Work of the Committee

The Committee's work is following two main lines: the Council of Ministers meetings (and the European Council) and the legislative proposals by the European Commission.

The legislative initiatives of the European Commission are discussed in the Government and then sent to the Board of the Riigikogu. The Board forwards the draft to the EU Affairs Committee (or Foreign Affairs Committee in matters of Common Foreign and Security Policy and treaties with third countries) and one or more specialised standing committees for an opinion to be delivered to the EU Affairs Committee.

After receiving the opinion of the specialised standing committee, the EU Affairs Committee discusses the draft and gives its opinion to the Government.

In case of the Council of Ministers meetings, the Government sends Estonia's positions adopted by the Government to the EU Affairs Committee and the relevant minister appears before the Committee to explain the positions and for discussions with the members of the EU Affairs Committee. After the EU Affairs Committee session the Committee's position is sent to the Government. The Committee may also decline to form an opinion.
Prime Minister appears before the Committee before the European Council meetings in order to discuss Estonia's positions.

The Government of the Republic is required to adhere to the opinion of the Riigikogu. If the Government of the Republic has failed to do so, it shall provide justification thereof to the EU Affairs Committee or the Foreign Affairs Committee at the earliest opportunity.
The relevant Ministry provides the EU Affairs Committee with a memorandum containing the proceedings of the Council of Ministers meeting as a follow-up of the proceedings cycle.

Voting in the EU Affairs Committee

Usually the Chairman of the Committee summarises the position of the Committee after each agenda item and if there are no objections the position of the Committee is reflected in its minutes.

In case of disagreement(s) the item is either put to a vote or a (dissenting) opinion is entered into the minutes of the Committee sitting.

According to the Riigikogu Rules of Procedure Act, a committee adopts a proposal if the majority of the members have voted in favour. In case of an equal outcome the proposal has not “gained support”.

Relations with specialised standing committees

The most important link with the specialised standing committees is via double membership of the members of the EU Affairs Committee. This enables regular and timely exchange of information between the EU Affairs Committee and specialised standing committees. Members of the Committee can give additional information in the EU Affairs Committee regarding the discussions in a specialised standing committee when discussions are held on the same issue.

Documents

Like the sittings of all other committees of the Riigikogu, the sittings of the EU Affairs Committee are not public. The public document, which reflects the sitting, is the minutes. The minutes contain the list of participants, the agenda and the Committee's resolutions. In addition, the minutes may reflect certain statements or opinions of the Committee members which they have asked to be put on record.

In general, the documents provided by the Government in relation to the Council of Ministers meetings are not public. Usually the restriction applies until the presentation of Estonia's positions in the Council of Ministers.

The media is provided with a weekly agenda of the Committee and can ask questions and comments from the members after the Committee sitting.
Most of the documents for the EU Affairs Committee are circulated electronically. This enables to save time and the environment. In case a document needs a signature, it is signed electronically using the Estonian ID Card. Such arrangement allows the documents to be transferred instantly to all the members and the alternate members of the Committee, thus giving more time to work with the items.

Prime Minister's overview of activities of the Government of the Republic upon implementation of European Union policies.

At least once a year the Prime Minister presents to the Riigikogu an overview of the activities of the Government of the Republic in implementing European Union policies.
Before the EU-related amendments to the Riigikogu Rules of Procedure Act, it was the European Affairs Committee which initiated annual debate on the EU issues in the plenary. Such debates were held as deliberations of matter of significant national importance and resembled the Foreign Policy debate in the Riigikogu. Specialised plenary debates on the EU issues were held in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003.

Co-operation with Colleagues in other parliaments

Since 1997, the Committee members have participated as observers in the Conference of Parliamentary Committees dealing with EU and Community Affairs (COSAC).
As of May 1, 2004 Estonian MPs are full members of COSAC. Exchanging best practices, views on common points of interest, and problems during COSAC as well as personal contacts established there have contributed to the development of the Estonian parliamentary scrutiny system.

There are also bi-lateral and multilateral contacts. During the accession the so-called 5+1 format meetings of Chairmen of the European Affairs Committees were held, the six countries being Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Cyprus.

The trilateral meetings of the Chairmen of the EU Affairs Committees of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are regularly held as a form of Baltic co-operation. Recently, Poland has joined the meetings transforming the meetings to the so-called 3+1 meetings of the Chairmen of the EU Affairs Committees.

Co-operation with the European Parliament was institutionalised in 1997 in the form of the Joint Parliamentary Committee where the Members of the European Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu formed the Riigikogu's delegation. After the accession to the EU the Joint Parliamentary Committee has ceased to exist and the co-operation with the European Parliament has been mainly channelled through the six Estonian Members of the European Parliament. Already some months after the accession the EU Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu decided to open its meetings for the Estonian Members of the European Parliament for participation (without voting rights).