The Riigikogu discussed the Cohesive Estonia Development Plan until 2030

NordenBladet —

At today’s sitting, the Riigikogu discussed the Cohesive Estonia Development Plan 2021–2030, which aims to make Estonia more cohesive and inclusive over the coming decade. The development plan focuses on the promotion of adaptation and integration, Global Estonia, the civil society and population accounting.

Minister of Culture Anneli Ott and member of the Cultural Affairs Committee Signe Kivi presented the development plan and the proceedings relating to it.

Minister of Culture Anneli Ott stated that, although social integration had been consistent, and there was more understanding in society, and people of different nationalities had a strong national identity, there was still a lot of language-based separation and consequent inequality. In the opinion of the minister, inequality and a lack of a sense of unity may however bring about a polarisation of society and increase the probability of value conflicts between people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

In the minister’s words, over the coming years, the adaptation and integration policy is intended to support local governments who will have the opportunity and capacity to contribute more to integration. Ott emphasised that it was necessary to shape a common, understandable and reliable communication space, and the digital transition was inevitable. At the same time, it is necessary to facilitate the establishment of contacts fostering the sense of solidarity and to ensure an opportunity for people to improve their Estonian language skills. “This way we will be more likely to achieve a more cohesive and stable society,” Ott said. “This will be an Estonia where people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds carry Estonian identity, participate actively in social life, share democratic values and a common cultural, information and communication space, and equal opportunities for successful independent living and wellbeing have been created for them.

In the opinion of the Minister of Culture, the civil society is the key issue; its influence must be strengthened, at the same time also supporting the development of NGOs. “The civil society is one of the mainstays of a cohesive and inclusive society. It is a pledge of the sustainability and security of a country,” Ott said. In the minister’s words, communities are not engaged and empowered systematically and on a daily basis in local governments. Therefore it is planned to implement a co-creation development programme directed at local governments and communities, and on the basis of its results, a model for co-creation of communities will be drawn up.

The minister also drew attention to the problem of the small proportion of permanent donors in Estonian society and called for looking for ways to promote donating.

The minister considered the promotion and upholding of Estonian identity abroad one of the important tasks for the next decade. She noted that the Estonians living abroad were part of the cohesive Estonian society regardless of their location. In order that they would not lose contact with Estonia, it is necessary to continue to communicate with the Estonian community abroad and to involve them systemically. “It is important that the people living abroad maintain their Estonian identity, feel the support of our country and get an opportunity to participate in the life of Estonian society. Only then can they help promote our country and reinforce its good reputation, thereby contributing to ensuring the Estonian economy and security,” Ott noted.

She added that big steps needed to be taken to facilitate the return of Estonians to their native country. “For smoother return and adaptation to life in Estonia, we will ensure services supporting the return, we will consolidate the knowledge about the people who return, and we will increase awareness of society. We will involve more local governments and improve their capability in supporting the people who return,” Ott said.

The minister also highlighted the digital transition as a key topic of the development plan. She said that the heart of the Estonian electronic governance was smart population accounting that supported a cohesive society as well as undoubtedly all other sectors of national life. In the words of the Minister of Culture, the software of the population register is outdated and does not allow for the creation and development of up-to-date services, nor do the current data collection procedures ensure the quality of data that would meet the users’ expectations. She noted that the development plan was intended to keep pace with technological development, to take account of the changing needs and habits of people, and to simplify procedures for everyone. As the most tangible change for the citizen, the minister pointed out the plan to create more proactive government services where, in the case of a life event, a person can conduct their affairs with the state in a once-only communication and mostly automatically. For example, when submitting a marriage application, it will be possible to apply for new identity documents, or when using the online service relating to the birth of a child, the birth will be registered immediately.

Member of the Cultural Affairs Committee Signe Kivi gave an overview of the discussion that had been held at the joint sitting of the Cultural Affairs Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Legal Affairs Committee.

During the debate, Jüri Jaanson (Reform Party), Jaak Valge (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Marko Šorin (Centre Party), Eduard Odinets (Social Democratic Party), Heiki Hepner (Isamaa), Tarmo Kruusimäe (Isamaa), Peeter Ernits (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) and Paul Puustusmaa (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor.

A Bill was dropped from the proceedings of the Riigikogu

The Bill on Amendments to the Estonian Public Broadcasting Act (393 SE), initiated by Member of the Riigikogu Viktoria Ladõnskaja-Kubits, was intended to ensure that the appointment of the acknowledged experts in the field of activity of the Estonian Public Broadcasting to the Estonian Public Broadcasting Council would be more independent of political procedure.

The Bill would have amended the regulation of the appointment of the acknowledged experts in the field of activity of the Estonian Public Broadcasting to the Council. Under the current Act, the Riigikogu appoints experts to the Estonian Public Broadcasting Council on the proposal of the Cultural Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu. The Bill proposed to establish a system where the authorities, institutions or representative organisations specified in the Act, such as Universities Estonia, the Association of Journalists, the Employers’ Confederation and the Bar Association, appoint members to the Council.

According to the Bill, the procedure for the appointment of the members of the Council who are members of the Riigikogu would have remained unchanged – the Riigikogu appoints a representative from each faction of the Riigikogu.

During the debate, Mihhail Stalnuhhin (Centre Party), Peeter Ernits (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) and Eduard Odinets (Social Democratic Party) took the floor.

The Cultural Affairs Committee as the lead committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 64 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion, 12 voted against and there was one abstention. Thus, the Bill was rejected and it was dropped from the proceedings.

Source: Parliament of Estonia