At today’s sitting, a Bill initiated by the Government passed the first reading in the Riigikogu. It will allow to exclude from school and preschool children of Ukrainian war refugees who have already left Estonia and no longer need a school or preschool place.

The Bill on Amendments to the Preschool Child Care Institutions Act, the Vocational Educational Institutions Act and the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act (231 SE), initiated by the Government, will allow to exclude from school and preschool the children of Ukrainian war refugees who have left Estonia without informing the school or preschool. According to the explanatory memorandum, some of the Ukrainian children who have arrived in Estonia and have obtained a preschool or school place here leave with their families either for other countries or for home, but the school or preschool is often not informed of that.

At present a child who has left Estonia and who is no longer participating in teaching and education activities can be excluded from a preschool or school only at the request of a parent of the child. The Bill provides for an additional basis in Acts. It will also enable a child to be excluded from a pre-school child care institution, a general education school as well as a vocational educational institution without the request of a parent if the child is not actually staying in Estonia and the data on their place of residence in Estonia are not in the population register.

In addition, the Bill will include in the Preschool Child Care Institutions Act and the Vocational Educational Institutions Act a comprehensive list of the bases for the exclusion from preschool or school. No such list or clear bases for exclusion have been provided for in these Acts at present.

12 Bills and draft Resolutions were dropped from the proceedings

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Higher Education Act (9 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group. Its purpose was to reduce the volume of instruction in foreign language in Estonian universities in public law and national institutions of professional higher education. With the amendment, the initiators wished to stop Anglicisation of higher education and thereby to improve at least partially the quality of studies and the preparedness of graduates to the requirements of the Estonian labour market.

During the debate, Mart Helme from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group and Margit Sutrop from the Reform Party Group took the floor.

The Cultural Affairs Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 56 members of the Riigikogu supported the rejection and 20 were against, and thus the Bill was dropped from the legislative proceedings.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Study Allowances and Study Loans Act (16 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group. It was intended to extend the deadline for the repayment of student loans, to increase the amount of student loan, to prescribe that only citizens of Estonia and citizens of other European Union countries who were studying in Estonia would receive student loans, and to provide that no suretyship or guarantee would be needed in the case of citizens of Estonia who were studying in Estonia. In addition, the Bill provided that the state would write off half of the student loan if there is one child who is a minor in the family that the recipient of the loan has started, and the entire loan if there are at least two children who are minors.

During the debate, Helle-Moonika Helme from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group and Tõnis Lukas from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor.

The Cultural Affairs Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 58 members of the Riigikogu supported the rejection and 21 voted against.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Value Added Tax Act (32 SE), initiated by Members of the Riigikogu Rene Kokk and Siim Pohlak. It was intended to lower the VAT rate to 17 per cent in order to reduce tax burden and to mitigate the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of the people.

During the debate, Rene Kokk from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor.

The Finance Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 47 members of the Riigikogu supported the rejection and 31 were against it.

The Riigikogu did not support the Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a proposal to the Government of the Republic to abandon the plan to increase the VAT for accommodation providers” (39 OE), initiated by Isamaa Parliamentary Group. It was intended to make a proposal to the Government to abandon the increase of the VAT for accommodation providers.

At the final vote, 25 members of the Riigikogu supported the passing of the draft Resolution and one was against. A majority of the votes of the members of the Riigikogu, that is, at least 51 votes, would have been needed for the Resolution to be passed.

The Riigikogu also did not pass the Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a proposal to the Government of the Republic to abandon the tax rises and to establish measures to develop the business environment in Estonia” (64 OE), initiated by Isamaa Parliamentary Group. It was intended to make a proposal to the Government to cancel tax rises and to develop and establish measures to develop the business environment in Estonia.

Mart Maastik from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.

20 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the draft Resolution while a majority vote of the members of the Riigikogu, that is, at least 51 votes, would have been needed for it to be passed.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act and the Vocational Educational Institutions Act (22 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group. It was intended to increase the minimum cost of a school meal from one euro to two euro per day per student. In the words of the initiators, due to the high inflation and rapid price rise, it is impossible to maintain the quality of school meals for the current amounts. In their words, increasing the minimum rate of the subsidy would help ensure that school meals are healthy and delicious and continue to be available free of charge to students. The state last increased the minimum rate of school meal subsidy in 2018.

During the debate, Vadim Belobrovtsev from the Centre Party Group took the floor.

The Cultural Affairs Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 43 members of the Riigikogu supported the rejection and 15 voted against.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Language Act and the Public Transport Act (20 SE), initiated by Isamaa Parliamentary Group. It was intended to strengthen the position of the Estonian language as the official language and to ensure that Estonian would be the main language of information and communication in society. The Bill was intended to make amendments concerning the administration procedures in the Estonian language at legal persons governed by public law, and the use of the Estonian language in trade marks in foreign languages, in audio advertisements and in the web addresses of state and municipal agencies. In addition, the Bill was intended to extend the language proficiency requirements to people doing platform work who communicate directly with service recipients.

Tõnis Lukas from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.

50 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Cultural Affairs Committee to reject the Bill at the first reading and 10 were against it.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Family Benefits Act (141 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group. It was intended to raise the allowance for the first and second child from 80 euro to 100 euro per month to improve the livelihood of families with children. The Bill also provided for the indexation of child allowances in order that the allowance would be proportional to the rise in the standard of living and that the amount would not need to be changed again every year.

During the debate, Tanel Kiik from the Centre Party Group took the floor.

The Social Affairs Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 41 members of the Riigikogu supported the rejection and 18 voted against.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Family Benefits Act (206 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group. It was intended to raise the allowance paid for the first and each subsequent child to 150 euro per month to improve the livelihood of families with children. At present, the amount of the child allowance is 80 euro per month for the first and second child and 100 euro per month for the third and each subsequent child. The Bill also provided for the indexation of child allowances in order that the allowance would be proportional to the rise in the standard of living and that the amount would not need to be changed again every year.

During the debate, Andre Hanimägi from the Centre Party Group took the floor.

42 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Social Affairs Committee to reject the Bill at the first reading and 21 were against it.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Riigikogu Election Act, the Municipal Council Election Act and the European Parliament Election Act (21 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group. It would have eliminated the opportunity for online voting in the elections of the Riigikogu, municipal councils and the European Parliament. Online voting was implemented in Estonia in 2005.

Varro Vooglaid from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor during the debate.

The Constitutional Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 41 members of the Riigikogu voted for the rejection and 15 were against it.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Municipal Council Election Act (74 SE), initiated by Members of the Riigikogu Ants Frosch and Rain Epler. It would have prohibited the participation of election coalitions in local elections. According to the proposal, it would have been possible to stand as a candidate for a municipal council either in the list of a political party or as an independent candidate.

Martin Helme from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor during the debate.

44 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Constitutional Committee to reject the Bill at the first reading and 15 voted against it.

The Riigikogu also rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Local Government Organisation Act (77 SE), initiated by members of the Riigikogu Jaak Valge, Varro Vooglaid, Leo Kunnas, Henn Põlluaas and Helle-Moonika Helme. It was intended to restore the opportunity to organise local referendums. According to the Bill, a municipal council or at least ten percent of the electorate of a municipal council would have been able initiate a local referendum, and the result of a referendum would have been binding if at least 30 per cent of the eligible residents of the municipality would have taken part in the referendum.

Varro Vooglaid from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor during the debate.

40 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Constitutional Committee to reject the Bill at the first reading and 17 voted against it.

The sitting ended at 10.29 p.m.

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
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
[email protected]
Questions: [email protected]