Ministerial candidates to face Riigikogu committees before taking office
Ministerial candidates from the Reform Party, Eesti 200 and the Social Democrats (SDE) are to appear before the relevant Riigikogu committees, ahead of the new coalition government taking office.
This is being done to avoid any oversights related to appointments, and is the initiative of the Reform-Eesti 200-SDE coalition-to-be, and is included in its agreement.
The practice would involve incoming ministers being heard by the Riigikogu committee most relevant to their post, to provide an overview of their political views and plans for the sector.
First-time ministers are the main focus of the hearings.
The three coalition parties have also pledged to initiate a discussion on holding such hearings before the Riigikogu's full plenary, and not only at committee level.
The committees involved and the ministers they will be hearing from are:
Environment Committee: Climate minister candidate Yoko Alender (Reform).
Economic Affairs Committee: Economic affairs ministerial candidate Erkki Keldo (Reform) and infrastructure minister nominee Vladimir Svet (SDE). The latter post is a new creation.
Constitutional Committee and Legal Affairs Committee: Joint session to hear visions from Liisa Pakosta (Eesti 200), the candidate for the newly created Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs.
Finance minister candidate Jürgen Ligi (Reform) is also due to be heard by a committee.
The committees will be asking questions mostly from ministerial candidates who have not previously been part of the government, and the hearings will take place Monday morning, as a precursor to prime minister candidate Kristen Michal (Reform) seeking authorization from the Riigikogu to form the next government – in other words the vote on the new administration.
While the three parties were in office from April 2023 to the present, the resignation of Kaja Kallas (Reform) as prime minister earlier this month, in order to pursue her candidacy as the next EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, triggered new coalition negotiations and an agreement.
The new government is expected to take office on Tuesday, after the ministers are sworn in before the Riigikogu.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mirjam Mäekivi
