The Riigikogu discussed the national defence report as a matter of significant national importance
The Riigikogu completed the second reading of five bills and the first reading of one bill, and discussed the national defence report as a matter of significant national importance.
Тhe Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control Bill (889 SE), initiated by the Government, passed its second reading. The deliberation had been adjourned due to the end of working hours at the previous sitting. The bill will reduce bureaucracy related to vaccination in schools, specify definitions and requirements related to infectious diseases, and establish modern principles for responding in the event of disease outbreaks and crises.
The bill will change the organisation of the vaccination of children in schools and provide that parents who agree to their child being vaccinated will no longer have to submit a separate written consent to the school nurse. Vaccination remains voluntary, and parents who do not wish to have their child vaccinated may continue to refuse.
The bill will abolish the requirement for a health certificate for catering establishments. The health certificates currently required are formal in nature and may not reflect the real situation or provide protection. Employers remain responsible for preventing the spread of infectious agents and protecting at-risk groups in the workplace.
The bill will also increase the protection of people’s health in nursing homes. Infection control requirements will be expanded from healthcare institutions to other high-risk environments as well, including 24-hour care facilities, to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
Varro Vooglaid (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Priit Sibul (Isamaa), Aivar Kokk, and Kalle Grüthal took the floor during the debate.
The Bill on Amendments to the Estonian Defence Forces Organisation Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (898 SE), initiated by the Government, passed its second reading. It aims to improve situational awareness at sea, enhance the measures to protect the restricted military areas of the Defence Forces, and to create opportunities and clear terms for involving Allies, if necessary, in Estonia’s state border guard and law enforcement activities.
The Bill provides for measures to ensure the Defence Forces’ situational awareness at sea in Estonia’s maritime area. According to the Bill, the Defence Forces will be granted the right, in the event of an increased threat to the constitutional order or national security, to regulate vessel traffic and to impose restrictions, or to instruct the Transport Administration to do so. A Maritime Safety Commission will be established at the Defence Forces. The Bill also specifies the rate of the state fee charged for the inspection of vessels.
The Bill will also provide the Defence Forces with better opportunities to protect facilities that are important from a security perspective. Among other things, the Bill defines the extent of the immediate vicinity of a Defence Forces restricted military area as 300 metres, in order to expand and more precisely delineate the Defence Forces’ right to control activities taking place in the area.
The Bill on Amendments to the Child Protection Act and Other Acts (901 SE), initiated by the Government, passed its second reading. Its aim is to ensure that the assistance provided for children is based on their actual needs and interests and that the provision of assistance is coordinated and transparent.
The amendments will more clearly distinguish between situations where intervention requires a leading role by a local government child protection worker, and cases where support for the child’s welfare can be provided primarily in the area where the child’s difficulties arose. The Bill will support networking in child protection and amend the grounds for initiating child protection case management by child protection workers, thereby reducing the workload of child protection workers.
In addition, the Bill will specify the duties of child protection workers in assessing a child’s need for assistance and providing assistance to them, including in enforcement procedures regarding the transfer of a child and allowing communication with a child. The Bill will also specify the roles of enforcement agents and the police in such enforcement procedures and establish grounds for suspending enforcement acts in cases where continuing them may harm the child’s well-being.
During the proceedings, an amendment was introduced to the Family Benefits Act, according to which the single parent’s child allowance will be increased from EUR 80 to EUR 100.
The Bill on Amendments to the Law Enforcement Act and Amendments to Other Acts arising therefrom (role allocation for the monitoring and countering of unmanned vehicles) (902 SE), initiated by the Government, passed its second reading. It will expand the opportunities for monitoring and countering unmanned aerial vehicles, including drones and balloons, in peacetime.
The Bill will establish the allocation of roles among agencies in responding to threats arising from unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as in monitoring and detecting such threats. Among other things, the Bill provides which actions and coercive measures various agencies will be authorised to apply in the event of threats posed by unmanned aerial vehicles. The Bill also provides for the mutual exchange of information between parties involved in airspace surveillance to create a common surveillance picture.
As a result of the amendments, the Defence Forces will be better able to detect and counter drones with military purposes, as well as actively participate in the monitoring and countering of unmanned aerial vehicles that pose a threat to law enforcement. The Bill will create opportunities for the Police and Border Guard Board to respond more effectively than before to risks arising from new drone threats.
The Estonian Internal Security Service and the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service will be granted the right to counter unmanned aerial vehicles within their fields of activity. The Defence League will also be granted the right to respond to dangerous drones in order to protect itself and the facilities under its guard; in the future, it will also be possible to call upon both the Defence Forces and the Defence League to help maintain public order in the case of drone threats at large events.
In addition, the Bill will create opportunities for the owners of national defence facilities, particularly companies providing essential services of key importance, to better protect their infrastructure, including by using surveillance equipment. Security firms and internal security service providers responsible for protecting national defence facilities will be granted the right to counter drones at the facilities guarded by them and to use special equipment for this purpose.
During the proceedings, several amendments were made to the Bill. Amongst other things, a provision was added, under which a legal person may be fined up to EUR 400,000 for violating unmanned aerial vehicle operating requirements.
The Bill on Amendments to the Estonian Defence Forces Organisation Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (alert duty) (907 SE), initiated by the Government, passed its second reading. Its purpose is to regulate alert duty and the tasks performed during it as part of overall defence readiness.
According to the bill, alert duty is defined as a peacetime activity of the Defence Forces, the purpose of which is to keep Defence Forces units in readiness in order to ensure a rapid response to heightened threats or attacks and to repel them, thereby increasing the Defence Forces’ overall preparedness and capability to defend the country.
According to the amendments, conscripts and reservists will be able to perform real service duties while performing their mandatory duty to serve in the Defence Forces, in addition to training. The performance of duties within the framework of standing readiness of the Defence Forces will take place only if the necessary training is available, under the command of an active-duty commander, and on the bases of and pursuant to the procedure provided by law.
The bill will also specify the rights and obligations of conscripts and reservists when participating in alert duty, including the bases for the use of force, direct coercion, special measures, and special equipment. The amendments to the Estonian Defence League Act will specify the involvement of the Estonian Defence League in the activities of the Defence Forces.
In addition, the bill will make the procedure for catering conscripts and reservists more flexible and exempt reimbursements for travel and catering expenses related to the performance of national defence obligation from income tax.
During the proceedings, the bill was amended to specify the terms that must be met for a conscript or a reservist to be assigned an alert duty task. In order to be assigned such a duty, a conscript or reservist must have previously completed the necessary training in the application of special measures and direct coercion, as well as at least basic military training. According to the amendment, the Commander of the Defence Forces will establish the requirements for the necessary training and the procedure for carrying it out.
A Bill passed the first reading
The Bill on Amendments to the Family Benefits Act (869 SE), initiated by Members of the Riigikogu Lea Danilson-Järg, Helir-Valdor Seeder, Tõnis Lukas, Jaanus Karilaid, Priit Sibul, Andres Metsoja, Henn Põlluaas and Ants Frosch, passed the first reading. The bill is aimed to ensure that, in case of consecutive births, parents do not miss out on the wage increase that took place in the labour market during the previous parental leave.
According to the bill, the parental benefit will be increased in accordance with average wage increase to prevent parents from postponing the birth of another child for economic reasons. According to the initiators, the amendment will support birth rates and improve the financial situation and well-being of families with young children, particularly in a situation where the labour market has seen a rapid wage growth.
Reili Rand (Social Democratic Party) took the floor during the debate.
The deliberation of the national defence report as a matter of significant national importance
At the deliberation of the matter of significant national importance “The impact of the report “The State’s Preparedness to Prevent and Counter Security Threats in a Deteriorating Security Situation” by the National Defence Committee on legislation”, initiated by the National Defence Committee, reports were given by rapporteur for the report Meelis Kiili and Deputy Chairman of the National Defence Committee Leo Kunnas.
Meelis Kiili, who led the preparation of the National Defence Committee’s report, said in his presentation that the aim of the report was not to assess individual weapons systems, Defence Forces units, or the activities of ministries separately, but to evaluate Estonia’s overall readiness in a situation where the security environment had steadily worsened over the past 15 years. He stressed that the report did not address political preferences, but rather systemic issues affecting the state’s readiness.
According to Kiili, an in-depth analysis was conducted of Russia’s strategic behaviour, examining Russia’s official documentation, the experience of the war in Ukraine, as well as broader developments often referred to as “Project Russia”. The rapporteur highlighted the military interventions over the past 20 years in Georgia, Crimea, Donbas, and Ukraine, as well as operations in Syria and Central Africa, along with attacks on energy, communications networks, and civilian infrastructure.
“We therefore examined two processes on a timeline side by side: Russia’s actions on the one hand, and Estonia’s decisions on the other. And we reached one of the most important conclusions of the report: many Estonian decisions do not reflect the worsening in the security situation; in some cases, we even see the opposite trend,” he noted, adding that during the drafting of the report a recurring problem had emerged: in the case of decisions with a strategic impact, it had been impossible to identify comprehensive impact assessments that would have evaluated the decisions’ effects on the state’s readiness, security, or national interests as a whole.
Kiili addressed the importance of energy security; the need to prioritise defence cooperation with the Baltic Sea and Nordic countries rather than, for example, Turkey; the implementation of an affordable national defence model; ensuring the resources required for national defence, and the reserve army model.
“The main message of the report is that Estonia must turn readiness, the strategic management of national security, and the protection of national interests into a deliberate, measurable, and consistent state policy. Security cannot be not achieved through individual projects. Security arises when the entire state is moving towards a common goal, because war does not ask if we are prepared; it reveals whether we are,” Kiili said.
Deputy Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the Riigikogu Leo Kunnas gave an overview of the process of drafting the report and the issues the working group had encountered during its preparation. According to Kunnas, the aim of the report was to provide recommendations for updating the National Security Concept of Estonia and for legislative action. To this end, the legal framework shaping national security and the National Security Concept were reviewed; their effectiveness in a changing security environment was analysed, and the key issues of comprehensive national defence and the resulting state readiness were mapped out. The report assesses the state’s readiness to act in peacetime, crisis, and wartime conditions, as well as the compliance of institutional activities with the principles of comprehensive national defence.
“It is encouraging to note that the conclusions of the national defence report have, to a large extent, been taken into account in the new National Security Concept. Of the nine topics addressed, six have been fully integrated into the document in substance, and three have been incorporated partially or with limitations. One can conclude that the central message of the report – to strengthen strategic leadership, accountability, readiness, and the efficiency of security policy implementation – is clearly reflected in the National Security Concept,” Kunnas said. He clarified that proposals relating to strategic leadership and accountability, parliamentary scrutiny, risk-based planning, the role of the defence industry and research and development, performance-based assessment, strengthening moral responsibility and management culture had been fully or largely accepted. The most significant differences relate to energy policy and regional governance issues, where the report’s proposals have been taken into account only partially.
Kunnas noted that the report’s impact on legislation had been even greater. “In the summary of the report’s legislative section, the report’s working group concludes that Estonia’s current national defence legal framework is largely focused on peacetime and lacks sufficient comprehensiveness and cohesion to meet the needs of crisis and wartime,” he stated. He explained that, in order to improve the situation and address the shortcomings of the Civilian Crisis and National Defence Bill, the members of the report’s working group – former servicemen and current members of parliament Meelis Kiili, Leo Kunnas, Alar Laneman, and Peeter Tali – submitted a comprehensive package of amendments to the bill, aimed at fully addressing the shortcomings identified by the working group. “I am truly pleased to say that on 2 June, here in the Riigikogu plenary hall we passed the Crisis Situation and National Defence Act with 64 votes in favour, along with amendments integrated into the Act.”
In his report, Kunnas also addressed the Bill on Amendments to the Courts Act, which concerned the establishment of a national defence court. “The working group also considers it necessary to amend the Security Authorities Act so as to grant the Military Intelligence Centre of the Defence Forces the rights of a security authority. Furthermore, according to the working group, the negative changes affecting the integrity of the Defence Forces pension system must also be eliminated. These bills are ready for submission, and we will submit them before the end of the spring session,” he affirmed. “We can say that the main task assigned to the national defence report working group – the review and improvement of national defence legislation – has now been accomplished.”
Anti Poolamets (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Jaanus Karilaid, Raimond Kaljulaid, Peeter Ernits, Rene Kokk (Isamaa) and Alar Laneman took the floor during the debate.
Photos (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu
The video recording of the sitting will be available on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
Riigikogu Press Service
Maris Meiessaar
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