NordenBladet —The leaders of the Estonian national airline Nordica gave the Economic Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) an overview of the situation and plans of the company, and the developments in the global aviation.
Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee Sven Sester said that Estonia’s success was not possible without direct connections with the cities of other countries. Nordica was created for keeping these connections, but in Sester’s opinion, the company has distanced itself from its original purpose. “Therefore it is necessary to follow the performance and the setting of new targets of our airline very closely. If foreign airlines are not interested in Estonia and flying to Estonia, Nordica has to stretch its wings, because this is why the company was originally established,” he explained.
Sester added that according to the winter schedule of Tallinn Airport, it was possible to travel to 31 destinations with the planes of 13 different companies, but Nordica’s share in it had fallen to around ten destinations. “Due to competition and other difficulties, Nordica has suspended flights on certain routes, which is definitely not a good sign, but at the same time, the number of destinations together with other airlines is positive – in summer, it was possible to fly direct to 38 destinations, which is a new record of the latest periods,” Sester said.
Deputy Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee Kristen Michal said that Nordica had been born out of the need to keep the connections that were necessary for Estonia, and to do it in a way that would be economically feasible. “The connections from Tallinn and Estonia yield a revenue of 100–200 million euro a year to the economy. The most important aspect for Estonia is having a company that can keep up and create competition, so that Tallinn Airport would work in the interests of customers,” he said.
Michal thinks that, at present, aviation is doing well, and Tallinn Airport has also done good work in creating new routes. “Nordica has to run itself so that, when competition decreases, it is capable of competing in the market – this is also the reason why it was established and is operating,” Michal said.
CEO Erki Urva and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Toomas Tiivel of Nordic Aviation Group AS gave an overview of the situation of the airline to the Economic Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu.
NordenBladet —At today’s plenary sitting, the Riigikogu concluded the first reading of two Bills that will ensure additional protection to people who work on ships.
The Bill on Amendments to the Seafarers Employment Act and the Maritime Safety Act (56 SE), initiated by the Government, will transpose into Estonian law two European Union directives, and Estonian law will be brought into conformity with the amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO) that were passed in 2016.
Under the Bill, shipowners will have to conclude seafarers’ employment agreements with persons working on fishing vessels of less than 24 metres in length. At present, ordinary labour law regulation applies to persons working under a contract of employment on board such fishing vessels. Seafarers’ employment agreement ensures additional protection to workers. For example, the shipowner must ensure regular food and the provision of medical care on the ship. Fishing vessel means a vessel used for commercial fishing.
The Bill will also establish a financial security system to compensate for both abandonment of crew members and for costs for crew members in respect of occupational accident or disease. All shipowners whose ships must have a maritime labour certificate (ships of 500 gross tonnage or over) must have sufficient financial security. Liability insurance, a bank guarantee or another security that enables compensation to be paid may be financial security.
The explanatory memorandum notes that the minister responsible for the area will establish by a regulation the principles for evaluating the sufficiency and calculating the amount of the security. The Estonian Maritime Administration will evaluate the sufficiency of security upon the issue of maritime labour certificates. All ships flying the Estonian flag that have a maritime labour certificate already have liability insurance.
Under an amendment to the ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention, it is possible to extend an existing maritime labour certificate for up to five months upon expiry of the certificate. This is done where the ship has successfully passed the renewal inspection, but a new certificate cannot immediately be issued to the ship. Under the current law, there is no possibility to extend the certificate.
The Act enters into force pursuant to general procedure. Under the Bill, a transitional provision will be established under which employment agreements concluded with workers working on fishing vessels of less than 24 metres will be deemed to be seafarers’ employment agreements as of 1 January 2020. The employment agreements in force will have to be brought into conformity with the law by 31 December 2020.
The Bill on the Ratification of the Amendments of 2014 and 2016 to the Code of the Maritime Labour Convention of the International Labour Organization (75 SE), initiated by the Government, also passed the first reading.
The amendments of 2014 concern the obligation of the shipowner to have financial security for the event of abandonment of crew members and to cover contractual claims arising from occupational accident and disease. For example, liability insurance, a bank guarantee or another security that enables compensation to be paid may be financial security. For example, situations where the shipowner has left the seafarer without the necessary maintenance or has unilaterally severed their ties with the seafarer are deemed to be abandonment.
The amendments passed in 2016 concern the extension of maritime labour certificate in a situation where a maritime labour certificate expires and a new certificate cannot immediately be issued, but the ship has passed an inspection and it has been found to meet the necessary requirements for obtaining the certificate. In such a case, the validity of the maritime labour certificate can be extended by up to five months. Under the current law, there is no possibility to extend the certificate.
The amendments will affect in particular crew members and owners of ships flying the Estonian national flag and holding a maritime labour certificate, and the Estonian Maritime Administration. At the same time, the proposed amendments will have little impact because all ships holding a maritime labour certificate and flying the Estonian flag have P&I liability insurance, which covers the costs related to the repatriation and abandonment, and the injuries or death of crew members.
The Maritime Labour Convention was adopted on 23 February 2003 with the aim of establishing uniform principles to ensure decent working and living conditions for all seafarers. The Riigikogu ratified the Maritime Labour Convention on 23 February 2016, and it entered into force for the Republic of Estonia on 5 May 2017. Ninety-two member states of the ILO have ratified the Convention.
Two Bills were dropped from the proceedings of the Riigikogu:
The Bill on Amendments to the Environmental Charges Act (41 SE), initiated by the Social Democratic Faction. According to the Bill, at least 25 per cent of the environmental charges received into the state budget were intended to be distributed to the Ida-Viru County programme and the implementation of the activities specified therein. According to the explanatory memorandum, the amendment would bring around 20 million additional euro a year to the region.
The explanatory memorandum notes that the Ida-Viru County oil shale sector pays to the state the majority of the environmental charges accrued into the state budget, but that is not improving the local living environment as a whole in Ida-Viru County at present. Estonian oil shale industry companies pay an estimated average of 70% of all environmental charges.
During the debate, Peeter Ernits (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor. On behalf of the faction, he moved to reject the Bill at the first reading.
51 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and 31 were against. Thus, the motion was supported and the Bill was dropped from the legislative proceedings.
The Bill on Amendments to the Citizenship Act (40 SE), initiated by the Social Democratic Party Faction, was intended to provide for the possibility to apply for Estonian citizenship by naturalisation to children of under 15 years of age who were born in Estonia and whose parent or parents either have undefined citizenship or are third country nationals and resided permanently in Estonia before 20 August 1991. The Bill will abandon the requirement of a residence permit of a long-term resident as a condition for applying for Estonian citizenship. The requirement that the applicant stay in Estonia legally on the basis of a residence permit or right of residence will be maintained.
During the debate, Jevgeni Ossinovski (Social Democratic Party) took the floor and called on to support the Bill.
Faction Isamaa moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 74 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and nine were against. Thus, the motion was supported and the Bill was dropped from the legislative proceedings.
The deliberation of the first reading of a Bill was adjourned due to the end of the working hours of the plenary:
The Bill on Amendments to the Citizenship Act (37 SE), initiated by the Reform Party Faction, will allow multiple citizenship for Estonian citizens who have acquired Estonian citizenship by birth. The Bill also provides for the possibility of resumption of Estonian citizenship for persons who acquired Estonian citizenship before 26 February 1992 but who were forced to renounce it or were deemed to have ceased to be an Estonian citizen.
NordenBladet —At today’s sitting of the Riigikogu, the Bill on Amendments to the Organisation of Research and Development Act (33 SE), initiated by the Social Democratic Party Faction, passed the first reading. It is intended to ensure stable funding of research and development by the state at the level of one per cent of GDP. This will support broad-based social development and facilitate greater added value of entrepreneurship.
“Science and higher education. Teachers’ salary, higher education and science, I would say, are an investment into the future. We have all agreed that defence spending has been fixed in law. Likewise, contribution to research also deserves to be set out in law as one per cent of gross domestic product as of 2022,” Katri Raik (Social Democratic Party) said when presenting the Bill.
The initiators of the Bill said in justification that the lag in the research and development funding hindered Estonia’s movement towards knowledge-intensive economy. The researchers’ labour market is international, and the limited research and development funding forces Estonian researchers to leave Estonia for countries with better research and development funding.
Member of the Riigikogu Mart Võrklaev took his oath of office.
During the open microphone, Jaak Juske took the floor.
NordenBladet —President of the Riigikogu Henn Põlluaas and President of Hungary János Áder met in Budapest to discuss challenges that achieving climate neutrality would set for energy security.
Põlluaas said that Estonia decided this week to join the European Union goal to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, this means that the carbon emissions of the country must not exceed its capture capacity. “We would like to focus on renewable energy solutions, but sadly technology today cannot offer us a quick substitute for oil shale. We can also expect investments that would be massive for a small country, as well as a socio-economic challenge because tens of thousands of jobs are tied to the oil shale industry,” Põlluaas said. He added that although the European Union does have support mechanisms for giving up coal, there are no support measures for oil shale.
The President of Hungary said that the new budgetary period of the European Union is currently being prepared, with an extra focus on climate related targets. He expressed his hope that these plans would also include measures for giving up oil shale.
This week, the President of the Riigikogu is on a visit to Budapest at the invitation of the Speaker of the Parliament of Hungary. The purpose of the visit is to promote bilateral relations and learn about the latest developments in Hungary. The President of the Riigikogu is accompanied on the visit by the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Enn Eesmaa, and member of the National Defence Committee Madis Milling.
NordenBladet —Head of the Estonian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), member of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Maria Jufereva-Skuratovski delivered a speech on labour migration from Eastern Europe and its impact on behalf of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE Group) at the PACE Plenary Session today.
In Jufereva-Skuratovski’s opinion, labour migration from Eastern Europe is a great problem. “Ukrainians stand out among the labour migrants from Eastern Europe – according to the data from 2017, there were more than 4.5 million of them. Besides the Ukrainians, there were 3 million Romanian, 2.5 million Polish and one million Bulgarian labour migrants. These are large figures, and if the labour migrants do not know how to stand for their interests, it will cause significant social problems for them and their families,” she said.
Jufereva-Skuratovski also spoke briefly about the situation in Estonia in her speech. “We, too, have very many labour migrants from Ukraine, and many of them come to Estonia with their families and children. There have been cases when labour migrants and their children do not have the necessary registrations, and the children therefore essentially have no right to study in school or go to kindergarten. I think that we have to find solutions to the problems concerning the labour migrants in cooperation with other countries,” Jufereva-Skuratovski said.
Estonia became a member of the Council of Europe in 1993. Our country is represented in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe by the delegation appointed by the Riigikogu.
President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Henn Põlluaas met with Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary László Kövér in Budapest today. The Speakers found that Estonia and Hungary could deepen their cooperation at the level of parliamentary friendship groups and committees.
Põlluaas pointed out that Estonia and Hungary were united by related languages and close cultural cooperation, and the two countries had always had excellent relations. He added that it was now possible to tighten them even further. “So far, Estonia has looked more towards Western Europe, but it is time to turn our attention also to Central Europe, and to Visegrád countries,” Põlluaas said. Cooperation possibilities in security issues as well as in economy and culture were discussed with the Hungarian colleague.
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu Enn Eesmaa agreed that the future cooperation between the two countries could be more coordinated at parliamentary level. He emphasised that both Estonia and Hungary should be more active in the Eastern Partnership programme. The countries we are thinking and speaking about – Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine – certainly wish that,” Eesmaa said.
Member of the National Defence Committee of the Riigikogu Madis Milling welcomed Hungary’s decision to increase defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2024. Hungary is also vigorously replacing the Soviet equipment and weapons that have remained in the country from the times of the Warsaw Pact with newer and more modern technology and weapons that completely conform to NATO standards,” Milling added.
This week, President of the Riigikogu is on a visit to Budapest at the invitation of the Speaker of the Parliament of Hungary. The purpose of the visit is to promote bilateral relations and learn about the latest developments in Hungary. Tomorrow, the Estonian delegation will visit the Estonian Institute in Hungary that promotes cooperation in culture and education, and meet with President of Hungary János Áder.
NordenBladet —Today and tomorrow, the IT experts from the parliaments of Europe meet in Tallinn, Estonia, to discuss how artificial intelligence can be used to support the work in the parliament.
Administrative Director of the Chancellery of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Ahto Saks said that artificial intelligence (in Estonian, kratt) was already used in some parliaments for speech recognition, automatic translation and preparing of sitting reviews. “In the work of the Riigikogu, it is planned to involve kratt in speech recognition next year,” Saks pointed out.
“Speech recognition and automatic translation are two examples where the implementation of artificial intelligence has reached technological maturity,” Saks said. “We will discuss with colleagues if this will open the way also for other kratts in supporting the work in the parliament.”
At the seminar, the representatives of the parliaments of Switzerland, France, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark, and the European Parliament will tell about their experience in working with artificial intelligence.
During the two days of the seminar, introduction of different forms of i-voting and innovation in the public sector will also be discussed. Colleagues from the Danish and Norwegian parliaments and the European Parliament will share their experience in preparing the parliament for digital innovation.
Representatives of Spain, the Netherlands and Hungary will give an overview of work with structured data and using of cloud services in the information and communication technologies of the parliaments.
NordenBladet —This week, President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Henn Põlluaas is on a visit to Budapest at the invitation of the Speaker of the Parliament of Hungary. The purpose of the visit is to promote bilateral relations and learn about the latest developments in Hungary.
“Estonians and Hungarians are united by ethnic fraternity, and we both consider it important to keep the identity of Finno-Ugric peoples,” Põlluaas said. He added that next year the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples would be held in Tartu, Estonia, and the President of Hungary had also been invited to attend. Põlluaas emphasised that mutual reopening of embassies in Tallinn and Budapest a year ago was a sign of the good cooperation between the two countries.
Today, the President of the Riigikogu and the Estonian delegation will visit the Embassy of Estonia. Tomorrow, Põlluaas will meet with Speaker of the National Assembly (Parliament) of Hungary László Kövér and Chairman of the Hungary-Estonia Friendship Group of the Hungarian Parliament Dr. Attila Tilki. On Friday, the Estonian delegation will visit the Estonian Institute that promotes cooperation in culture and education, and meet with President of Hungary János Áder Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó.
The President of the Riigikogu is accompanied on the visit by Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu Enn Eesmaa and member of the National Defence Committee of the Riigikogu Madis Milling.
NordenBladet —At the meeting with President of Albania Ilir Meta today, President of the Riigikogu Henn Põlluaas expressed support to Albania’s efforts to open accession negotiations with the European Union.
“Estonia strongly supports the opening of accession negotiations between the European Union and Albania. Further enlargement of the European Union is important to the stability of the Western Balkan region and the security of the whole Europe,” Põlluaas said. “Albania has good prospects of becoming a member state of the European Union in the future if the country meets the accession criteria. Estonia is ready to share its experience in this field.”
Põlluaas thinks that it is welcome that already now Albania has joined several European Union initiatives, like supporting the sanctions against Russia. As a member of NATO, Albania also contributes to the common security of Europe and has sent its troops to serve with the allied forces in Ādaži in Latvia.
“The relations between Albania and Estonia are excellent, but we could enhance primarily economic and trade relations,” Põlluaas said. “Estonia’s companies are interested in going to the Albanian market, and Albania is also an interesting but so far little known travel destination for the Estonians. And all Albanian tourists are welcome in Estonia.”
At the meeting, Põlluaas expressed his happiness that in spite of the earthquake that hit Albania a week ago, the President of Albania could make his first visit to Estonia. The President of the Riigikogu hopes that Albania will recover from the consequences of the earthquake soon.
Põlluaas thanked Albania for its support to Estonia at the elections of the non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and assured that Estonia would support the candidacy of Albania for 2022–2023.
The President of Albania was interested in Estonia’s experience in e-governance and cyber issues, and gave an overview of the political situation in the Western Balkan region and the impact of the trends of the globalising world.
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Enn Eesmaa, who also participated in the meeting, underlined the good relations between the two countries and expressed hope that relations at the parliamentary level would become closer.
Autumn Session of the PACE, held in Strasbourg this week, is to draw the attention of the majority of member states to the problems caused by Russia.
Head of the Estonian delegation, member of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Maria Jufereva-Skuratovski considers it important that the dialogue continues and Estonia participates in the Assembly. “In this complicated situation, Estonia has to take part in the dialogue and not boycott the work of the Assembly.”
Jufereva-Skuratovski said that the recent issue of restoring Russia’s rights was not on PACE’s agenda this time, but the main task of the Estonian delegation in Strasbourg was to keep an eye on and draw the attention of other member states to the consequences of Russia’s political activities.
“Russia’s rights in the Assembly were restored this summer on certain conditions, but we are not satisfied with it, because they break international agreements. We wish to cooperate with all member states who understand that for the restoration of full voting rights, Russia has to meet all requirements set to it,” Jufereva-Skuratovski said.
Member of the delegation Eerik-Niiles Kross added that the key activity at this session would be making the large Western countries aware of the seriousness of the crisis in PACE. “We will also continue to discuss with the like-minded countries the joint future actions that could restore PACE’s authority in longer perspective.”
“At the critical times for the Council of Europe, it is important for the Estonian delegation to be present and actively ask also sharp questions,” member of the Estonian delegation Indrek Saar said. “We and the countries that share our views have to do our best to ensure that this major organisation would not lose its purpose to stand for democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
Today, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Amelie de Montchalin will make a speech at the session. Tomorrow, President of France Emmanuel Macron will address PACE and give an overview of the activities of France during its Presidency.
The Autumn Session of PACE will last until Friday. The Assembly will focus on the protection of whistleblowers and the victims of terrorism. It will also discuss reports on climate refugees and labour migration in Eastern Europe, and on obstetrical and gynaecological violence.
Estonia became a member of the Council of Europe in 1993. Our country is represented in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe by the delegation appointed by the Riigikogu.