Kivim\u00e4gi gave his Norwegian counterpart an overview of Estonia\u2019s online elections and pointed out that more than half of the votes in Estonia were cast online, and therefore more young people participated in elections. He also admitted that voter turnout could always be higher. The Vice-President of the Riigikogu noted that Estonia was happy to share its experience in holding online elections with other countries.<\/p>\n
Speaking of energy and the potential of renewable energy, Kivim\u00e4gi said that the time of producing electricity from oil shale had come to an end, but the price of electricity in Estonia was unfortunately still considerably higher than in Finland and Scandinavia. \u201cEnergy in Estonia is often two times more expensive than in Finland, which also means that Estonian businesses are in a worse competitive situation in comparison to the companies in Finland and the Nordic Countries,\u201d he said, and explained that another underwater interconnector cable between Estonia and Finland would be needed to balance the price. \u201cUnfortunately, the construction of such a connection will take many years,\u201d Kivim\u00e4gi said, and added that Estonia was using biofuels and developing wind energy, and that soon the power grid of the Baltic States would be desynchronised from Russia\u2019s grid. \u201cEnergy security is very important for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The situation of the state budgets of Estonia and Norway, changes in the taxation system, events in the European Capitals of Culture Tartu and Bod\u00f8 in 2024, and the technical aspects of parliamentary work were also discussed at the meeting.<\/p>\n