The Act on Amendments to the Family Benefits Act, the Family Law Act and the Employment Contracts Act (703 SE), which the President had refused to proclaim, passed the second reading today. The Riigikogu had made the decision to amend it this morning.

Before the second reading, the Social Affairs Committee amended the date of entry into force of the Act from 1 January to 1 February. At the same time, provisions on increased benefits, nonconsideration of studying, and the payment of benefits in stages after the child reaches 19 years of age would apply retroactively as of 1 January. The Committee added the clarification that the increased family benefits would be paid as of February when the amendments enter into force; in January, the benefits would be paid in the current amounts, and the difference between the January and February benefits would be paid out by 31 May at the latest.

The Social Affairs Committee also moved to remove the sentence in the Family Law Act which the President had seen as lacking legal clarity and therefore being in conflict with the Constitution.

In addition to the three motions to amend by the Social Affairs Committee itself, another three motions to amend were submitted but not supported. The Centre Party faction moved to increase the first and second child allowance from EUR 80 to EUR 100 per month to equal the allowance for the third child. The Social Democratic Party faction moved to increase the child benefit to EUR 119 per month for every child in the family. At the same time, they proposed keeping the allowance for families with many children at the current level, which would mean EUR 300 per month for up to six children and EUR 400 per month for seven and more children, as well as indexing child allowance and single parent’s child allowance. Member of the Riigikogu Siim Kiisler moved to abandon the indexation of the allowance for families with many children.

The Act would increase the allowance for the first and second child from EUR 60 and the single parent’s child allowance from EUR 19.18 to EUR 80 per month as of 1 January 2023. The allowance for families with many children would increase from EUR 300 to EUR 650 per month for three to six children, and from EUR 400 to EUR 850 per month for seven or more children. From 1 May 2024 the allowance for families with many children would be indexed with the pension index.

At the same time, the requirement that the child must be enrolled in a school would be abandoned as a condition for the payment of child allowance for children aged 16 to 19. This would make both the allowance for families with many children and the child allowance available to families where the child does not continue their studies for some reason, for example due to special needs. In order to promote education, the Act would retain the rule that if a 19-year-old is studying during the current academic year, the payment of the allowance would continue until they graduate or until the end of the academic year.

The Act also provides that in the case of the death of a child under three years of age, one month’s parental benefit would be paid to both the mother and the father. An amendment would also be made in the regulation for calculating maintenance provided in the Family Law Act to the effect that the allowance for families with many children would be taken into account to the extent of 50 per cent when calculating the minimum maintenance. This amendment should make the calculation of the allowance for families with many children clearer and fairer.

During the debate, non-attached Member of the Riigikogu Siim Kiisler, Reili Rand and Toomas Jürgenstein (Social Democratic Party faction), Kalle Grünthal and Mart Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party faction), and Tarmo Kruusimäe (Faction Isamaa) took the floor.

The sitting ended at 3.22 p.m.. The third reading of the Bill will take place during the next sitting of the extraordinary session, which starts one hour after the end of the first sitting.

This morning, the Riigikogu decided with 73 votes in favour to not pass unamended the Act which the President had returned to the Riigikogu.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Votings

Photos (Author: (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)

The video recording of the sitting will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel. (Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
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