| |
 | Press Releases | | |
The President did not proclaim the Churches and Congregations Act04.01.2002
The President did not proclaim the Churches and Congregations Act passed in the Riigikogu on 18 December 2001. The Head of State found that § 33 of the named Act amending the second clause of the Republic of Estonia Supreme Council Resolution "Concerning Religious Societies in the Republic of Estonia" (RT 1991, 45, 550) is inconsistent with § 12 and 48 of the Constitution.
§ 33, subsection 1 of Churches and Congregations Act amends the Republic of Estonia Supreme Council Resolution "Concerning Religious Societies in the Republic of Estonia" adding to its second clause a second sentence pursuant to which the societies, the principal activities of which prior to their compulsory dissolution enforced by the occupying authorities were in correspondence with their denomination but outside the religious rites characteristic of churches or congregations - activities in the field of morals, ethics, education, culture, social rehabilitation, welfare, and diaconal or missionary work, and if these activities had belonged to the principal activities of the church or association of religious societies concerned, are also regarded as religious societies integrated into a church or an association of religious societies. The same applies to the societies which prior to their compulsory dissolution enforced by the occupying authorities were connected with the church or association of religious societies concerned through their membership, reporting system or some other links.
§ 33, subsection 2 of Churches and Congregations Act entitles a church or an association of congregations to claim from the aforementioned societies return of or compensation for unlawfully expropriated property, providing they have, in the course of the ownership reform, filed a relevant application.
Pursuant to § 48 of the Constitution, everyone is equal before the law but, proceeding from the wording of § 33, subsection 2 of the Churches and Congregations Act the churches or the associations of congregations which have filed an application for return of or compensation for the unlawfully expropriated property, and those which did not file a corresponding application due to the fact that the law in effect in times of filing the applications did not enable it, woul be treated unequally.
In conformity with § 48, subsection 1 of the Constitution, everyone has the right to form non-profit undertakings and unions. Thus the legal norm inherent in § 33, subsection 1 of the Churches and Congregations Act enlarging retroactively and arbitrarily the circle of religious societies, which prior to the occupation of the Republic of Estonia had belonged to churches or associations of religious societies, is unfounded. Supplementing to the second clause of the Republic of Estonia Supreme Council Resolution "Concerning Religious Societies in the Republic of Estonia" the given second sentence enacts the societies connected with church or association of religious societies through religious activities or some other kind of organizational links to be regarded as belonging to church or the named association. Pursuant to §§ 1, 3 and 26 of the "Churches and Religious Societies Act" (RT 1934, 107, 840), which was in effect prior to the occupation of the Republic of Estonia, the churches and associations of religious societies had the right to self-regulation and self-government, and in accordance with their statutes (regulations) the admission of new members fell within their exclusive competence, whereas the decision to join a church or religious society was made by every person on his own.
Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, January 4, 2002
|
| |
|
vpk.ee
