The Riigikogu approved amendments which provide for the legal basis for subsidies granted under regional programmes and organise the provisions relating to state aid. The control measures against wild oats are also amended with a view to preventing the spread thereof and motivating users of land to combat wild oats more effectively.

70 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the Act on Amendments to the Rural Development and Agricultural Market Regulation Act (340 SE), initiated by the Government, and there was one abstention.

The Act amends the legal bases for the control measures against wild oats. Wild oats have become hard-to-control weeds in Estonia that can spread quickly and cause significant economic damage in cereal fields. Wild oats can be controlled effectively if they are controlled in an integrated manner throughout the whole agricultural sector. The current procedure does not help control the spread of wild oats fast enough, and its spread has not decreased in Estonia. To more effectively stop the spread of hard-to-control weed, the bureaucratic obligations of farmers to notify the Agricultural Board of wild oats and to draw up a wild oat control plan is eliminated. Instead, it is possible to begin to control a dangerous weed as soon as it appears in the field.

The Act provides for the legal bases for granting subsidies for promoting local life under the regional programmes transferred to the area of administration of the Ministry of Rural Affairs. It also updates and specifies the aspects relating to the granting of state aid, de minimis aid and other aid. The amendments relating to the implementation of regional programmes and the grant of state aid concern in particular the activities of the implementing authorities, meaning the bodies granting aid.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Video recordings of the sittings of the Riigikogu can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/riigikogu

(NB! The recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

Riigikogu Press Service
Kati Varblane
T: 631 6353, 516 9152
kati.varblane@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee