By Plenary Sessions: Aivar Sõerd
Total Sessions: 30
Fully Profiled: 30
2025-10-15
The 15th Riigikogu, VI Session, Plenary Sitting
The political focus is heavily directed towards security, innovation, and the competitiveness of the European Union, all of which are considered urgent issues. The speaker expresses skepticism regarding climate measures, particularly ESG reporting and green awareness training, viewing them as activities of questionable value. The stance is results-oriented, questioning the achievements of previous major investments (the Recovery Fund) and demanding an adjustment to the perspective for the new budget period.
2025-10-13
15th Riigikogu, 6th Session, Plenary Sitting
The speaker strongly endorses Bill 734, which halts the income tax hike, stressing its necessity for preserving economic competitiveness and preventing capital flight. The political position is aggressively focused on economic growth and framed as a direct response to the negative emotional toll that successive tax increases have taken on society. He emphasizes that the bill is "extremely necessary" for ensuring people's ability to cope and for fostering economic development.
2025-10-09
15th Riigikogu, 6th Session, Plenary Sitting
The political focus is on the country's economic competitiveness, which is measured by labor productivity. The speaker expresses concern about the downward trend in productivity between 2021 and 2023 and demands a data-based explanation from the government regarding the continuation or reversal of this trend. Their approach is clearly performance-driven, concentrating on the deterioration of economic indicators.
2025-10-08
The 15th Riigikogu, 6th Session, Plenary Sitting
The political position is procedural and policy-based, sharply criticizing the methodology used by ministries for making budget decisions, particularly the disregard for activity-based budgeting when developing cost cuts. It also expresses concern regarding the protection of property rights due to the automatic expiration of planning documents after ten years. The position is directed against the government's actions and the harsh provisions contained within the draft legislation.
2025-10-06
The 15th Riigikogu, 6th Session, Plenary Sitting
The speaker strongly supports the bill, the objective of which is to diversify the Estonian financial market, moving it away from banking-centricity and offering companies new funding sources. This position is focused on policy and economic growth, emphasizing the need to find a reasonable balance between investor protection and reducing administrative burden, for instance, by setting the threshold at 12 million euros. The speaker considers the bill a crucial step in developing the Estonian financial market, drawing comparisons to the US market.
2025-09-24
Fifteenth Riigikogu, sixth sitting, plenary sitting.
The political focus is centered on supporting the government-initiated draft amendment to the Securities Market Act, which aims to bring the regulation of derivative and repo transactions into compliance with international standards. The position taken is strongly policy- and regulation-based, focusing on ensuring the stability of the financial market. Although the issue of real estate valuation was secondary, it was addressed in a moderated and explanatory manner with the goal of protecting consumer interests.
2025-09-18
15th Estonian Parliament, 6th sitting, plenary session.
The political focus is centered on state financial management and the investment strategy of the Bank of Estonia. The speaker criticizes the current low proportion of gold in the reserves, deeming it inefficient and questionable from a risk management standpoint. This position is strongly policy- and performance-driven, emphasizing the necessity of following global central bank purchasing trends.
2025-06-11
15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary sitting
The political position is strongly geared toward ensuring budget transparency and procedural correctness. The speaker supports the committee's decision to reject Isamaa's vague amendment and raises critical questions regarding the funding sources proposed by the government for the SKAIS development. The focus is primarily on the technical correctness of policy and budget execution.
2025-06-05
15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary session.
The political focus is on the implementation of national economic strategies and results-based management. The speaker strongly emphasizes the necessity of achieving the "Estonia 2035" goal regarding labor productivity and criticizes the negative trend observed in previous periods. The stance is results-oriented, demanding accountability for the disregard of strategic indicators.
2025-05-20
15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary sitting
The speakers are focusing on the topics of financial regulation and real estate valuation. The representative of the leading committee strongly supports the draft legislation, which improves the regulation of derivative and repo transactions, stressing its positive impact on the competitiveness of the Estonian business environment. The questioner expresses caution regarding the adequacy of the statistical real estate valuation model in conditions of dispersed settlement. The political framework is clearly policy- and results-based, focusing on improving regulation.
2025-05-07
15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary sitting
The speaker strongly opposes Bill 594 (the lowering of excise duty and VAT on fuels), as it is predicated on the false premise of a sharp increase in energy prices, even though oil prices have dropped back to 2021 levels. This stance is strictly policy- and fact-based, highlighting the bill's lack of financial backing and its conceptual flaws. The speaker points out that the proposed amendments would result in a loss of budgetary revenue amounting to over 200 million euros annually by 2027.
2025-05-06
15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary session
The political focus centers on the nation's economic performance and the investment climate, which is structured around results-based metrics. The speaker highlights with concern that Estonia has drifted away from its goal of reaching 110% of the EU average labor productivity. This position is strongly geared toward improving economic indicators and boosting the investment confidence of businesses. He criticizes the illusory growth in wealth, which is attributable to inflation rather than genuine productivity gains.
2025-04-23
15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary session
The most critical issue is the replacement of members of the Bank of Estonia Supervisory Board in accordance with the law, as the previous members took up positions in the Government of the Republic. The political stance is strongly procedural and institutional, emphasizing strict adherence to the law (the Bank of Estonia Act) and ensuring institutional continuity. Personnel selection is strictly policy-based, focusing on legal requirements and the correctness of the procedure.
2025-04-17
15th Estonian Parliament, 5th session, plenary session
The political position focuses on evaluating the tax policy and the fulfillment of promises made by the opposition parties (EKRE and the Center Party) during their previous term in government. Particular emphasis is placed on the issue of reducing VAT on foodstuffs, calling into question the actual actions of the opponents while they were in power. This position is strongly performance-based, demanding accountability for past political decisions.
2025-04-09
15th Estonian Parliament, 5th session, plenary session
The political position is one of strong opposition to the opposition's draft bill concerning the taxation of banks' net interest income. This opposition is justified by the bill's inadequate preparation, flawed economic forecasts, and the negative impact it would have on the banking sector. The speaker emphasizes the need for stability and predictability within the tax system, arguing against making tax changes based purely on short-term economic cycles.
2025-02-18
15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary sitting
Strong opposition to the draft bill (535) proposed by the Center Party faction concerning a temporary solidarity tax on the banking sector, emphasizing that banks are already significant taxpayers and are subject to a separate advance income tax. This position is heavily policy- and data-driven, focusing on defending the existing tax system and criticizing the proposal for being ill-conceived. The political stance stresses the necessity of a predictable tax environment that encourages entrepreneurship.
2025-01-16
15th Riigikogu, 5th session, plenary session
The political position is one of strong opposition to the submitted draft bill concerning the budget classifier and its detailed structure. The criticism is directed at the fact that the proposed solution neither enhances budget transparency nor resolves specific problems, especially on the revenue side. This constitutes policy- and procedure-based resistance, which calls into question the overall soundness of the government's proposal.
2024-12-04
15th Estonian Parliament, 4th session, plenary sitting
The political stance focuses primarily on the transparency of the state budget and strengthening the oversight capabilities of the Riigikogu. The speaker criticizes the current regulatory framework, which allows ministers to make large internal budgetary reallocations (for instance, 10 million euros in the Ministry of Education) without parliamentary approval, citing this as a conflict with the constitution. At the same time, he supports the confirmation of the state's annual accounting report, noting that the accounting is largely sound. His framework is strongly procedural and results-based.
2024-11-13
15th Riigikogu, 4th session, plenary session.
The political stance is strongly opposed to the current practice of activity-based budgeting, which is deemed ineffective, artificial, and incapable of achieving its theoretical objectives. It advocates for the budget to be adopted as law in the traditional cost- and resource-based form, relegating performance indicators to merely an informative appendix. The position is distinctly procedural and outcome-oriented, stressing the necessity of transparency regarding where the funds are actually allocated.
2024-11-06
15th Riigikogu, 4th session, plenary sitting
A strong focus on making the taxation of financial assets more flexible and modernizing the rules governing investment accounts. The speaker also expresses sharp criticism regarding the activity-based budget project, labeling it "a failure" and an expensive, "pointless extravagance" for the taxpayer. The political framework is clearly policy- and results-oriented, concentrating on the technical refinement of legislation and criticizing state administrative costs.
2024-10-22
15th Riigikogu, 4th session, plenary session
The main topic is the proposal to introduce a temporary solidarity tax on the banking sector, which the speaker strongly opposes, deeming it "hopelessly late." He stresses that taxation cannot be structured around a temporarily favorable economic conjuncture that is already fading. The political stance is heavily focused on policy and economics, defending the existing tax system and cautioning against tax experiments.
2024-09-16
The 15th Riigikogu, 4th session, plenary sitting.
The political stance centers on fiscal responsibility and reducing government expenditure. The speaker strongly advocates for moving the Ministry of the Interior to more modest premises in order to achieve significant cost savings. This position is aimed at monitoring the execution of policy and ensuring compliance with previous budgetary decisions.
2024-07-29
15th Riigikogu, extraordinary session of the Riigikogu
The central theme is the state incentivization of local government investments and the criteria used to classify these investments as good or bad. The speaker challenges the rationale for state intervention and the philosophy of resource redistribution, demanding clarity regarding the underlying political choices. The focus is heavily policy- and criteria-driven.
2024-06-05
15th Riigikogu, 3rd session, plenary sitting
The political stance heavily focuses on criticizing the results of the second pillar pension reform, citing the low uptake of investment accounts and significant withdrawals. The position is results-oriented and skeptical about the reform's success, directly requesting the Ministry of Finance to evaluate the outcome of the reform. Furthermore, it is actively involved in processing draft legislation related to financial regulation.
2024-05-30
15th Riigikogu, 3rd sitting, plenary sitting
The political stance focuses on the rapid growth of general government debt in Estonia, which is considered a "very negative" indicator within the context of the Eurozone. This position is results-oriented, stressing the necessity of learning from the successful debt reduction trends seen in other Eurozone countries.
2024-05-08
15th Riigikogu, 3rd session, plenary session.
The political position is clearly geared toward supporting the taxation of windfall profits, citing the profit increase of bus companies resulting from the closure of the Finnish-Russian border as an example. He/She stresses the necessity of expanding taxation to other sectors where favorable economic conditions emerge, demonstrating a strong focus on fiscal policy. At the same time, he/she holds the view that the favorable period for the banking sector is naturally coming to an end.
2024-05-02
15th Riigikogu, 3rd session, plenary session
The political stance is strongly antagonistic toward the proposed tax, centering its critique on the bill's inadequate financial planning and administrative imprecision. The criticism highlights that revenue projections have been inflated and administrative costs understated, suggesting an opposition rooted in projected outcomes. The speaker urgently calls for clarity regarding the tax's fixed costs and the overall administrative burden.
2024-03-19
15th Riigikogu, 3rd session, plenary session
The political stance focuses on the structural issues and performance of the healthcare system, maintaining a strong critique of the government's funding model. The speaker rejects the notion that simply pouring endless amounts of money into the system will solve the problems, instead stressing the necessity of changing operational models, particularly within the family doctor system. They emphasize the critical importance of improving access to new medications in order to boost treatment efficacy.
2024-03-06
15th Riigikogu, 3rd session, plenary session
The speaker's political stance focuses on the technical risks associated with implementing the minimum taxation directive for multinational enterprises. He/She expresses concern that utilizing the Estonian derogation could result in the forfeiture of tax revenue to other countries, thereby questioning the approach adopted by the government. The position is geared towards political and financial risks, underscoring the necessity of preventing adverse economic consequences.
2024-01-24
15th Riigikogu, 3rd sitting, plenary session
The political position is strongly aimed against the additional administrative burden and bureaucracy that comes with transposing European Union legal acts. It is emphasized that job positions are being created in Estonia for activities that are neither relevant nor necessary within the country, which is considered a serious problem. The position is based on policy and efficiency, demanding solutions to mitigate the problem.