Draft law amending the Hunting Act (553 SE) - First Reading
Session: 15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary session
Date: 2025-01-28 13:21
Participating Politicians:
Total Speeches: 25
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 48m
AI Summaries: 25/25 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
Under the third and today's final agenda item, the first reading of the draft law amending the Hunting Act, initiated by the Isamaa faction, was discussed. The draft law aims to enable the Environmental Agency to organize hunting activities year-round to prevent damage caused by game, including outside of the hunting season, to avoid situations where court decisions or imposed restrictions prevent the hunting of game and lead to self-help action. A thorough discussion addressed the balancing act between preserving natural communities and the living environment and economic activities of people, as well as the functionality and limitations of reprimands as a mechanism. The broader context in which the Nature Conservation Act and the Hunting Act must cooperate was also touched upon, and how to find a balance between different stakeholder groups.
Decisions Made 1
The first reading was completed, and as a result of relying on the board's proposals, it was established that the deadline for submitting amendment proposals is February 11th of this year at 5:15 PM.
Most Active Speaker
The most active speaker was Andres Metsoja (Isamaa faction). He represented the draft as its main presenter and continued the procedural work during several subsequent rounds; he embodies the right-wing position in the distribution of the Estonian parliament.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi announced the third and today’s last agenda item and asked Andres Metsoja to serve as the rapporteur for the Isamaa faction’s draft law No. 553 amending the Hunting Act, for its first reading.
Andres Metsoja
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Draft law No. 553 amending the Hunting Act gives the Estonian Environment Agency the right year-round to organize hunting of wildlife to prevent damage, in order to balance the economic activity of rural areas, nature conservation interests, and residents' interests, and to prevent the emergence of extrajudicial settlements.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi thanked and noted that they had received a very solid lecture on what is happening in the animal kingdom, and the experts are asking questions and continuing the discussion, starting with Urve Tiidus's question.
Urve Tiidus
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Urve Tiidus points out that in discussing year-round wolf hunting, a question arises as to which numbers or indicators to use and whether it can be expressed numerically.
Andres Metsoja
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
According to the Environmental Agency's statistics, Andres Metsoja said that after this hunting season there are about 55 individuals left to be hunted, the hunting season ends on March 1, and the wolf hunting season begins on November 1, the total number may change based on analysis of data collected from management areas, and the Environmental Board will decide whether licenses will be issued or not, but this total number was probably 103 individuals.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
This is simply a request for Andrus Seeme to take the floor.
Andrus Seeme
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Andrus Seeme asks whether, within the framework of the bill, it would be possible to address the shortcomings of the Hunting Act and the problems that arise in everyday hunting, referring to the issues of wounding and pursuing large game.
Andres Metsoja
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Emphasizing the balance between nature conservation and human interests, the speaker points out that the predation problem must be solved as quickly as possible by capturing the damage-causing individual, and at the same time reduce the risk of abuses, taking into account restrictions on the use of lead and the discussion of bait hunts.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, thanked Tiit Maran, a member of the Riigikogu's Environment Committee, and asked him to present the leadership committee's positions and decisions.
Tiit Maran
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Tiit Maran announced that the Environment Committee discussed the draft at the January 20 meeting, emphasizing the need to intervene without a court ruling, heard the Ministry of Climate's support and the positions of other stakeholders, and by consensus it was decided to put the draft on the plenary agenda, to conclude the first reading, and to designate the speaker here as the representative of the steering committee.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chair thanks the audience and asks Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvarti to pose a question.
Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart
Profiling Eesti Keskerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart stressed that while the draft concerns hunts aimed at large game, it would be prudent during the second reading to involve animal rights advocates and to broaden hunting legislation in order to address the tensions that have arisen with them and to discuss further amendments, including trophy hunting, bird hunting, and daily quotas.
Tiit Maran
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Tiit Maran emphasizes the importance of animal welfare and the need to reduce suffering, notes that the death of game animals, including large predators, is a part of life, and that the addition of current legislative amendments does not seem reasonable, but may be considered later in the context of amendments to the Nature Conservation Act and the Hunting Act.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The speech begins with Mait Klaassen's invitation to come forward.
Mait Klaassen
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
The speaker asks how a wolf would behave if it has been raised as a puppy or trained by older shepherds to attack domestic animals—would it go into the wild to hunt, or would it stay with the domestic animals?
Tiit Maran
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
The wolf is flexible and trainable, and its eating habits are culturally formed and usually remain the same, provided it has been taught to eat in the same way, except when there is a need to relearn.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi thanked and said that there were no more questions, opened negotiations, and asked, on behalf of the Eesti 200 faction, to invite his good colleague Tarmo Tamme to speak at the Riigikogu's podium.
Tarmo Tamm
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Tarmo Tamm endorses the draft bill that would give the Environmental Agency the right to organize the hunting of nuisance species even during the hunting season, in order to balance the interests of nature and people and to reduce damages and reputational harm, but emphasizes the need to maintain proportionality and public trust in the state, and calls everyone to vote in favor.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
He said that this would certainly go down in history, and Tiit Maran, on behalf of the Social Democratic Party faction, asked for extra time—eight minutes.
Tiit Maran
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
The wolf is an ecologically important apex predator whose population must be managed within a reasonable range to preserve its role in the ecosystem and to keep human-wolf conflicts at a tolerable level, and for this, data-based planning and a broader ecological picture are needed, because the events of the past year show that the necessary data have been lacking in decision-making.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chairman thanks, and on behalf of the Isamaa faction Andres Metsoja presents a request.
Andres Metsoja
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
According to Metsoja, hunting quotas are being reviewed on an ongoing basis, and the November 1 limit has been raised to 121 individuals, because wolf damage and the conditions of management areas require flexibility, and at the same time it is necessary to take into account the spread of jackals and the changing natural assemblage in balancing nature conservation with the human living environment, and to emphasize that the best interpreters of nature are those who live in the heart of nature.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
Vice-chairman Arvo Aller asked for three more minutes.
Andres Metsoja
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Although we move toward a digital society, excessive and complex nature-conservation laws and central coordination create misunderstanding and defiance and highlight the need to simplify laws and reduce bureaucracy so that people can act safely and sensibly in the natural environment.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The negotiations have ended, the first reading of Bill 553 has been completed, and the deadline for submitting amendments is February 11 at 17:15, and the session has ended.