of whether the ministry should have been more open with journalists as regarded the details relating to the procurement of the rapid tests.

Auditor General Janar Holm said that, when procuring the rapid tests, the Ministry of Education and Research had used the exceptional procurement procedure in view of urgency. In Holm’s opinion, with better planning, the ministry could have avoided acting in a hurry. In his words, in the procurement situation, the urgency had no longer been avoidable, but asking a tender from only one company could indeed have been avoided. He admitted that, considering the large amount of the procurement, tenders should also have been taken from other companies regardless of the time pressure.

Holm said that the ministry had started to make a procurement in a field in which it lacked specific skills. In Auditor General’s words, the reason was that the Ministry of Social Affairs had failed to achieve the necessary result within the planned time frame, which had become clear at the last moment. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Research had done what it had been able to do and in the way it had been able to do it. In Holm’s words, in the case of such a specific procurement, the procurement should be made by an agency that has the competence needed for that.

In Auditor General’s words, the ministry had got what it had wanted with the procurement, but it seemed that the agencies had different understandings of what the Government had decided and what the agencies had to do in that light. So Holm underlined that, in order to execute a decision, somebody must be given the responsibility for it.

During the debate, Helir-Valdor Seeder (Isamaa), Eduard Odinets (Social Democratic Party) and Aivar Kokk (Isamaa) took the floor.

During the open microphone, Ivari Padar (Social Democratic Party) and Leo Kunnas (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor.

At the beginning of the sitting, the justice of the Supreme Court Heili Sepp took the oath of office.

The sitting ended at 8.14 p.m.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

The video recording of the sitting will be available on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
(Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

Source: Parliament of Estonia