NordenBladet —The Riigikogu agenda for the working week includes proceedings on 12 Bills and draft Resolutions
The Riigikogu approved its agenda for this working week, according to which no deliberation of Bills or replies to interpellations have been scheduled for Monday’s sitting. Members of the Riigikogu can make unscheduled statements.
At Tuesday’s sitting, the Bill on Amendments to the Energy Sector Organisation Act and the Natural Gas Act (202 SE) will be at the second reading.
At Wednesday’s sitting, the Bill on Amendments to the Spatial Data Act and the Apartment Ownership and Apartment Associations Act (196 SE) will be at the third reading.
Eight Bills and draft Resolutions will be at the first reading: the Bill on Amendments to the Labour Dispute Resolution Act (214 SE); the Bill on Amendments to § 28 the Citizenship Act (217 SE); the Bill on Amendments to the Tourism Act and the Consumer Protection Act (234 SE); the Bill on the Repeal of the Trading Act and Amendments to Other Acts arising therefrom (235 SE); the Bill on Amendments to the Government of the Republic Act and Other Acts (merger of the Civil Aviation Administration, the Road Administration and the Maritime Administration) (236 SE); the Bill on Amendments to the Value Added Tax Act and the Customs Act (239 SE), the Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Increasing the Holding of the Republic of Estonia in the International Finance Corporation” (237 OE); and the Bill on Amendments to the Tax Information Exchange Act (238 SE).
The third reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Energy Sector Organisation Act and the Natural Gas Act (202 SE) is scheduled for Thursday’s sitting.
The Bill on Amendments to the Place Names Act (208 SE) will be at the first reading.
During the open microphone, Anti Poolamets and Hele Everaus took the floor.
NordenBladet —At today’s sitting, the Bill to obligate the state to improve energy efficiency so as to aim to decrease energy consumption regardless of levels of economic growth passed the second reading in the Riigikogu.
The Bill on Amendments to the Energy Sector Organisation Act and the Natural Gas Act (202 SE), initiated by the Government, will transpose new obligations arising from the relevant EU directive that will help achieve the EU’s long-term targets in the reduction of energy use. The directive provides for progress towards the Energy Union, under which energy efficiency is to be treated as an energy source in its own right.
The Bill will specify that the national energy efficiency target will be set at Government level together with policy measures supporting it and the energy efficiency obligation distribution plan.
It is intended to regulate the metering of the consumption of heating, cooling and domestic hot water by final users in buildings, and the billing relating thereto. In order to transfer completely to remote reading of heat by 1 January 2027, the energy supplier will need to install only remotely readable heat meters. The installation of apartment-based final users’ heat meters in multi-apartment buildings is necessary where this is cost-effective and technically feasible. Starting from 25 October 2020, final users will have to be given extensive comparative information upon billing for heat with the aim that consumers will be able to change their behaviour.
NordenBladet —Estonia as the holder of the presidency of the Baltic Assembly organises the meetings of the Presidium, the Budget and Audit Committee and the Consultative Council of the Baltic Assembly as video conferences today. The impact of the coronavirus on the economies and cooperation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be discussed. The decisions of the committee meetings held during Estonia’s presidency and the priorities of the Lithuanian presidency next year will also be in the focus.
President of the Baltic Assembly (BA) and Head of the Estonian Delegation Aadu Must said that the coronavirus had brought out the bottlenecks in the so far excellent cooperation of the three countries. “For example, at the onset of the crisis, we were not able to ensure timely exchange of information or jointly coordinate the emergency measures in our region. Fortunately, we have overcome these challenges by now, but after the low contagion rate in summer, the current situation is unclear and unpredictable. Therefore, we have to learn to live together with COVID-19 and find solutions to cope with the crises caused by it,” Must said.
Head of the Delegation added that Estonia had done a very good job in presiding the work of the BA under the coronavirus conditions. “We managed to make our work digital quickly and smoothly, nothing remained undone and with that, we even set an example to others,” Must said.
Deputy Head of the Estonian Delegation to the BA Johannes Kert noted that the Baltic States had managed to learn a lot from the current crisis. According to him, the he most valuable lesson learned is that when countries work together, they are able to effectively contain the virus and mitigate the crisis. “Therefore it is extremely important to continue on the same path. One of the coordination measures that could be implemented in the Baltic States is mutual assistance and coordination in the field of disaster prevention, preparedness and response,” Kert said.
At present, when the security situation is becoming more tense, coordinated activities of the Baltic States in the field of security are becoming increasingly important in Kert’s opinion. “Coordinated functioning of the defence procurements system would give more security for the resources contributed. We need to continue what we have started in this important sphere,” Kert added.
This spring, the Economic Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) asked the Foresight Centre of the Riigikogu to analyse the economic and social implications of COVID-19. Within the framework of the research, the Foresight Centre in cooperation with the University of Latvia think tank LV PEAK and the Government Strategic Analysis Centre of Lithuania STRATA prepared an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on economy and social sphere in the Baltic States. This document will be presented today.
Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee and member of the Estonian delegation to the BA Sven Sester pointed out that COVID-19 had influenced not only health care systems and economies, but also the way the people live and work, their physical and mental welfare and domestic situation. In his opinion, continuation of the crisis will create an excellent opportunity for the increase of public sector investments due to direct necessity, and bring about wider cooperation with the private sector. “We have already seen how rapidly and flexibly the state and businesses responded to the crisis, and by learning from these, sometimes undoubtedly very painful experiences we will be able to take smarter steps in the future. Digitalisation and new business models are the keywords here,” Sester said.
Programme of the meetings:
10:00 – Digital meeting of the BA Presidium, attended by Head of the Estonian Delegation Aadu Must and Deputy Head Johannes Kert
11:15 – Digital meeting of the BA Budget and Audit Committee, attended by member of the Estonian Delegation Sven Sester
12:30 – Digital meeting of the BA Consultative Council, attended by Head of the Estonian Delegation Aadu Must and Deputy Head of the Estonian Delegation Johannes Kert and members of the Delegation Urmas Espenberg, Signe Kivi, Erki Savisaar, Sven Sester and Urve Tiidus.
NordenBladet —At today’s plenary sitting, the Riigikogu appointed Urmas Volens a justice of the Supreme Court. He will become a member of the Supreme Court from 1 November 2020.
The explanatory memorandum to the Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Appointment of Urmas Volens a Justice of the Supreme Court” (222 OE), submitted by Villu Kõve, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, notes that Urmas Volens is an experienced and recognised lawyer whose professional experience in various positions at the Ministry of Justice, as a sworn advocate in law offices, and associate professor of civil process at the School of Law of the University of Tartu allow him to contribute significantly to the work of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court and the further development of Estonian civil law.
68 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the Resolution and 19 were against. There were two abstentions.
One Bill passed the second reading:
The Bill on Amendments to the Spatial Data Act and the Apartment Ownership and Apartment Associations Act (196 SE), initiated by the Government, will harmonise the bases for the establishment of unique addresses, simplify the communication with owners of address objects and ensure better interoperability between the state information systems.
The Land Board will be given the right to establish areas that have a unique address. Under the current procedure, densely populated areas and built up areas determined by a comprehensive plan are areas requiring a unique address. Since the abovementioned areas have not been defined in legislation, local governments determine them very variedly by plans. This involves the problem that buildings may be difficult to find.
Areas requiring a unique address that can be determined on uniform bases ensure uniform address organisation in the country, and at the same time involve no additional obligations or restrictions on construction or other activities.
In addition, the communication with owners of address objects will be simplified, and the possibility to notify of changes to addresses by e-mail and, in the case of apartment buildings, through the apartment association, will be included.
With the amendments to the Apartment Ownership and Apartment Associations Act, better interoperability between the state information systems, in particular the land register and the address data information system will be ensured. When an apartment ownership is established in the land register, each apartment that is registered as an apartment ownership is also assigned a corresponding address object in the address data system.
Tarmo Kruusimäe (Isamaa) took the floor during the debate.
A Bill passed the first reading:
Under the Bill 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 Republic of Estonia will accede 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 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.
The ECMWF member state status will enable 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.
The Bill on Amendments to the Public Holidays and Days of National Importance Act (153 SE), initiated by the Social Democratic Party Faction, was intended to amend the Public Holidays and Days of National Importance Act according to which an additional day of rest is given when a national day or a public holiday falls on a weekend.
The Constitutional Committee as the lead committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 53 members of the Riigikogu were in favour of the motion and eight were against. Thus, the Bill was dropped from the legislative proceedings.
The Bill on Amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Act (199 SE), initiated by the Social Democratic Party Faction, provided for the extension of the range of persons receiving unemployment insurance benefit to employees and officials who terminate their contract of employment or service relationship on their own initiative or by agreement of the parties. The aim was to apply a waiting period of 30 calendar days on the payment of unemployment insurance benefit.
The Bill proposed an amendment according to which the rate of unemployment insurance benefit for the first 100 days of unemployment would have risen to 70 per cent of the average remuneration of the employee, and further to 50 per cent starting from the 101th day.
The Social Affairs Committee as the lead committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 53 members of the Riigikogu were in favour of the motion and nine were against. Thus, the Bill was dropped from the legislative proceedings.
The Bill on Amendments to the Labour Market Services and Benefits Act and the Unemployment Insurance Act (197 SE), initiated by the Social Democratic Party Faction, was intended to amend the Labour Market Services and Benefits Act and to raise the unemployment allowance rate to at least 60 per cent of the amount of the minimum wage in the previous year. At the same time, according to the proposal, if the unemployment allowance rate were higher than unemployment insurance benefit, the benefit would be paid to the extent of the unemployment allowance.
Lauri Läänemets (Social Democratic Party) took the floor during the debate.
The Social Affairs Committee as the lead committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 45 members of the Riigikogu were in favour of the motion and nine were against. Thus, the Bill was dropped from the legislative proceedings.
The motion of no confidence in the Minister of Finance Martin Helme was not supported in the Riigikogu today. 45 member of the Riigikogu were in favour of the motion of no confidence submitted by 45 members of the Reform Party Faction and the Social Democratic Party Faction. 53 voted against. The support of at least 51 members of the Riigikogu was needed to express no confidence.
During the debate, Kaja Kallas (Reform Party), Katri Raik (Social Democratic Party) and Urmas Reitelmann (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor.
NordenBladet —Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) joined the signatories of the open letter initiated by the members of the United States House of Representatives, which calls on releasing of political prisoners in Belarus and condemns Lukashenko regime’s use of violence.
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Enn Eesmaa underlined that violence against peaceful protesters in Belarus and politically motivated detention of members of the Coordination Council were regrettable. “We continue to stand for the civil society of Belarus and their free will. Together with all who have signed the letter, we stand in strong support of the vision of Europe free and at peace, where citizens can choose their own future. We find that the people of Belarus deserve the same,” Eesmaa said.
Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Marko Mihkelson noted that the open letter supported carefully targeted sanctions against human rights offenders in Belarus. “The letter demands that the Lukashenko regime members responsible for grave human rights violations committed against Belarusians should be brought to justice. This also includes imposing of sanctions, and international coordination and cooperation, also with our transatlantic allies, is important in preparing for this,” he added.
“As legislators whose nations are bound together by shared democratic, transatlantic values, we stand in strong solidarity with the Belarusian people, including those protesting and wrongly imprisoned,” the open letter says. “We condemn the Lukashenko regime’s use of violence, intimidation, arrests, and repressive tactics against the people of Belarus, including the targeting of leading members of the Coordination Council.”
The legislators find that Lukashenka’s regime has unjustly detained opposition leader Marya Kalesnikava and her colleagues. They demand that all charges against Kalesnikava be dropped, and that she be immediately released along with fellow Coordination Council members and all other political prisoners.
The signatories of the open letter emphasise that they are monitoring the situation in Belarus and the regime’s actions closely. “We … are fully committed to using our legislative powers to advocate and act to support the Belarusian people.”
The open letter has also been signed by the representatives of the parliaments of Poland, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Italy, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Malta, Switzerland, Moldova, Austria, Denmark, Norway and Ireland, and the European Parliament.
NordenBladet —The Bill under which the amount of the funds allocated by the state to research and development will amount to at least one per cent of GDP passed the first reading in the Riigikogu today.
The Bill on Amendments to the Organisation of Research and Development Act (198 SE), initiated by the Social Democratic Party Faction, is intended to ensure stable funding of research and development by the state. This will support broad-based social development and facilitate greater added value of entrepreneurship. The explanatory memorandum notes that if the Bill is passed, there will be more security regarding research funding. At the same time, within three years, it is planned to achieve the funding level provided for in the Estonia 2020 Action Plan and the social agreement to ensure the further development of Estonian research and innovation.
During the debate, Aadu Must (Centre Party) and Jürgen Ligi (Reform Party) took the floor on behalf of their factions.
NordenBladet —At today’s sitting, the Riigikogu discussed the overview of the civil service report of 2019 by Jaak Aab, Minister of Public Administration.
The report focuses in particular on civil service, that is, civil servants of state and local government authorities, but it also gives an overview of the whole public sector and government sector. The personnel statistics covers, among other things, the number of employees, the labour costs, and the indicators of recruitment, assessment and turnorver as well as composition of staff. In addition, it gives an overview of the training and development activities, ethics and the legal framework of the Civil Service Act.
Last year, state and local government authorities employed 27,628 civil servants, which accounted for 4.2 per cent of the total employment in Estonia. „In agencies, reorganisation of the work of various sectors was continued, in order to provide a better public service both digitally and in direct communication,” Jaak Aab said.
Last year, 132,333 people worked in the public sector, which is 0.08 per cent up from a year earlier. Starting from 2008, the number of public sector employees has decreased by 13,333 people, that is, by nine per cent. 27,628 civil servants worked in civil service, that is, state and local government authorities, which is 0.2 per cent up in a year. In seven years, the number of civil servants has decreased by 2322 persons, that is, by 7.8 per cent. 22,059 civil servants worked in state authorities and 5569 in local government authorities. More than a third of civil servants were special servants, including police and prison officials, rescue service workers, etc.
The average age of civil servants remained at 43.5 years, but the average age is on the rise. There are slightly more women than men, while there are more younger men in special services.
The proportion of people with higher education is significantly larger in the civil service than in Estonia as a whole. The proportion of people with higher education was 42 per cent of all the employed in Estonia; at the same time, 61 per cent of civil servants have higher education.
The average gross monthly salary of state officials was 1877 euro last year, which is 8.6 per cent up in a year. The average gross monthly salary of local government officials was 1692 euro, which is 5.3 per cent up in a year. The average gross monthly salary in the government sector was 1494 euro, which is 9.9 per cent up in a year. The average gross monthly wage increased 7.4 per cent, rising to 1407 euro.
Aab explained the future perspectives. “With our team in the area of government of the Minister of Public Administration, we are looking for new opportunities to optimise governance and activities, on the one hand, and to use the taxpayers’ money most effectively for the functioning of the state. However, at the same time, we must not back down on quality and the quality of services, but we need to improve them even more,” Aab said. He continues to attach importance to the development of e-governance and wider use of information technology solutions in the provision of public services. Undoubtedly, we will also need to take into account the needs of developing e-governance when preparing for the new European Union 2021+ financial period. “The state needs to be smarter and more modern, and it is possible to automate many services. Then the need to communicate with state authorities for bureaucratic operations would be reduced for citizens, undertakings as well as local governments,” Aab said. “Civil service must however be able to keep abreast of global technology trends and to get used to the ever-increasing flexibility in the ways of working. Teleworking has come to stay. The corona crisis also showed this.”
Aab said that we also needed to continue moving state-salaried jobs out of the capital. “We need to value and appreciate the people who serve our country. We need to recruit the best experts in their fields to civil service and to remunerate and train them properly. The state and local governments need to develop and become more up to date as employers,” the minister noted.
During the debate, Kersti Sarapuu (Centre Party) and Heiki Hepner (Isamaa) took the floor.
The Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik replied to the interpellation concerning the situation of children with chronic diseases (No 39), submitted by members of the Riigikogu Helmen Kütt, Jaak Juske, Heljo Pikhof, Jevgeni Ossinovski, Riina Sikkut, IndrekSaar and Ivari Padar on 18 June.
During the open microphone, Urmas Reitelmann took the floor.
NordenBladet —Today, the Speakers of the parliaments of the Nordic Countries and the Baltic States (NB8) held a video conference where the events in Belarus were discussed.
President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Henn Põlluaas said at the meeting with colleagues that on 25 August, the Parliament of Estonia had passed the Statement in Support of Democracy and Civil Society in Belarus. He expressed support to the aspirations of the civil society of Belarus – ending of violence, release of political prisoners and holding of new, free presidential elections.
The Speakers of Nordic and Baltic parliaments assured that their attention towards the events in Belarus would not cease.
The video conference was also attended by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is in exile in Lithuania. She thanked the Nordic Countries and the Baltic States for their support.
NB8 is the Nordic-Baltic cooperation format that has been bringing Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania around the same table since 1992.
NordenBladet — The National Defence Committee held an extraordinary sitting today to discuss keeping the defence spending on the current level and using loan money. The Committee adopted a relevant statement.
“The National Defence Committee firmly supports keeping the defence spending at least on the current planned nominal level. In view of the tense international security environment and the growing instability caused by the pandemic, we have the duty to ensure the sustainable development of Estonia’s defence capability.
Cutting defence spending would lead to problems today and in the future, and would undermine national defence. In case of need, we must carry out structural changes to continue developing our defence capability or close the existing capability gaps with the help of a loan.
Defence spending plans must centre on the need to stimulate Estonia’s economy.”
Minister of Finance Martin Helme, Minister of Defence Jüri Luik, and Commander of the Defence Forces Major General Martin Herem took part in the sitting.
NordenBladet — Two drafts passed the first reading
The Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Use of the Defence Forces in the Fulfilment of the International Commitments of the Estonian State in Operation ‘Sentinel’ of the International Maritime Security Construct” (211 OE), initiated by the Government, will allow to contribute with up to five servicemen to operation “Sentinel”.
In summer 2019, the United States of America launched an initiative to establish the International Maritime Security Construct IMSC, which aims to ensure the freedom of navigation and security of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and to promote a rule-based international order. In order to achieve this, IMSC has launched the operation Sentinel in the Strait of Hormuz region.
Estonia’s priority is international relations based on international law and rules, including the ensuring of freedom of navigation. By participating in the operation, Estonia will make its contribution to increasing stability and security in the Middle East region. In autumn 2020, Estonia will contribute with a staff officer at the operation headquarters in Bahrain. By participating in operation Sentinel, Estonia will continue excellent bilateral cooperation in international missions with its strategic partners, the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
The expenses of the participation in the operation will be covered from the budget of the area of government of the Ministry of Defence.
The amendment proposed by the Bill on Amendments to the Local Government Organisation Act (212 SE), initiated by the Constitutional Committee, concerns people who are members of a municipal council and are employed on the basis of an employment contract in an administrative agency of the same rural municipality or city. In the future, suspension of the authority of member of the council will be applied to such people, instead of termination of authority. The proposed amendment does not concern officials.
The initiation of the Bill was motivated by a relevant application of the Chancellor of Justice for the Supreme Court to adopt a position. The Supreme Court had found that the restrictions in place for employees employed under an employment contract at municipal administrative agencies were not necessary and excessively restricted their right to stand as candidates. Consequently, the committee also deems it necessary to ease the restriction and supports suspension of the authority instead of termination of the authority.
The Act is planned to enter into force on 17 October when the decision of the Supreme Court will also enter into force. As of this date, it will no longer be possible to prematurely terminate the authority of the council members who are employees of municipal administrative agencies.