Hussar said at the meeting that Estonia had been and remained a firm supporter of the EU’s enlargement policy. “We are ready to share with Serbia our experience in the EU integration and reform process and to continue our cooperation in the field of e-governance and cybersecurity,” he said.
Speaking of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, Hussar expressed concern about the situation in Ukraine and underlined the need for further support for Ukraine. “We must support Ukraine until victory, because they are fighting on the battlefield not only for their own freedom, but for the whole democratic world,” he said.
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and support for Ukraine were also main topics of discussion at the meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu.
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee also pointed out at the meeting that Ukraine needed all the support it could get in its fight against Russia. According to him, this means not only providing military and humanitarian aid, but also imposing and strengthening sanctions against Russia. “There is no alternative to Ukraine’s victory, because Russia’s success would be a disaster not only for Ukraine but for the entire European security architecture. The countries that aspire to become members of the EU have to understand that it is crucial to defend our common interests and values,” Mihkelson said.
Photos (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)
According to Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Marko Mihkelson, discussions on the Asian region have been one of the priorities of the Committee for years. “The Foreign Affairs Committee started the hearings on the Asian strategy in 2011, and a year later, the Committee drafted the first report on Estonia’s opportunities and interests in Asia. Issues relating to both Taiwan and the events in Asia more widely are increasingly important in the current security situation, and are also under close public attention,” he said.
Mihkelson added that the topic was relevant for the Foreign Affairs Committee also because the Committee was preparing for a visit to South Korea and Taiwan. It is planned that the Committee’s visit will take place at the end of October.
At the sitting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Head of the Centre Elo Süld and members of the working group of the report Urmas Hõbepappel, Piret Ehin and Mart Tšernjuk gave an overview of the report on Taiwan that is being prepared at the University of Tartu Asia Centre. The report will be completed at the beginning of next year, and it aims to outline the status, politics, economy and society of Taiwan, and the geopolitical situation in East Asia. The document will also analyse in greater detail the issues related to Taiwan that are of interest to Estonia and from which Estonia can learn, and final section of the report contains recommendations for the future.
“The border states of the European Union and NATO Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are well aware of what authoritarian regimes in Russia and Belarus are capable of. Our borders are under hybrid pressure. Besides the organised threat of illegal migration, the smuggling of prohibited good is also attempted. We need to rapidly exchange information, coordinate activities, be ready to act decisively and help each other. Putin’s regime does not tolerate our values-based cooperation,” Tali said. “Protection of external borders and strengthening the administration relating to it is necessary in the whole European Union, and it is important to pay attention also to financing of the new solutions and construction of the infrastructure needed for that.”
Tali said that the meeting would focus on energy security, because in the war against Ukraine, Russia had used energy as a hybrid weapon on the geopolitical chessboard both against Ukraine and Europe, and this was the reason it was important to ensure the security of the energy system and achieve energy independence from Russia.
The meeting will begin today afternoon with visits to the Lithuanian-Belarusian border and the Energy Cells battery park in Vilnius, and continue with an exchange of views on the draft programme of the Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) taking place at the end of October.
On Monday, the meeting will continue with discussions on the challenges at the external borders of the EU Member States, and on energy security. At 12.30 p.m., the Chairs of the European Union Affairs Committees of the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland plan to give a press conference that will be livestreamed on the web page of the Parliament of Lithuania.
At the reception dedicated to the anniversary of the Great Escape, Hussar said that the people who had decided to leave their homeland 80 years ago had not wanted to do that, but they could not stay either. “It was a difficult and painful decision for everyone. Those who chose to flee embarked on perilous journeys across the sea, with many tragically perishing before reaching the shores of Gotland and Sweden,” he said.
Hussar noted that starting a new life had not been easy, and it had taken years for the refugees to find new homes, whether in Gotland, on the Swedish mainland, or elsewhere in the free world. “We remain deeply grateful to the Swedish people for their hospitality and support in welcoming our refugees. Those who stayed behind experienced, once again, the brutal and oppressive nature of the Stalinist regime—enduring deportations, repression, and the forced sovietisation of our societies for the next 47 years,” he said.
The President of the Riigikogu emphasised that since the Great Escape of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, much had changed in the world, and yet some things had remained the same, or sadly, had reappeared. “The grim reality is that today’s Russia behaves much like the Stalinist Soviet Union, with similar imperialist ambitions,” he pointed out, and added that as a result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had together welcomed tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine—people who had fled their homes for the same reasons as Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians 80 years ago.
In Hussar’s opinion, what has changed, however, is that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden are now not only united by the Baltic Sea but also by our shared membership in the European Union and NATO. “Today, we stand together, stronger than ever before, in defence of our values and freedom. We are united in supporting Ukraine, in pushing back against Russia’s aggression, so that Ukrainian refugees could return to their homes, the people of Ukraine could live in peace, and Ukraine could take its rightful place among the family of free and democratic European nations,” he said.
Hussar also underlined that in the future, the Baltic States and the Nordic Countries have to cooperate even more closely. “We must also continue to strengthen our cooperation to ensure that our people can live in peace in our countries and that none of us will ever again be forced to flee our homes in fear of a brutal enemy,” he said.
Hussar is on a joint visit of the leaders of the parliaments of the Baltic States to Gotland, where Latvia is represented on the visit by Speaker of the Saeima (Parliament) Daiga Mieriņa, and Lithuania by Deputy Speaker of the Seimas (Parliament) Žygimantas Pavilionis. Yesterday, the leaders of the Baltic parliaments were welcomed on Gotland by Speaker of the Riksdag (Parliament) of Sweden Andreas Norlén.
Today, the Speakers will visit the Baltic Center for Writers and Translators that promotes literature and cultural exchange with the Baltic Sea countries, and meet with the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian communities in Gotland. Yesterday, they had a meeting with Governor of Gotland County Anders Flanking, visited the Gotland Regiment, and participated in the wreath laying ceremony in Slite and the memorial service at Visby Cathedral.
At the turning point of the Second World War, 75,000–80,000 people fled from Estonia to the West to escape the invading Red Army. Altogether, nearly 300,000 people escaped from the Baltic States. Many of the refugees headed for Sweden, either via Finland or directly, and for many refugee ships Gotland was the first port of call. The escape reached its peak in the second half of September 1944.
Photos (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)
Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee Peeter Tali pointed out that the purpose of the initiative was to strengthen passenger protection, encourage the use of public transport and thus contribute to the Green Deal goals by reducing CO2 emissions.
“Within Estonia, nothing will change for the time being for Auntie Maali and Uncle Fyodor, as well as for the Estonian transporters whose journeys within Estonia are shorter than 250 kilometres. At the same time, on international journeys and, in the future, on combined journeys by different transport modes in connection with Rail Baltic, passengers’ rights must be guaranteed in a uniform manner across Europe,” Tali said.
“Our aim is to ensure that the final text of the regulation would correspond to Estonia’s interests, with an emphasis on avoiding an increase in administrative burden and expenses for Estonian businesses,” Tali underlined. “We do not want fundamental changes in the passenger data collection, but we consider it necessary to set a clear term for the storage of personal data,” the Chairman added.
The amendments to the European Union Regulations are primarily meant for the protection of the rights of passengers, for example when buying air and rail travel as a single package. In the future, when buying such a multimodal ticket, the same rights will apply to customers as currently apply in the case of air travel. In the event a journey is cancelled, the passengers must be offered the possibility of re-routing or reimbursement of the cost of the ticket, and a compensation may also be paid by the carrier. Besides that, it is important to inform passengers of delay or cancellation as early as possible, so that they could respond to changes in travel times when necessary and make new arrangements.
Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Piret Hartman and Head of the Public Transport Department of the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Andres Ruubas gave an overview of the proposals for regulations on the rights of passengers and the common European mobility data space, and the positions of the Government.
The European Union Affairs Committee decided by consensus to support the positions presented by the Government, considering the opinion of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu.
Latvia is represented on the visit by Speaker of the Saeima (Parliament) Daiga Mieriņa, and Lithuania by Deputy Speaker of the Seimas (Parliament) Žygimantas Pavilionis. The leaders of the Baltic parliaments are hosted on Gotland by Speaker of the Riksdag (Parliament) of Sweden Andreas Norlén.
On Friday, the leaders of the parliaments of the four countries will meet with Governor of Gotland County Anders Flanking and visit the Gotland Regiment that consists of around 400 soldiers. In the evening, Hussar, Mieriņa and Pavilionis will participate in the wreath laying ceremony in Slite and the memorial service at Visby Cathedral.
On Saturday, they will visit the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators that promotes literature and cultural exchange with the Baltic Sea countries. At the end of the visit, the leaders of the Baltic parliaments will meet with the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian communities in Gotland.
At the turning point of the Second World War, 75,000–80,000 people fled from Estonia to the West to escape the invading Red Army. Altogether, nearly 300,000 people escaped from the Baltic States. Many of the refugees headed for Sweden, either via Finland or directly, and for many refugee ships Gotland was the first port of call. The escape reached its peak in the second half of September 1944.
Photos (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)
The Act on Amendments to the Foreign Service Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (353 SE), initiated by the Government, reduces the burden upon the assignment of specialised diplomats and non-staff administrative officials to foreign missions as the decision-making competence relating to their assignment is left to the sending ministry. In the recruitment to foreign service, a derogation is made that enables former diplomats to be recruited for a specified period without a public competition.
The payment of the allowance for spouse and registered partner is also continued to the extent of 50 percent in the case when the accompanying spouse works. An official who goes on a long-term assignment abroad alone with a child of under 13 years of age, a disabled child, or an adult child with no capacity for work will also have the possibility to take a support person with them to the long-term assignment abroad.
Under the Act, the employer does not have to pay the social tax paid for the spouse or registered partner accompanying an official on a long-term assignment. The aim of the amendment is to encourage employers to allow their employees to take unpaid leave and to allow employees to return to their current job.
The provision delegating authority regulating the issues relating to the residence of the head of foreign mission is transferred from the Foreign Relations Act to the Foreign Service Act.
67 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act and two voted against.
A Bill passed the second reading
The Bill on Amendments to the Accounting Act (428 SE), initiated by the Government, will standardise and simplify the requirements for the circulation and preparation of machine-processable source documents, in particular e-invoices.
According to the explanatory memorandum, e-invoicing for the public sector has been mandatory in Estonia since 2019, but the wider uptake of e-invoicing in the private sector has stalled. The Bill is intended to remove the obstacles that have emerged with the widespread use of electronic invoices and to facilitate the implementation of a single European standard for e-invoices.
Under the Bill, electronic invoices will have to comply with the European standard and the Estonian standard will be abolished. The Bill will also abolish the obligation to issue only e-invoices to public sector entities in all cases and will provide for the right of accounting entities that have registered as e-invoice recipients in the commercial register to require sellers to issue electronic invoices.
Two Bills were dropped from legislative proceedings
The Bill on Amendments to § 2 of the Public Holidays and Days of National Importance Act (402 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group, was dropped from the proceedings of the Riigikogu. It was intended to make Easter Monday a public holiday. According to initiators, it is a public holiday and a day of rest in the majority of European Union countries and in many other countries. With the amendment, the number of public holidays in Estonia would increase to twelve.
The lead committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 48 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and 12 voted against. There were two abstentions.
The Bill on Amendments to the Riigikogu Election Act (obtaining a compensation mandate according to the number of votes cast for a candidate) (412 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group, was also dropped from the proceedings of the Riigikogu. It provides for a change to the system of compensation mandates in Riigikogu elections.
The Bill was intended to amend the Act so that the candidate who receives more votes would obtain a compensation mandate. For this, the Bill provided that, in the national list of a political party, candidates would be ranked on the basis of the number of votes received and the compensation mandates of the political party would go to candidates who were higher on the re-ranked national list of the party.
The lead committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 50 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and ten voted against.
Hussar sees the Act on shaping next year’s state budget as a key piece of legislation for the whole Estonia. “The government’s proposals this year are aimed at steering the budget towards better balance. The people also expect steps to boost the economy; many of these steps will be based on decisions made in this hall, and we, as MPs, will critically assess the goals”. He added that no one wanted the parliament to blankly block all the procedures; instead, what were expected were results, meaningful debates, and considered decisions.
On the topic of the state budget, the President asked the MPs to consider what kind of role models they planned to be and could they tighten their own belts even more. “The imperative need to balance the revenues and expenses of the Republic of Estonia leads us to the question: what is our own contribution to dramatically cutting the costs? And one of the very few options left to us by the law is deciding about the expense allowance. Every sergeant or schoolteacher knows that teaching is successful only when you can lead by example,” he said.
Legal acts that govern our daily lives must be clear
Hussar pointed out that one of the many tasks of the parliament was to ensure that the legal acts governing the life in Estonia were effective and clear. “Several legal acts are in definite need of unbiased review and further elaboration today. Times have simply moved on and legal texts can also fall behind,” he said.
The President of the Riigikogu referred to the President of the Republic Election Act, which needed to be updated to streamline and refine the election process and make it more inclusive for the public. “Another one waiting for its turn is the Political Parties Act, which has remained on the back burner for years; we need to answer the question whether a political party that has been repeatedly convicted of a criminal offence should lose its allocation from the state budget.” Hussar added that we also needed to solve the issue of the citizens of the aggressor state in the war against Ukraine having the right to vote at local elections.
Hussar invited the MPs to discuss amendments to the Riigikogu Rules of Procedure and Internal Rules Act, including clarifications on the work of the committees but also the breaks for debate taken before voting. “We should consider giving the chair of the sitting a certain disciplinary power. Not necessarily as extensive as in the European Parliament where the chair can remove a member from the sitting for repeated disruptions, but definitely something stronger than today. No voter has given to any MP the mandate to bring a noise machine to the Riigikogu plenary hall,” he declared.
Everyone must contribute to security
Hussar’s opening speech also touched on Estonia’s security as the corner stone of our independence. Hussar described how the Ukrainian nation was fighting a war of liberation against Russia for the third year running, not fighting for their own freedom alone but standing on the frontline of the democratic free world. He evoked how the parliaments of the free world have played a critical role in this fight. “The same goes for the Riigikogu, which has made nine statements in support of Ukraine and its people during this war, as well as the pioneering decision to hand over Russia’s frozen assets to Ukraine as compensation for war damages,” he remarked.
It goes without saying that Ukraine’s war for freedom compels us to focus on our own national defence. “We are facing the task of ensuring Estonia’s primary defence and victory-oriented strategy. All of us, every member of the Riigikogu, must explain to our allies that the war against Russia cannot be won without turning the fire power against Russia. And it is clear that every one of us must accept that burden and allocate funding to the national defence,“ said the President of the Riigikogu.
The Conference will discuss issues relating to illegal migration and protection of the external borders of the EU, as well as further support for Ukraine, including the implications of Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian economy and infrastructure.
Priorities of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy of the EU, and the future Europe and the countries wishing to join the EU will also be spoken about at the Conference. Geopolitical and strategic shifts in the world that have been brought about by the war Russia has launched in Ukraine will be discussed at the Conference as a wider topic.
The interparliamentary conference is held within the framework of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which lasts from 1 July until the end of December. The conference is co-organised by the European Parliament.
The Board of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) decided that after the resignation of Member of the Riigikogu Siim Kallas, and the resignation of his substitute member Irina Talviste, substitute member Jüri Jaanson would assume the membership of the Riigikogu on 8 September.