Draft law amending the Act of the Chancellor of Justice and the Prosecutor's Office Act (524 SE) – first reading
Session: 15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary session
Date: 2025-01-14 12:05
Participating Politicians:
Total Speeches: 48
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 41m
AI Summaries: 48/48 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
The Riigikogu held the first reading of draft law amending the Legal Chancellor Act and the Prosecutor's Office Act, initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party faction (EKRE). The draft's purpose is to change the principles of reimbursement for representation expenses for the Legal Chancellor and the Prosecutor General, stipulating that representation expenses are to be paid out based on submitted receipts. The order is established by the Riigikogu’s anti-corruption special committee. During the debate, the importance of transparency and public trust was highlighted, and questions were raised about how higher-ranking officials could be subject to the same standards of control as members of the Riigikogu. It was clarified that transparency and accountability are critical for good governance, and various solutions were discussed, including the need for a unified regulation of expense allowances for all institutions.
Decisions Made 1
Bill 524 was rejected on its first reading; the vote result: 46 in favor, 14 against, 0 abstentions. The bill is dropped from consideration.
Most Active Speaker
Speaker: Evelin Poolamets (EKRE faction); position: right (hereinafter representing the right-wing perspective).
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Today the first reading of the bill No. 524 initiated by the EKRE faction is being considered, which concerns amendments to the Chancellor of Justice Act and the Prosecution Act, and the rapporteur is Evelin Poolamets.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Evelin Poolamets submitted a draft bill on behalf of the EKRE faction, by which the principles for paying the representation expenses of the Chancellor of Justice and the State Chief Prosecutor are changed, and the transparency and verifiability of these expenses are established through the Riigikogu's anti-corruption special committee, in order to increase public trust and ensure the proper use of taxpayers' money.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi gives thanks and invites questions, and asks Rene Kokk to speak.
AI Summary
Rene Kokk called the bill reasonable, asked Evelin whether this time a precedent could be set that all MPs would support the proposal, and said that he saw no reason not to support transparency of the expenses of top officials and to report to taxpayers where the money goes.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Evelin Poolamets said that in the country's difficult situation subsidies must be cut and taxes should be used to achieve savings in funding, and she urged civil servants and political parties to jointly help with the cuts, citing as an example the reduction of MPs' expense allowances from 30% to 25%, but the hope that all parties would join this step dies last.
Anti Poolamets
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Anti Poolamets pointed out that at the end of the year there is often a significant surplus on the Riigikogu members' travel expense allowance line, which is returned to the state and to the chancellery, and he asked how the surpluses of these officials are handled and whether there is any information about them at all.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi turns to Anti Poolametsa and asks.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Evelin Poolamets pointed out that if representation expenses are not public and are not controlled, there is no oversight and they can function as wages from which neither income tax nor social tax is paid, and it is not realistically plausible that they were spent down to the last penny.
Mart Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Helme urged Evelin to launch an initiative to cut back on secrecy, arguing that there are too many classified documents in Estonia and that officials’ spending is not transparent compared with MPs, and as a first signal he said: stop the secrecy.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invites Mart Helmet to speak.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Evelin Poolamets emphasizes that in a democratic country there must be transparency and disclosure, because secrecy leads toward undemocracy, and the practice of envelope wages must be ended and expense documents must be submitted so that there is an accounting of taxpayers' money.
Rain Epler
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Rain Epler asks Evelin whether the Riigikogu can obtain from the Chancellor of Justice by the beginning of next year an overview of representation costs and expense reimbursements, with invoice numbers, in order to see how much was spent, for example, on wine and information materials.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi turned to Rain Epler and said: please.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Evelin Poolamets emphasizes that the use of representational expenses must be transparent and documents must be checked, and it is discussed whether their reduction could affect the dignity of the state's representation and the state's reputation.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The speech is only a plea to call Arvo Aller.
Arvo Aller
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Arvo Aller's speech emphasizes that, in order to improve the state's transparency and a fairer use of taxpayers' money, travel allowances and foreign assignments must be made fully transparent, because the current system—20% of salary as a supplement and separate funding together with a 75-euro per diem—creates inequality and trust issues.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Evelin Poolamets notes that the representational costs of the Chancellor of Justice and the Prosecutor General amount to about 2,000 euros per month (approximately 25,000 euros per year), and if the submission of their expense documents were as disciplined as that of the members of the Riigikogu, there would be a significant saving.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, asks that Kalle Grünthal be invited onto the stage.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Grünthal emphasizes that the draft bill concerns individuals acting in the public interest, and the public interest means transparency and justification of officials’ work, and he asks why this interest applies only to members of the Riigikogu and not to government ministers or journalists.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Evelin Poolamets emphasizes that the substantiation of MPs' travel allowances is logical and fair, and the same procedure should be established for high-ranking state officials, such as the Attorney General and the Chancellor of Justice, so that the democratic state would be more transparent.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, presents a brief request to invite Mart Maastik to the stage.
Mart Maastik
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Maastik expressed its consent to the draft, but raised an important question about independent oversight and conflicts of interest: who oversees the prosecutors' and judges' expense reports, and who would initiate an investigation if they themselves are involved in the investigation or the prosecution, for example in a criminal case involving a member of the Riigikogu.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
The leadership of the Riigikogu monitors, establishes, and standardizes expense reimbursements, and is considering establishing an independent commission with uniform standards to prevent fraudulent expenses.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, thanks the audience and says that there are no more questions.
Evelin Poolamets
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Evelin Poolamets thanks the audience.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
During the discussion in the steering committee, it was requested that Katrin Kuusemäe, a member of the Constitutional Committee, present the decisions.
Katrin Kuusemäe
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
In summary, I provided a brief overview of the discussion and the procedural steps that took place at the committee meeting: due to transparency problems with representation expenses, the government did not support the bill; the committee decided to put the bill on the plenary agenda for 12 December 2024, to recommend that the bill be rejected, and to appoint me as the lead committee's rapporteur, i.e., Katrin Kuusemäe.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi gives thanks and opens the Q&A round, asking Rain Epler to answer.
Rain Epler
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Rain Epler asked whether the increase in transparency should apply to everyone in such a way that members of the Estonian Parliament would submit receipts for every small expense and it would be analyzed in public, while for ministers and the State Chief Prosecutor and the Chancellor of Justice it should be different.
Katrin Kuusemäe
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Katrin Kuusemäe said that she is the committee's rapporteur and answers as she should, and in the committee her personal opinion was not discussed, but on the topic it may be discussed later in the corridor.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
He praises the answer as very professional and then turns to Mart Maastik, asking him.
Mart Maastik
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Maastik stated that the provisions on reporting of representational expenses should be harmonized across all laws, asked why the Riigikogu is an exception, and suggested a sector-by-sector and gradual review of expense reimbursements and representational expenses so that the state administration as a whole would be more transparent.
Katrin Kuusemäe
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
According to a representative of the Government of the Republic, the issue should be dealt with systematically, and those amendments that the commission did not discuss should be made in all laws at once.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy speaker Toomas Kivimägi asks Kalle Grünthali to come and speak.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Kalle Grünthal expresses concern about unequal transparency: why must the travel expense reimbursements of Riigikogu members be absolutely transparent, while those of the Chancellor of Justice, the Prosecutor's Office, and ministers' travel reimbursements are not, and he asks the Commission for an explanation.
Katrin Kuusemäe
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
The commission did not discuss the topic thoroughly, and Kaidi Meristo said that, to her knowledge, there is no overview of the use of representational expenses by the Chancellor of Justice and the State Chief Prosecutor, but this can be asked of the State Audit Office.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy speaker Toomas Kivimägi asks Rene Kokk to speak.
AI Summary
Rene Kokk pointed out that the Riigikogu is the government's employer and that a misunderstanding of roles creates problems, and asked when the bill and the development plan would come forward and whether there had been any discussion about it, not that the topic had been left on the table.
Katrin Kuusemäe
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Thank you for the question, but this topic was not discussed at the committee meeting.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
At the beginning of the speech, Arvo Aller was invited onto the stage.
Arvo Aller
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Arvo Aller noted that the commission did not have a real position regarding the proposed amendment to the law and asked what the commission's concrete opinion was in comparison with the government's stance.
Katrin Kuusemäe
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Katrin Kuusemäe said that the commission decided to shelve the draft bill.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
They thank, end the questions, open negotiations, and ask, on behalf of the EKRE faction, that Mart Helme take the floor at the Riigikogu rostrum to speak.
Mart Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Helme accuses the government and the Chancellor of Justice of unequal treatment and emphasizes that the problems should be discussed in the Riigikogu and, if necessary, amendments to the law should be made, while at the same time he criticizes secrecy and the expansion of use by government agencies.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
They ask for three more minutes.
Mart Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Helme accuses the unchecked use of the Defence Forces' funds, emphasizing that both the National Audit Office and officials are unable to review the expenditures, and that Members of the Riigikogu are the only ones whose actions can be publicly criticized, citing the Nordica example, and concluding that there are no words.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, ended the negotiations and announced that the lead committee recommends that Bill 524 be rejected at its first reading and then put to a vote.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
46 members of the Riigikogu voted in favor, 14 against, and 0 abstentions; draft bill 524 has been rejected and dropped from the proceedings; the session has ended.