The parliament at a sitting on Monday passed a draft regulation approving the decision of the Council of the European Union regarding a system of own resources which stipulates that the recovery plan is to be funded through borrowing on behalf of the EU.
The regulation was passed with 63 votes for and 19 against. The handling of the draft resolution in the parliament had been tied to a a vote of confidence in the government.
Minister of Finance Keit Pentus-Rosimannus (Reform) said the EU heads of state and government had agreed on both taking out the loan as well as on introducing a new source of revenue in July 2020 as part of the compromise reached on the European Union s long-term budget and creation of a recovery plan.
The police found that the people who staged protests against the Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control Act in early April wanted to hinder the functioning of the state, which under law is not a direct threat to constitutional order, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) said on Thursday.
Kallas said that the Estonian Conservative People s Party (EKRE) wishes to make a big deal out of it. This, according to the head of government, is not justified.
Government spokespeople clarified that when talking about the threat assessment at the government press conference, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was referring to the threat assessment of the police, not the Internal Security Service.
The opposition Isamaa party s Tartu regional branch board accepted 403 new members on Monday, most of whom joined in the wake of Madis Sütt, some-time founder of the non-parliamentary Rahva Tahe party. Considering there are 7,731 members in the party according to the business register data, the membership increased by 5.2 percent in that one day and stemming a general trend for a fall in party membership in recent years.
Sütt, who became a member of the party on January 19 this year, had tried to start his political activity with the Rahva Tahe Party in 2018. That campaign caught public attention due to the fact that there was a prize giveaway of a phone offered to those joining.
Estonia drops a place in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index
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Estonia dropped one place in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, landing on the 15th spot in the world – which is still a very high ranking among the 180 countries in the index.
In 2020, Estonia ranked 14th; however, in 2015, the country ranked 10th and in 2013, 2014 and 2019 11th.
In this year’s index, Reporters Without Borders says that 2020 was a tough year for Estonian journalists. “Members of the government often attacked them verbally. Some politicians threatened to reduce funding for the state broadcaster because of its critical reporting.”
While support for the Reform Party has fallen during the current coronavirus restrictions, the party is still the most popular, a recent survey commissioned by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and carried out by pollster Norstat shows.
Reform is supported by 32.3 percent, Center by 19.7 percent and Estonian Conservative People s Party (EKRE) by 18.9 percent of voting-age citizens. During its six-week drop, the Reform Party has shed 3.2 percentage points. Support for Center and EKRE remained unchanged compared with last week s survey results.
The top three are followed by the non-parliamentary party Eesti 200 with 13.4 percent, the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDE) with 6.7 percent and the opposition Isamaa with 5.5 percent. Support for Eesti 200 rose by 1 percentage point compared with last week and has moved up by 2 percentage points over the past two weeks.