NordenBladet —
At the beginning of today’s plenary sitting, Szymon Hołownia, Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, delivered a speech to the members of the Riigikogu.
The next item on the agenda was a motion to express no confidence in Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs, Liisa Pakosta, submitted by 42 members of the Riigikogu.
29 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of no confidence in Pakosta. No member of the Riigikogu was against it. At least 51 votes in favour were required for the motion of no confidence in the minister to pass.
Martin Helme, who represented the initiators of the motion of no confidence, said during the sitting that, through her actions, Minister Pakosta had undermined Estonia’s constitutional order and had to take the responsibility for both the actions and the inaction of the Prosecutor’s Office. In his speech, Helme stated that the Office of the Prosecutor General had failed to initiate criminal proceedings in the cases concerning the Pihlakodu nursing home, Johanna Maria Lehtme, and the procurement of COVID-19 tests.
Helme also criticised the Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs for her plan to rent prison places in Tartu Prison to Sweden. “We plan – and have already agreed in principle – to bring the worst criminals from Sweden to Estonia: murderers, rapists, terrorists, drug traders, and paedophiles,” said Helme. According to Helme, Pakosta had provided inaccurate information to both the public and parliament regarding the project’s purpose, process, and current status.
In her speech at the sitting, Minister Liisa Pakosta said that she was being accused of actions she had not committed and that contradicted her own values.
In response to the accusations contained in the motion of no confidence, Pakosta stated that the delay in transposing the competition directive had not been caused by her. “The competition law directive, the transposition of which we are discussing, was adopted on 11 December 2018. At the time when this directive was due to be transposed into Estonian law, the very individuals who have now submitted the motion of no confidence were the ones responsible in the government and acting as Minister of Justice”, said Pakosta. The Minister indicated that during her term in office, she had managed to submit the directive to the Riigikogu, and it had successfully passed its second reading.
In response to the claim that, as a minister, she had not taken responsibility for the issues relating to the work of the Prosecutor’s Office, Pakosta said that she was actually being accused of not breaking the law. She stressed that the law prohibited the Minister of Justice from interfering with criminal proceedings. In her speech, Pakosta stated that in a free state governed by the rule of law, politicians should not interfere in criminal proceedings. “It is not up to politicians to point fingers and tell people, ‘Start this or stop that,’” Pakosta said.
Commenting on the Pihlakodu nursing home case, Pakosta said that the moral assessment of rape could only be entirely condemnatory. “And I have used every legal tool available to me. On April 11, I contacted the Bar Association because the state-appointed defence counsel had failed to file a claim for damages on behalf of the victims. Why did they fail to file it, even though the state financed their activities? This is a matter for the Bar Association’s court of honour to address,” said Pakosta.
Regarding the Tartu Prison rental project, the minister responded that she had acted transparently and had fully involved all the relevant parties. Various security issues had been discussed: “Our country has excellent police officers, highly competent internal security officers, and world-class prison staff. These people have done everything possible to minimise the risks, and this is reflected in numerous provisions of the draft agreement,” the minister confirmed. According to Pakosta, only low-risk prisoners would be transferred to Tartu Prison from Sweden. “These are individuals who are not connected to networks, are not radicals, are not involved in terrorism or gang-related crime, have not been radicalised, and do not hold extremist religious views, and so on,” Pakosta enumerated.
“I also share the concern that people in Estonia should feel completely safe and that we should continue to have open and transparent discussions about all threats, the ways to address them, and the specific measures to take. In fact, it is essential to discuss this here in the Riigikogu’s hall. We have already done so several times, and I am, of course, ready to do it again and again,” Pakosta said.
Tõnis Lukas from Isamaa Parliamentary Group, Mart Helme from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, Lauri Laats from the Centre Party Group, Lauri Läänemets from the Social Democratic Party Group, Madis Timpson from the Reform Party Group and Irja Lutsar from the Estonia 200 Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.
Due to the end of the working hours of the plenary sitting, the reports by the Governor of the Bank of Estonia Madis Müller and the Chairman of the Management Board of the Financial Supervision Authority Kilvar Kessler were cancelled.
Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)
Photos of the deliberation of the motion of no confidence (Erik Peinar/ Chancellery of the Riigikogu)
Riigikogu Press Service
Maiki Vaikla
+372 631 6456, +372 5666 9508
maiki.vaikla@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee
Link uudisele: The Riigikogu did not support the vote of no confidence in the Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs
Source: Parliament of Estonia