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President of the Republic at the Opening of the 10th Riigikogu on 31 March 200331.03.2003
Dear people of Estonia,
Honourable Riigikogu, Government of the Republic and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
On 2 March the people of Estonia, being vested with the supreme power of the state, exercised its constitutional right and elected you, honourable members of the Riigikogu, as its representatives for four years to the Riigikogu. In four years the people will take the power back for a while and will assess your work. This is the logic in parliamentary democracy.
58.24 per cent of the citizens gave the mandate to the members of the Riigikogu convened today to exercise the state power on behalf of the people. Why did the rest abstain from the elections? Was it because of their deep confidence in the sustainability of the course of independence chosen by the people or their disappointment in the state or was it because of indifference resulting from self-contained individualism? These questions remain without an answer because the supreme power does not account to anyone and does not have to justify its choices.
The representatives of the people elected should think about it seriously and be concerned as the confidence of the people sustains the efficiency of the parliament. Weak parliament involves a threat to the development of the state and its constitutional order.
Signing an oath of office, you promise to remain loyal to the Republic of Estonia and its constitutional order. This promise involves tremendous responsibility to develop the legal order based on fundamental values of the Republic of Estonia and, exercising the authority given by the people, to legitimise the executive and judicial power.
The intent of the Riigikogu expressed through ratification of international treaties binds the Republic of Estonia with the network of close international cooperation. The Riigikogu is competent to resolve the issues of war and peace and take military commitments.
The 10th Riigikogu convenes at the time when the entire world focuses on the war in Iraq. Inevitably, values - peace and security - have acquired a new dimension for Estonian national security as well. Both the war and threat of global catastrophes as well as terrorism and violence of totalitarian regimes against is own people, wherever it occurs, have become transnational.
Dissenting opinions between states and international cooperation organisations on the management of crises threatening the peace and security in the world have become a reality today. As of today, it is still extremely difficult to forecast what kind of changes would the war involve. I do hope that international organisations will come out of the situation ever stronger. It takes also our efforts and most importantly - good will.
The situation in the world requires dedicated attention and weighted activity by the Riigikogu, the Government of the Republic and the President of the Republic. The lessons of Estonia's history have a warning meaning for the future. The lessons indicate that small countries have limited possibilities to influence the lines of power in world politics. However, a small country makes itself visible and significant if it develops cooperation with the countries, which share values and goals recognized in interstate relations.
Against this setting also values of the international law acquire new dimension and meaning. They should be underlying international crisis resolution, restoration of trust and enhanced cooperation between countries. In productive cooperation between states consideration of mutual interests, fulfilment of obligations and responsibilities should become a yardstick for trust.
Under current circumstances Estonia' joining to NATO and accession to the European Union are more urgent than ever before for our defence of national interests. It will be largely up to each elected representative of the people, how we can bear the obligations and liabilities associated with our membership.
The Riigikogu will face ratification of Treaties to join NATO and the European Union. This involves the obligation to strengthen the defence capability of independent Estonia and to develop areas, which in the European Union are within the competency of the Member States.
On 14 September the people will say its word about Estonia's accession to the European Union. It is extremely important to have before that date a lively discussion about Estonia's future and to analyse the historic experience and options with full responsibility.
Honourable representatives of the people!
The continuity in the membership of the Riigikogu is bound by the continuity of values underlying the legal order. The 9th Riigikogu had to solve intricate legal policy issues: to complete the reform of private law, introduce penal policy in the spirit of European traditions and to bridge the gap in public law against the private law.
The legal system is an integral unit, in which the preferential growth or lag of a component will hinder the regulatory performance of the law in its entirety. We still feel it in a few areas of the public law. Thus, for example the Government of the Republic Act and the Local Government Organisation Act, regulating a central field in public administration, are considerably lagging behind the needs of the balanced development of public administration.
In a stable democracy the stability of the legal order is a value in itself. In a state, which attempts to bridge a half-a-century lag in the development of the legal order, the legal space should not stay in the way and inhibit progress.
The addition to Estonia's legal system compiled during four years carries in its main part values of the EU legal space. Although many a law bears signs of haste and several solutions transposed from other countries are rooting slowly in the Estonian legal order, the work done by the 9th Riigikogu deserves respect and gratitude.
Regulation of correlation between different fields of life and drafting of development plans were also significant in the work of the Riigikogu. The Riigikogu can guide the development also when solving other issues in the life of the Republic of Estonia, which the constitution has not assigned to the executive power.
Drafting of strategic development plans, their interoperability and legal regulation of fields of life is an extremely sensitive area. Only underlying comprehensive socio-economic analysis and long-term forecasts of consequences ensure performance.
Laws have guided social and economic processes also to wrong channels, as could be seen from uneven regional development and a significant fall in the quality of life in several regions of Estonia. This is also evident in weak vocational education system, deficiencies in the organisation of and access to social and medical care, in inadequate financing of research and culture.
Passed legislation and superficial resolutions adopted without deeper analysis may make it easy to meet promises made during the elections whereas the implementation may shed political capital of some parties to unexpected low. This has been the implication of the who-only-lives-for-today attitude vis-ą-vis our scarce resources, the attempt to sell power plants - strategic for our development - to casual investors, which was stopped only due to strong public pressure.
Another sensitive area is tax policy, the core of stable economic environment. The deeper the intended change, the longer should we know in advance and the more comprehensive should be the analysis of implications and covers. These should also be the underlying principles in the Riigikogu.
The 9th Riigikogu amended the Constitution by authorizing the local councils to manage local issues four years instead of three. The draft amendment of the Constitution initiated by President Meri to elect the President of the Republic directly by the people is still lying somewhere on the shelf in the Riigikogu. The Legal Expert Committee, which finished its work already in 1998, made also several significant proposals to amend the Constitution.
At the end of the last year the Riigikogu initiated the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia Amendment Act, allowing Estonia to me a member of the European Union pursuant to the fundamental principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia. The adoption of the amendment at the referendum on 14 September will remove a formal obstacle in the membership of Estonia to the EU in the interpretation of the Constitution. Contemporaneously this will open up new opportunities to protect sovereign rights and national interests of the people of Estonia.
For more than ten years the Constitution of newly independent Estonia has been a firm foundation for the legal order and organization of the democratic state. Meanwhile Estonia has developed rapidly, we have changed together with the changing world. Probably already during the authority of the Riigikogu, assuming office today, a need and readiness will mature to systematically work through the constitution, in order to mould the underlying principles of the Republic of Estonia into a more advanced model of national law, protecting interests of the people and national values.
The role of the President of the Republic and the Riigikogu in protecting the constitutionality is comparable in several dimensions. To protect the constitution means to protect the fundamental principles of the independent statehood as well as legal values derived from the governing experience of other countries and nations and contained in their constitution.
As a President I have had to return to the Riigikogu a law, in which the legislative power voluntarily gave its area of activity up to the government, endangering one of the fundamental underlying principles of the constitution - separation and balance of powers.
The separation of powers is not an opposition of powers but a foundation for the balance measured by confidence. Balance and confidence are also starting points in the activity of the coalition and opposition in the parliament. The Government of the Republic can take the responsibility and operate with the trust of the Riigikogu under the separation of powers.
The performance of the 9th Riigikogu displayed that resolutions taken under the burden of government responsibility disbalanced the development in quite a few areas of life. This changed borderlines of confidence also within the Riigikogu. Thus, the government authorised at the beginning of the previous Riigikogu could not bear the responsibility until the expiry of term of office. However, I would like to express gratitude to the governments of Mart Laar and Siim Kallas for taking Estonia to its current phase of development.
The continuity of the current 10th Riigikogu does not go back merely to the previous membership of the Riigikogu. This goes back the core values of the people of Estonia and commits us to set conditions for the development of the nation and culture. This commitment is integrated also into the memorandum of national agreement, the signing of which displayed good will to achieve cooperation which is above any party or coalition policy. This should be an excellent prerequisite to conclude the agreement and implement the content during the next four years of the Riigikogu. The agreement should be a firm instrument for the next 11th Riigikogu in securing the sustainability of development in Estonia.
I wish you strength and success!
Herewith I declare the first session of the 10th Riigikogu open.
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