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The interpellators pointed out that, for three years in a row, record few children had been born in Estonia. In a five-year comparison, the number of births has decreased by a third, and according to forecasts, the birth rate will fall further. They noted that, while 25,000 children were born in 1988, and 15,000 children were born in 2015, now less than 10,000 children are born per year. The interpellators wanted to know if Estonia was in a birth rate crisis and what the government was doing to improve the situation.
When replying to the interpellation, Prime Minister said that that was a serious problem. “The whole of Western society is facing similar complex challenges,” Michal said. He pointed out that, in our region, there was a similar problem in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. “The Ministry of Social Affairs has been tasked with preparing a comprehensive analysis and, as a result, policy recommendations that experts believe could increase the number of births. The deadline for submitting the comprehensive analysis to the government is June of this year.”
“The monitoring and analysis of population processes is an ongoing activity in Estonia and covers a significantly broader range of topics than just the issue of birth rate,” Michal said. He pointed out that, at government level, a broad-based government commission on population policy had been set up, chaired by the Minister for Social Protection, and researchers from various universities, members of the government, and sectoral heads in ministries as well as experts were involved in the work of the committee.
Michal noted that the governance budget of the Ministry of Social Affairs’ administration would support children and families with about €1 billion, which was about 2.2% of Estonia’s GDP, putting it at the top of the European Union. “The billion to support children and families will be distributed as follows: circa 424 million for family allowances, 364 million for parental benefit, circa 100 million to ensure pension and health insurance cover for parents and circa 13 million for maintenance allowance.”
Riina Solman from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took part in the debate on behalf of the interpellators. In addition, Tanel Kiik took the floor on behalf of the Social Democratic Party Group, Vadim Belobrovtsev on behalf of the Estonian Centre Party Group and Evelin Poolamets on behalf of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Parliamentary Group. Prime Minister Kristen Michal also took the floor.
Prime Minister also replied to interpellations concerning the impact of the car tax on families with children (No. 705) and the funding of the Russian-language news website Delfi and television channel ETV+ (No. 715). Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas replied to interpellations concerning Maarjamaa School (No. 710), and the shrinking of the area of use of the Estonian language (No. 711) and the area of use of the Estonian language as an academic language (No. 716).
Interpellators Mart Maastik, Helir-Valdor Seeder, Riina Solman, Priit Sibul and Aivar Kokk withdrew the interpellation concerning telecommunications services (No. 712), submitted to Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta, scheduled for the agenda, and therefore it was not deliberated.
Aleksandr Tšaplõgin, Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart and Helmen Kütt took the floor during the open microphone.
The sitting ended at 8.33 p.m.
Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)
Video recording of the sitting will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
+372 631 6592; +372 510 6179
merilin.kruuse@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee
Link uudisele: The Riigikogu heard replies to six interpellations
Source: Parliament of Estonia