An inquiry regarding the shrinking scope of Estonian language usage (no. 711)
Session: 15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary sitting
Date: 2025-03-17 21:11
Participating Politicians:
Total Speeches: 24
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 35m
AI Summaries: 24/24 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
Under the first agenda item, the inquiry submitted by Jaak Valge and Leo Kunnas regarding the narrowing scope of Estonian language use (no. 711) was discussed, addressing the language structure and usage within Estonian society and the extensive aftermath of immigration. The inquiry's content focused on the increasingly profound use of worry language and official language, highlighting both official demographic data and efforts between language learning and usage: the number of immigrants and their language proficiency levels, the Estonian language proficiency exams conducted to date, and how their results interact with overall language policy and the promotion of the official language. The discussion covered where the forms of narrowing language use appear in different living environments and which key areas – such as schools, job requirements, and public services – it affects.
The second paragraph focused on the responses from the government and the Ministry of Education, as well as a broader language policy. Minister Kristina Kallas presented a vision that changes to the Language Act and the expansion of the scope of Estonian language use are long-term endeavors, and that the actual situation is not easily straightforward – considering both immigration and the proportion of official language proficiency exams. The need was emphasized to concentrate financial resources and responsibility for organizing adult language learning under the Ministry of Education, and to increase Estonian language requirements in the context of work and education. Discussions also covered stricter monitoring and penalties for language usage control, and ideas for expanding language learning in the style of Duolingo. Finally, it was noted that work continues in the discussions to ensure clarity and implementability of language policy, and to develop solutions for regional language issues and wording.
Decisions Made 1
No formal decisions were made during the course of this agenda. Discussion and answers will continue, and the next step is further debate in the Riigikogu regarding the minister's conflicts of interest and amendments to the language act.
Most Active Speaker
The role of the most active speaker, or representative of the questioners, and the main speaker was held by Jaak Valge (member of the Riigikogu). His position: a political representative with a right-wing or right-leaning identity, and the driving force behind the question central to the discussion.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The Estonian Parliament moves on to the fifth item on the agenda, which concerns the inquiry submitted on 27 January 2025 by Jaak Valge and Leo Kunnas about the narrowing of the scope of Estonian language use (No. 711), and the rapporteur is Jaak Valge, a member of the Riigikogu.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Jaak Valge and Leo Kunnas submitted an inquiry about the narrowing of the Estonian language’s domain of use and, in light of official and survey data, noted that the language skills of immigrants and the younger generation, as well as the use of Estonian, are decreasing, and they posed questions to the minister aimed at safeguarding the language’s vitality and improving the organization of teaching.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chair Arvo Aller asked Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas to respond to the interpellation.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas noted that the scope of Estonian language use has significantly expanded over the last 30 years, and that the language-proficiency requirements for immigrants should be strengthened and adult Estonian-language learning brought under the Ministry of Education, in order to increase language use and the effectiveness of teaching, and to implement stricter language-use requirements and potential sanctions.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Aller also opened the floor to questions and asked Tõnis Lukas to speak.
Tõnis Lukas
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
They express concern about the decline of the Estonian language use in customer service and in public spaces, and they want the language act to establish language requirements also for new sectors, such as taxi drivers and couriers, and they ask when the new version of the language act will reach the Riigikogu so that they can put forward practical proposals.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas said that the provision of services in Estonian has expanded significantly over the last 30 years and today is generally available, but the biggest complaints are in the sectors of hotels, restaurants, spas and tourism, and changes to the Language Act will be discussed in May in the government and then in the Riigikogu.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Arvo Aller asked Jaak Valget to take the floor.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Jaak Valge emphasized that in Estonia the Russian-language home pages of ministries are still present to a large extent, including the Ministry of Education and Science, and asked when this ministry, while upholding the prestige of the state language, will eliminate its Russian version.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas said that the existence of a Russian-language page is not important, because today an Estonian-language page can be made Russian-language using automatic translation, and it is read in the desired language; this is, unfortunately, the technological reality.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
This is a short prayer to Hele Everaus.
Hele Everaus
AI Summary
They cited the Israeli example from 1991, where immigrants had to master Hebrew in order to work, and the state did not make Russian a second official language, and asked what could be learned from that for Estonia.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
The Minister of Education and Science, Kristina Kallas, said that for certain positions language requirements are clearly established, but in many fields they are not fully met, the situation is improving slowly, and a shortage of labor forces the state and employers to remain demanding and to ensure that Estonian is used at work.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Arvo Aller requests that Leo Kunnas be invited.
Leo Kunnas
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Leo Kunnas expressed concern that in Estonia, over the past more than 30 years, it has not been possible to assimilate all residents who do not speak Estonian, and if the number of immigrants and quotas increases, the number of speakers of Russian, English and other languages may exceed the country's assimilation capacity.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Kristina Kallas said that the Estonian language is currently in the best state in its history, and the share of Estonians is about two thirds, but the rest need linguistic and cultural harmony, and although progress is substantial and an optimistic attitude is justified, we must pay attention to whether future artificial intelligence language models contain Estonian, because the future of the language depends on this.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Arvo Aller asked to give the floor to Poolamets.
Anti Poolamets
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Anti Poolamets criticizes the government's unrealistic optimism, recalls the improvement in the Ukraine-related situation up to a sharp decline, and the ignoring of language-related laws, notes the loss of Russian as the primary language as a positive development, and asks how the supply of teachers for other foreign languages, such as Swedish and Finnish, will be ensured.
Haridus- ja teadusminister Kristina Kallas
AI Summary
Education and Science Minister Kristina Kallas said that language teachers will come from the University of Tartu and Tallinn University, and with the help of training and exchange programs and the cooperation of the French and Spanish embassies, the teaching of French and Spanish in schools will be increased, while the choice of an alternative foreign language is mainly German, French or Spanish, and Swedish and Finnish languages are less common.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chair Arvo Aller thanked the participants, declared the negotiations open, and invited Jaak Valge to speak as the representative of the inquirers.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Jaak Valge concedes that although the minister claims that the use of the Estonian language is expanding, in his view it has narrowed in recent years, points to the example of Latvia, and argues that English dominates in job interviews and at workplaces, that the lack of Russian language skills and immigration affect language use, and calls for protecting the state language and for preventing the decline of Estonian.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
He asks for three more minutes.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Jaak Valge stressed that the status and dignity of the Estonian language are under threat due to the Russian-language parallelism, and although ministerial websites offer Russian versions, there is a need to restrict immigration and expand language learning, and he expressed skepticism about Russian mother-tongue students studying all subjects in an Estonian-language environment, but emphasized that both—protecting the linguistic space and restricting immigration—are necessary.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
Arvo Aller announced that there are no more requests to speak in the chamber, and that the minister does not want any further amendments, and he is closing the negotiations, because today’s fifth item on the agenda has been passed.