The Riigikogu discussed use of privatisation proceeds

At its today’s sitting, the Riigikogu discussed whether the owners of restituted historical buildings that have not been classified as architectural monuments but are located in heritage conservation areas should also have the possibility to apply for support allocated from the ownership reform reserve fund. However, it was decided to reject the relevant Bill.

The Bill on Amendments to the Use of Privatisation Proceeds Act (538 SE), initiated by Faction Isamaa, would have provided for the use of privatisation proceeds for the maintenance, repair, conservation, restauration and renovation of buildings that were restituted in the course of the ownership reform and are located in heritage conservation areas.

It was pointed out in the explanatory memorandum of the Bill that there are 12 heritage conservation areas in Estonia, and with the exception of Rebala Heritage Reserve, they are all located in historic town centres, in Tallinn, Valga, Tartu, Pärnu, Võru, Paide, Viljandi, Kuressaare, Rakvere, Haapsalu and Lihula. The explanatory memorandum noted that the same restrictions and environmental requirements apply to the renovation of buildings located in heritage conservation areas as for architectural monuments, but the owners of restituted buildings located in heritage conservation areas cannot apply for the support allocated from the ownership reform reserve fund if the building is not classified as a cultural monument.

The explanatory memorandum also underlined the need to find flexible additional possibilities for the preservation of valuable architectural heritage. The Bill did not provide for increasing the allocations from the ownership reform reserve fund for restoration of restituted architectural monuments.

During the debate, Marika Tuus-Laul from the Centre Party Faction, Jaak Juske from the Social Democratic Party Faction and Tarmo Kruusimäe from Faction Isamaa took the floor.

The lead committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 36 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and 17 voted against. Thus, the motion was supported and the Bill was dropped from the legislative proceedings of the Riigikogu.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

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

Source: Parliament of Estonia