Estonian president: Budget must remain under strict parliamentary control

TALLINN - Speaking at the opening sitting of the autumn session of the Riigikogu on Monday, Estonian President Alar Karis stressed that the state budget must remain under strict parliamentary control.

"The task of the Riigikogu is not just to approve the budget, but to make the most important decisions concerning public finances," Karis said. "I don't think MPs should prove their effectiveness to voters by bargaining out spending lines for their supporters. At the same time, strict parliamentary control must also be maintained when it comes to the budget," he noted.

"I would rather say that the budget must be controllable -- allowing for parliamentary scrutiny. Only when it is clear how exactly the money will be used can we have a basis for discussing whether the choices made were reasonable," the president said.

Karis noted that there is currently a lot of talk about cuts.

"This is good, as the current situation forces us to assess the necessity of public expenditures more carefully. The present time offers us an opportunity to evaluate what the state's role should be, how large its role in the economy and society needs to be, and whether we have been moving in the right direction," he said.

"Yet cutting by percentages may not be the best way forward, although it might be the easiest way to achieve a political compromise. But if the country has been spending year after year on things that, as we are learning now, are clearly unjustified, then cutting the unjustified spending line by ten percent is not a sensible solution either," the head of state said. He added that, on the other hand, there is also a great danger of individual ministers being tempted to show off by trying to be the best at resisting the pressure to cut.

The economy can also be stifled under the pressure of rules, the president said.

"I don't think the outcome of parliament's work should be measured by how many laws have been passed. Rather, the measure of efficiency and result is how well the parliament has succeeded in translating some general goal into clear and targeted legal provisions," Karis said. 

The head of state said he reads and hears over and over again anxious talk about a crisis of parliamentary rule.

"However, the experience of the past year rather shows that our system of governance is functioning. The separation and balance of powers means that when conflicts arise in state affairs, the parliament, the government, courts, and the president all play a role in resolving them. The indicator of a functioning governance system is not whether sharp conflicts arise, but whether those conflicts begin to resolve within the system as a whole," said Karis.

He said each of the parties involved sees the solution differently and would like to shape the system of governance according to its own views.

"The government and the majority in parliament have a better chance of asserting their opinion than the opposition. Their power must be balanced by the court, if necessary by taking up the defense of the rights of the opposition. Also amid the current tensions in parliament, the court has said its word, and this word must be respected in a country of the rule of law," Karis added.