NordenBladet — Prime Minister Jüri Ratas made a political statement in connection with the submission of the national long-term development strategy “Estonia 2035” to the Riigikogu.

Ratas said that the strategy had been drafted with the help of nearly 17,000 people for more than two years because Estonia’s long-term perspective deserved a broad-based discussion. “Over these two years, nearly thirty workshops have been held across Estonia where many Estonian people have been able to voice their opinion, in addition to politicians, officials and representative organisations of civil society.

The process of drafting ‘Estonia 2035’ has been more open than is customary with policy documents and I hope that such co-creation will become the new norm in the future. A secure Estonian state that is considerate of people is a common goal for all,” the Prime Minister said.

Ratas stressed that “Estonia 2035” would in every sense be a foundation for our decisions in the coming fifteen years. It is a strategy supporting the cooperation of the Government of the Republic and the Riigikogu that integrates the strategic planning and policy-shaping of all sectors as well as the principles for the funding thereof. “Estonia 2035” has been integrated with the economic coordination of the European Semester, it serves as a basis for the planning of European Union funds and provides a direction for the implementation of the global sustainable development goals in Estonia. “The aim of the development strategy is that, also in the future, Estonia would be a democratic and secure country where the viability of the Estonian language, nation and culture is ensured.”

Prime Minister said that “Estonia 2035” set five equivalently important strategic objectives: smart, active and health-minded people live in Estonia; the Estonian society is caring, cooperative and open; Estonia has a secure and high-quality living environment that takes everyone’s needs into account; the Estonian economy is strong, innovative and responsible; Estonia is an innovative, reliable and human-centred country.

Ratas underlined that, in increasing the vitality of the Estonian nation, language and culture and in promoting a democratic and secure state, it was not sensible for us to overlook these objectives. It would also be difficult to contest that we wish to live in a country where people are active, society is caring and the living environment takes everyone’s needs into account and the economy is innovative, and governance is human-centred. “However, these are not just big words but really objectives to be kept in mind when making decisions. Both in the honourable Riigikogu and in the Government,” Ratas noted. “The Estonian people deserve a competitive country with knowledge-based society and economy.”

The Prime Minister admitted that “Estonia 2035” would not of course solve all the problems we would be facing over the next fifteen years. “But I am convinced that the principles agreed upon in this development strategy will help us remain ourselves even in the most complicated situations, as people and as a country. These future-oriented objectives will help us turn challenges into opportunities.”

During the debate, representatives of the factions Kaja Kallas (Reform Party), Jaak Valge (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Riina Sikkut (Social Democratic Party), Heiki Hepner (Isamaa) and Aadu Must (Centre Party) took the floor. 

The Riigikogu approved the accession to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

The Riigikogu approved with 46 votes in favour the Act on the Ratification of the Agreements necessary for Accession to the Convention Establishing the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (229 SE), initiated by the Government. The primary purposes of the Centre are the development of a capability for medium-range weather forecasting and the provision of medium-range weather forecasts to the Member States.

Under the Act, the Republic of Estonia accedes to the Convention Establishing the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, including its Protocol on Privileges and Immunities, and the Protocol of 2005 to Amend the Convention, and ratifies the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on the accession of the Republic of Estonia to the ECMWF Convention and related terms and conditions which was signed on 3 June 2020.

The ECMWF member state status enables to obtain additional information in order to use the results of the model calculations received from the Centre to create high quality products and services meeting local needs. The available information will help implement nowcasting, introduce and implement ensemble forecasts, and increase the reliability and accuracy of forecasts of various duration. The products and services provided by the ECMWF will serve as the basis for the daily work of the Estonian Weather Service of the Environment Agency, and the accuracy of Estonian weather forecasts will depend on them.

During the open microphone, Kalle Grünthal, Urmas Espenberg and Raivo Tamm took the floor.

NordenBladet — The Bill that passed the second reading will amend the Railways Act by including provisions arising from directives and by specifying domestic provisions, besides changing the text and structure of the current Act.

According to the explanatory memorandum to the Railways Bill (201 SE), initiated by the Government, the current Railways Act has been amended for more than 30 times since its adoption in 2003, which has made the text of the Act difficult to read, and therefore it is reasonable to issue a new consolidated text of the Act.

The Bill provides for a reduction in the state fee if an application for an act in the railway traffic register is submitted through the electronic service information system of the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority. At the same time, the Act will also be amended by including additional fees for example for reviewing applications for changes to the operating licences for the technical maintenance and repair of railway vehicles and the construction of railway vehicles.

In order to disambiguate the issues relating to the building rights and the right of use of railway civil engineering works, the Bill will amend the Building Code and specify the requirements for railway civil engineering works. At the same time, the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority will be designated as the competent authority to issue the design criteria for railway civil engineering works.

The EU directives transposed by the Bill are legal acts of the technical pillar of the Fourth Railway Package, which aims to complete the creation of a single European railway market. The goal of this package is to revitalise the rail sector and make it more competitive vis-à-vis other modes of transport. The technical pillar is designed to boost the competitiveness of the railway sector by significantly reducing costs and administrative burden for railway undertakings wishing to operate across Europe. For that, it will be possible to apply for licences through the EU Agency for Railways in the future.

The Riigikogu did not support a draft Resolution

The Riigikogu did not support the Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a Proposal to the Government of the Republic to Form a COVID-19 Analysis Committee of Experts” (220 OE), initiated by the Reform Party. It was intended to propose to form a committee to analyse how the COVID-19 virus epidemic that hit Estonia in spring 2020 had been countered.

41 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the passage of the Resolution and 25 voted against. The support of at least 51 members of the Riigikogu was needed to pass the Resolution.

Indrek Saar (Social Democratic Party) took the floor during the debate.

NordenBladet — At the video conference today, chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the Parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary discussed international and regional cooperation. The discussion focused on the developments in Belarus, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the occupied East Ukraine, and the possibilities for contributing to increasing regional security together.

In the opinion of Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Enn Eesmaa, current international situation is so multi-layered that is necessary to cooperate with the allies in your region.

Eesmaa underlined the importance of parliamentary diplomacy in contributing to the resolution of international problems. “I think that the parliamentarians of our region should be committed to supporting the citizens’ initiative in Belarus,” Eesmaa said.

Eesmaa admitted that it had been nice to hear about his colleagues’ positive attitude towards the Three Seas Virtual Summit and Web Forum scheduled to be held on 19 October under the leadership of Estonia. “We are very satisfied that the Three Seas Investment Fund has become operational, which enables to continue with the connectivity projects important for the region,” Eesmaa added.

President of the Riigikogu Henn Põlluaas, who said the words of welcome at the beginning of the meeting, stressed that trust was the basis of international cooperation. “Trust, resilience and connectivity should be the keywords of our future plans,” he emphasised.

Põlluaas acknowledged that the corona pandemic had changed many things for us, but the main problems remained the same. “We, the legislators, should request that each member of the global community adhered to international law. The use of brute force should be condemned and punished, regardless of the size of the perpetrator,” he said.

Põlluaas added that today our countries were facing several common challenges. “Traditional Christian European values, national identity and the right of sovereign states to decide for themselves – all this has been put under doubt to a large extent in recent years”, the President of the Riigikogu noted. Põlluaas believes we should seriously think about these issues.

The video conference was convened by the chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the Parliaments of Latvia and Poland.