NordenBladet —
The Riigikogu heard the overview by the Prime Minister on the long-term national development strategy and the overview by the Minister of Public Administration on the last year’s report on civil service and deliberated two Bills.
The Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in her overview of the implementation of the long-term development strategy “Estonia 2035” in 2022 that, within the framework of the long-term national development strategy “Estonia 2035” adopted in the Riigikogu session hall last spring, the long-term objectives for the Estonian state and people and the changes needed to reach them had been agreed upon. “It is a strategy supporting the cooperation between the Government of the Republic and the Riigikogu and the Riigikogu plays a very important role in its implementation,” the Prime Minister emphasised.
The goals set in the strategy “Estonia 2035” provide a good landmark that also helps keep the direction amid various crises and changes. “And precisely because of these changes is it also necessary to adjust the journey to the goals from time to time. This is why, every spring, the Government of the Republic updates the action plan of the strategy “Estonia 2035” which includes both the reforms planned for the implementation and the major changes,” Kallas explained.
She added that the solution “Tree of Truth” by Statistics Estonia that combined the central indicators of the state was a data-based assistant in assessing the progress towards goals. At present it is showing that the movement towards some of the goals is progressing at a relatively fast pace, for example labour productivity, the share of research and development expenditure in the gross domestic product, and the growth of competitiveness. However, in the achievement of some goals, the statistics and trends are worrying. In her overview, she pointed out the major developments in terms of five equivalently important objectives of the “Estonia 2035” strategy.
These objectives are that smart, active, and health-minded people live in Estonia, that the Estonian society is caring, cooperative and open, that the economy is strong, innovative, and responsible with regard to people and nature, that the living environment takes everyone’s needs into account and is safe and of a high-quality and that Estonia has an innovative, reliable, and human-centred governance.
Kallas said that, in terms of the living environment, “Estonia 2035” had set the goal that it would take everyone’s needs into account and be safe and of a high-quality. According to the latest data, 84.5% of Estonian population was satisfied with their living environment. However, there are two indicators connected with the living environment that need improvement: the energy efficiency of buildings and sustainable means of mobility. The energy consumption of residential and non-residential buildings has stayed at around 16.5 TWh according to the latest data. The target is to lower it to 14.5 TWh. The higher energy prices have particularly strongly brought to the fore the need to improve the energy efficiency of housing. Next year, 75 million euro will be paid in renovation subsidies for apartment buildings. The renovation of buildings is one of the most important ways to save energy by which it is possible to reduce the energy consumption of buildings by roughly a half and to reduce heating bills but also to significantly improve the indoor climate of buildings.
The strategy also sets the target of increasing sustainable means of mobility so that the share of those travelling by public transport, bicycle or on foot would account for 55% of commuters. Regrettably it fell to 33,9% last year. It is good to see that several regions are increasingly paying attention to encouraging safe commuting on foot and by bicycle and the promotion of public transport.
Kallas noted that the crises that had emerged during the relatively short period that the strategy had been in implementation had somewhat reduced the sense of security of the population, but it was still continuing to stay high. This year, 90% of the population considered Estonia a safe country to live.
During the debate, Kersti Sarapuu (Centre Party), Reili Rand (Social Democratic Party), Margit Sutrop (Reform Party), Aivar Kokk (Isamaa) and Peeter Ernits (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor.
The Minister of Public Administration Riina Solman gave an overview of the civil service report for 2021.
Solman explained that 133,744 employees had been employed in the public sector as a whole in 2021, which had grown by 0.4 percentage points in 2021. However, compared with 2012, the number of public sector employees has decreased by 5487 people, that is, by 4%. The public sector is comprised of all enterprises and agencies wholly or partially owned by the state or local governments, and of their staff. 90% of public sector employees are in the government sector which covers the central government, the local government sector, and social insurance funds. The government sector covers for example state and local government agencies, schools, hospitals, and cultural institutions, as well as various companies and foundations, that is, the public sector entities who are non-market entities and who are funded mainly from the budget accrued from compulsory national payments.
Solman noted that, in terms of government sector agencies, civil service included only state and local government agencies that exercised public authority, for example, ministries, boards, inspections and city and rural municipality agencies. In 2021, civil service accounted for 2.9% of the working-age population in Estonia. This indicator has stayed around 3% over the years. Civil service with its 28,420 servants is accounting for 21.3% of total public sector staff. In ten years’ time, that is, compared to 2012, the number of civil servants has decreased by 3.2%. In recent years, however, the number of servants has been increasing as various crises have demanded response. In 2021, civil service increased by 53 servants, that is, by 0.2%. In national authorities, the number of civil servants increased by 88 people, that is, by 0.4%. In local governments, the number of people decreased by 34, that is, by –0.6%.
22,922 of the civil service staff were in service in national authorities and 5,502 people in local government agencies. Special servants who numbered 10,437 in 2021 accounted for more than one third, that is, 37% of civil service. Special servants include for example police officers, rescue service workers, prison officers and servicemen. The number of special servants increased by 0.2%, that is, by 21 special servants.
In earlier years, the salary growth has been more rapid than the growth of the gross monthly salary but due to the impacts of the coronavirus crisis the salary growth has slowed down significantly in 2021. If we compare the salary level in the agencies who participated in the national salary survey and the salary level in the private sector, in 2021, the monthly base salary in state agencies fell short of the median by an average of 14.4%, including by an average of –19.6% for top-level specialists and first-line managers. If we wish our civil service to have qualified labour force who would make maximum contribution to the development of public services, it is necessary to ensure that public sector salaries are not significantly lower than the salary level on the posts that are competing with the private sector.
“In cooperation with the heads of agencies, we are constantly looking for new opportunities to optimise governance and activities and to use the taxpayers’ money most effectively for the functioning of the state. I am continuing to attach importance to the development of e-governance and wider use of information technology solutions in the provision of public services,” Solman said. In her words, at the same time, it is clear that computers can never replace all services and the current processes will have to be reviewed in order to find more efficient options or to critically assess their practicability as a whole. Cross-sectoral issues such as green policy and the digital transition as well as the social sector and health care are demanding increasing action. This means greater cooperation across agencies and readiness for flexible distribution of tasks.
During the debate, Indrek Saar (Social Democratic Party), Heiki Hepner (Isamaa) and Tarmo Tamm (Centre Party) took the floor.
The Riigikogu concluded the first reading of two Bills
The Bill on Amendments to the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act and the Vocational Educational Institutions Act (668 SE), initiated by the Estonian Centre Party Faction, is intended to increase the minimum cost of a school meal from one euro to 1.5 euro per day per student from the new year.
In the words of the initiators, due to the high inflation and rapid price rise, it is impossible to maintain the quality of school meals for the current amounts. In their words, increasing the minimum rate of the subsidy will help ensure that school meals are healthy and delicious and continue to be available free of charge to students. The state last increased the school meal subsidy in 2018.
During the debate, Ivari Padar (Social Democratic Party), Helle-Moonika Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) and Marko Šorin (Centre Party) took the floor.
The Bill on Amendments to the Electricity Market Act (740 SE), initiated by the Economic Affairs Committee, will give an opportunity for local government authorities and the authorities administered by them to buy electricity from a seller of electricity at the price regulated by the Competition Authority, that is, as a universal service until 30 April 2026.
Rural municipality and city authorities can buy electrical energy at a universal service price without limits, while the authorities administered by them have an annual capacity limit to the extent of up to 1 GWh. In order to use the universal service, the authority will need to enter into a new public contract with the seller of the universal service. In the case of premature termination of an existing contract, the contractual penalty that was agreed upon when the contract was entered into will have to be paid where necessary.
The Riigikogu has already earlier established a universal service regulation for household consumers and micro and small businesses, sole proprietors, non-profit organisations, foundations, and persons who mediate electricity to consumers of the universal service.
During the debate, Taavi Aas (Centre Party), Ivari Padar (Social Democratic Party), Andrus Seeme (Reform Party), Heiki Hepner (Isamaa) and Siim Pohlak (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor.
During the open microphone, Mihhail Stalnuhhin and Tarmo Kruusimäe took the floor.
The sitting ended at 7.19 p.m.
Source: Parliament of Estonia