Draft law amending the Public Transport Act (578 SE) - First Reading
Session: Fifteenth Riigikogu, Fifth Session, Plenary Session.
Date: 2025-04-15 16:24
Participating Politicians:
Total Speeches: 23
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 29m
AI Summaries: 23/23 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
The second item on the agenda concerned the first reading of the draft law amending the Public Transport Act, initiated by Member of the Riigikogu Kalle Grünthal, number 578. The draft law aimed to align the content and classification sections of the Public Transport Act with the requirements of the Constitution, particularly regarding the regulation of services and balancing the responsibility of taxi drivers and platforms (e.g., Bolt). During the discussion, issues of language proficiency requirements, control, and unequal treatment were highlighted, along with the question of whether a service expressed as an information society service complies with the wording of the law. Supervision and enforcement issues were also raised, and ultimately, the consensus was reached that the problems must be addressed primarily through supervision methods, and broader considerations of consumer safety and consensus did not favor adopting the law. Diverse opinions were voiced in the parliamentary hall regarding the balancing of taxi and ride-sharing services and the application of language law requirements. The Economic Affairs Committee decided on the directions for handling the draft law within the initial procedure and, ultimately, supported terminating the draft law's procedure as a proposal. Following a contentious discussion, the final decision was made to reject the first reading. The session concluded with an official announcement that draft law 578 has been rejected and falls out of the procedure.
Decisions Made 2
The economic affairs committee decided to submit a bill to the agenda of the plenary session 578 for April 15th and to continue the discussion according to procedure.
The Riigikogu voted and the first reading of bill 578 was rejected; the bill falls out of the legislative process.
Most Active Speaker
The most active speaker was Member of the Riigikogu UZO6xIIvIiQ, who delivered three speeches during this session. His position on the Riigikogu party scale is “other” (there is no clear database identifying a successful affiliation or a precise party identifier in this documentation). He highlighted the content of the draft bill, recalled language and oversight issues, and discussed competition and regulation of information society services; he also made references to lobbying and market influences.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
Today, as the second item on the agenda, the first reading of the amendment bill No. 578 to the Public Transport Act, initiated by Member of the Riigikogu Kalle Grünthal.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Kalle Grünthal said that he had submitted a draft bill to amend the Public Transport Act in order to bring the classification system in line with the Constitution, ensure an Estonian-language B1 level, establish uniform requirements for taxi drivers and for vehicle inspections, apply equal rules to information society services (such as Bolt), and create control mechanisms that would improve customers' sense of safety and bring additional revenue to the state treasury or to the coffers of local governments in the event of violations.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chair thanked, said that there are questions, and invited Helle-Moonika Helme to take the floor.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Helle-Moonika Helme claims that the law amending the Public Transport Act is necessary to ensure equal treatment and to end unfair competition, by regulating ride-sharing and addressing linguistic inequalities, and she asks whose interests the coalition politicians are actually serving.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Kalle Grünthal notes that we do not know exactly who the owners of Bolt are and how development is progressing, but in his view their strong lobbying has managed to push other taxi operators out of the city and out of Estonia, though there are complaints, for example letters from Rakvere taxi drivers concerning trips to the hospital, and he notes that the application of the law seems aimed at achieving the monopoly of a single market participant.
Mario Kadastik
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Mario Kadastik emphasized that misinformation is widespread and confirmed that when providing taxi services via an information society service, there is still a need for a passenger transport license, and the vehicle must have a vehicle card, for which the insurance is different and the annual inspection obligation applies; and he advised not to take Forus taxi drivers as the primary source of information, but to read the law and regulations.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Arvo Aller invites Mario Kadastik to speak.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Kalle Grünthal acknowledges the shortcomings associated with using the service card and the risk of racial discrimination, but emphasizes that Estonian is spoken in Estonia and that the taxi driver must meet language requirements (B1 level).
Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart
Profiling Eesti Keskerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
The speaker notes that lobbying affects lawmaking and provides examples of actions taken in Bolt’s favor—from scooter insurance and Uber lobbying to the actions of Reform Party and Eesti 200, through which they torpedoed an EU directive that would have provided ride-hailing workers with additional social protections.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The speaker invites Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvarti onto the stage.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Grünthal said that this is lobbying work, but in the name of the rule of law and democracy, laws must serve everyone, not only the interests of certain interest groups, and he asked the chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission to take this issue under the commission's own jurisdiction.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Arvo Aller invites Helle-Moonika Helme to speak.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Helle-Moonika Helme stresses that Estonian laws do not provide sufficient oversight of the drivers' licenses and documents of ride-sharing services, which endangers the safety of the people of Estonia.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Kalle Grünthal said that the actual status of driver's licenses is unknown, emphasized that the language exam should not be demanded on a large scale, pointed to the fake drivers found during the raids, and urged everyone to support the draft for consumer protection purposes and with amendments.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
Vice-Chairman Arvo Aller thanked and informed that there are no further questions, and said that Marek Reinaas, chairman of the Economic Committee, would provide an overview of the discussion that took place in the steering committee.
Marek Reinaas
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
The Economic Affairs Committee decided to place the draft on the plenary agenda for April 15 and to propose rejecting the draft; the first decision was adopted by consensus, and for the second, a vote was held, resulting in 5 in favour of rejection and 3 against among the Economic Affairs Committee members.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The vice-chair thanks the audience, notes that there are no questions, apologizes, and asks Jaak Valgel to be faster next time.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Thanks! I have a quick question: from the abstract I got the impression that the Economic Committee has also acknowledged the existence of this problem.
Marek Reinaas
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Marek Reinaas simply said yes.
Jaak Valge
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Jaak Valge emphasizes that if the draft bill can be improved, it should be improved during the proceedings and made suitable, rather than being voted down, and he asks why this happened.
Marek Reinaas
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
They said that taxi-service problems are mainly issues of oversight and they should be resolved with strong oversight, not by law, and the reiteration of the language proficiency requirement in law will not help anyone, and many similar problems cannot be solved by Grünthal's draft bill.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
Deputy Chairman Arvo Aller announced that the negotiations would be terminated and that the steering committee's proposal to reject Draft Bill 578 at its first reading would be put to a vote, calling on members of the Riigikogu to take a position.
Aseesimees Arvo Aller
AI Summary
The Riigikogu supported the proposal with 45 votes in favor, 11 against, and there were no abstentions; draft bill 578 was rejected and withdrawn from the proceedings; the session has ended after today's second item on the agenda.