Foreign experts appraising local democracy in Estonia were given an overview of administrative reform
President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Eiki Nestor, Chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the Riigikogu Kalle Laanet and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Riigikogu Remo Holsmer met with the delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLRAE) and gave an overview of the ongoing administrative reform and its aims.
“The experts wanted to hear our opinion and explanations regarding the administrative reform,” Nestor said. “We emphasised that the purpose of the reform is to strengthen local governments, and that the people of Estonia and the Estonian society will only gain from having stronger local governments.”
Criticism of the Administrative Reform Act was also discussed at the meeting, and the relations of central government and local governments and the financing and obligations of local governments were spoken about. CLRAE delegation was made up of rapporteurs Leen Verbeek and Henrik Hammar, expert Bernd Semmelroggen and representative of the CLRAE secretariat Romain Pinchon.
The main role of CLRAE is observing local and regional elections and preparing reports that give an overview of the situation on local democracy in the member states of the Council of Europe.
Riigikogu Press Service
Urmas Seaver
Phone: +372 631 6352; +372 50 39 907
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