The Bill on Amendments to the National Defence Act passed the second reading in the Riigikogu

NordenBladet —

At today’s sitting, the Riigikogu concluded the second reading of the Bill that is intended to create better preconditions for the use of civil resources in ensuring independent defence capability and in hosting allies, and that will comprehensively update the regulation of national defence duties.

The Bill on Amendments to the National Defence Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (417 SE), initiated by the Government, will clarify the imposition of the duty to grant use of items and the expropriation of items, and the relevant powers will be granted to the Defence Resources Agency and the Defence Forces or an agency of executive power authorised by the Government.

The current National Defence Duties Act will be repealed, and the issues relating to the duties will be set out in the National Defence Act.

In the course of the second reading, amendments were also made to the Bill. Among other things, amendments were made to the list specifying when the Government can establish the conditions for the payments from the state budget for the use of additional state funds. Mobilisation and demobilisation were included in the list besides increased defence readiness, state of emergency and state of war.

The deadline for entry into force was also changed. If the Act is passed, it will enter into force on 1 March.

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