At today’s sitting of the Riigikogu, the Bill that will enable the Cultural Endowment of Estonia to support the completion of several cultural construction works of national importance at the same time, instead of two as is the case at present, passed the first reading.

The Bill on Amendments to the Cultural Endowment of Estonia Act (720 SE), initiated by the Cultural Affairs Committee, provides that the supporting of a cultural construction work lower down the shortlist must not affect the completion of a facility higher up the shortlist.

According to the Bill, it will also be possible to support a facility lower down on the shortlist earlier than a facility higher up on the list if the preparation for the facility higher on the shortlist does not allow for a grant to be allocated. A precondition for funding a facility lower on the shortlist will be that this does not affect the completion of a facility higher on the list, that is, the Cultural Endowment has the readiness and possibility to begin to also support the cultural construction work higher up the list.

The Riigikogu passed an Act

At its sitting today, the Riigikogu passed the Act on Amendments to the Fishing Act (136 SE), initiated by the Government. It introduces the system of individual quota in commercial fishing on Lake Peipus, Lake Lämmijärv and Lake Pskov instead of the current “first come, first served” principle (so-called “Olympic fishery”) and regulates issues relating to fishing rights, quotas and supervision.

The amendments to the Act give the Government the right to set annual catch limits for fishing gear on Lake Peipus, Lake Lämmijärv and Lake Pskov. This will allow to allocate fishing efforts more evenly during the fishing season and will provide fishers with the stability to catch their catch in the designated quantity. The Government will be granted discretion in deciding on which fish species to set annual catch limits, but the initiators wish to set specific permitted catch limits or individual quotas for applicants, at least on the economically most important species, like zander and perch, as well as for Peipus smelt and vendace, on Lake Peipus, Lake Lämmijärv and Lake Pskov.

Under the Act, the legitimately acquired fishing opportunity of an operator will be reduced by ten per cent in the subsequent two years if the operator repeatedly commits the seven serious infringements listed in the Fishing Act. This means that if a serious infringement of fishing requirements is committed under the same fishing authorisations for a second time, the fishing opportunity of the operator will begin to be reduced. At the same time, the inspector of the Environmental Board will have a discretionary power not to qualify an infringement as serious.

During the debate, Tarmo Tamm took the floor on behalf of the Centre Party Faction.

59 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act and three voted against.

The Riigikogu passed a Resolution

The Riigikogu decided to appoint Heiki Hepner as a member of the Supervisory Board of the State Forest Management Centre and to remove Mihhail Korb from the Supervisory Board.

30 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Resolution of the Riigikogu “Removal of a Member and Appointment of a New Member of the Supervisory Board of the State Forest Management Centre” (727 OE), submitted by the Environment Committee, and two voted against.

One Bill passed the second reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Alcohol, Tobacco, Fuel and Electricity Excise Duty Act (675 SE), initiated by the Finance Committee, provides that the natural gas used for the regasification of liquified natural gas (LNG) will be exempted from excise duty. This has already been provided for the natural gas used to operate the natural gas network as well as for the electricity used to maintain the capability to generate electrical energy. The explanatory memorandum notes that a mooring quay and infrastructure with a capability to moor a floating storage and regasification unit is being constructed as a matter of urgency in Paldiski in order to ensure energy security and natural gas supply security in the energy crisis; however, regasification of liquefied natural gas has not been taken into account in our excise duty regulation and the regulation needs to be amended.

The Riigikogu did not pass two Resolutions

The Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a proposal to the Government of the Republic to develop an action plan for completing the construction of Tallinn Hospital, for creating the capability for a multipurpose medical helicopter and for constructing Rohuküla railway” (651 OE), submitted by the Estonian Centre Party Faction, was intended to make a proposal to the Government to develop an action plan for how to fund the construction of Tallinn Hospital that has already been committed to, to acquire the indispensable medical helicopters and to construct the section between Turba and Risti on Rohuküla railway.

During the debate, Martin Helme took the floor on behalf of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction, Tõnis Mölder on behalf of the Estonian Centre Party Faction, Reili Rand on behalf of the Social Democratic Party Faction and Jürgen Ligi on behalf of the Estonian Reform Party Faction.

31 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the draft Resolution. A majority vote of the members of the Riigikogu, that is, 51 votes in favour, would have been needed for it to be passed. Thus, the draft Resolution was not supported.

The Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a proposal to the Government of the Republic to lower the VAT on food to 9 per cent” (653 OE), submitted by the Estonian Centre Party Faction, would have made a proposal to the Government to lower the VAT on food to 9 per cent.

31 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the draft Resolution. A majority vote of the members of the Riigikogu, that is, 51 votes in favour, would have been needed for it to be passed. Thus, the draft Resolution was not supported.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

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
Merilin Kruuse
Phone: +372 631 6592, +372 510 6179
E-mail: [email protected]
Questions: [email protected]