At the additional sitting which began on Thursday at 5 p.m., the Riigikogu continued the voting on the motions to amend the State Budget of 2014 Bill (490 SE). The sitting ended on Friday a few minutes after 1 a.m. due to the lack of a quorum.

When member of the Riigikogu Jaanus Tamkivi requested an attendance check a few minutes after 1 a.m., 19 members of the Riigikogu registered their attendance.

The motions to amend No. 77 – No. 120 were voted on at the additional sitting. There are 402 motions in total. The motions to amend which were voted on were not supported with the exception of one. The Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion to amend No. 88 according to which 7600 euro would be allocated from the Government reserve to replace the depreciated stove and oven in the kitchen of Kambja kindergarten.

At the sitting which began on Wednesday and ended on Thursday at 9.44 a.m., 60 motions were voted on, of which the motion initiated by the Finance Committee was supported. The regular sitting which began on Thursday at 10 a.m. ended with motion No 76, no motion having been supported.

The voting is taking so long because members of the opposition have been using the opportunity to ask for a recess of up to ten minutes before each voting on a motion to amend, provided for in the Riigikogu Rules of Procedure and Internal Rules. At an additional sitting, members of the Riigikogu have the right to request an attendance check, and it was requested repeatedly.

As the legislative proceeding of the state budget is expected to linger, the President of the Riigikogu has convened four additional sittings. The next sitting will begin on Friday morning at 10 a.m. At first, the 121st motion to amend will be voted on at the next additional sitting.

The verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

The Riigikogu Press Service