Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas believes Estonian President Alar Karis has taken the side of the opposition in the parliament by refusing to promulgate laws tied to the vote of confidence in the government – unless they apply to the country’s budget.
“The president very clearly stands on the side of the opposition,” said the Estonian PM told public media ERR, adding that the slowdown of the legislative process in the Riikikogu was not caused by the coalition. “The opposition interferes with the parliament’s work. This undermines trust in democracy, it serves no one’s interests and is not constitutional in any way,” Kallas said.
Before then Kariss told ERR that he doesn’t like that the ruling coalition passes all laws using the vote of confidence procedure,
as this puts at risk parliamentary democracy.
This is why, when promulgating legislative acts passed in such a way, he will first check if they are related to the budget and comply with the constitution.
This procedure does allow the ruling government overcome attempts by the opposition to obstruct and slow the passing of laws with debates and submission of proposals. The Estonian parliament’s most militant opposition member – Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) – has submitted thousands of amendments to the budget and associated legislative acts, and every last one of them needs to be reviewed. This way EKRE hopes to prevent the budget’s approval,
which would lead to snap elections.
The two other opposition parties, on the other hand, do not employ such a tactic.
If a legislative act is associated with a confidence vote for the government, then the procedure skips the parliamentary committees stage of reviews – the government takes this role and then immediately submits the legislative act to the parliament for the final vote. Deputies can then debate it and vote for it. If a legislative act is not approved through this procedure, the government needs to step down.
“Tying legislative acts to the confidence vote is a statutory tool the government can use to liquidate obstacles. We do not employ it lightly, but we have to govern the country, because the government is the executive power, and we need to have these levers,” said Kallas. “But I hope everyone will act in accordance with the constitution. If the president rejects something, then he needs to justify that with the constitution”.
On Thursday, the 23rd of November, Kallas said at a weekly press-conference of the Estonian government that the coalition will attach six more projects related to the state budget to a vote of confidence. It is expected for them to be reviewed by the parliament in the second week of December. This week the ruling coalition in Estonia used this method to pass four laws. Discussions about three were postponed.
Also read: OPINION | Kallas and Kariņš aim for NATO. Are they afraid of losing “back home”?
Follow us on Facebook and X!