The amendments, which affected several laws, were rejected by President Alar Karis over 18 months ago.

MP Jaak Aab (SDE) who chairs the Riigikogu's economic affairs committee, conceded that the so-called law on the removal of Red monuments has not been a priority for the committee.

"The issue has been such that officials have not managed to work on it quickly enough, while the committee has had more urgent matters to address," Aab said.

At the same time, city authorities in the Ida-Viru County town of Sillamäe, for instance, have noted that they cannot remove the Soviet-era monument in the city center there (pictured below), simply because the necessary legal amendments have not been passed.

Aab said he believes the monument in question could already be removed under existing legislation.

He said: "When the monument is in a public space within the city, my initial assessment is that the law does not currently prevent local authorities from removing it. Many municipalities have done the same in recent years."

Last fall, the bill was debated at the Riigikogu, but was neither amended nor passed. When parliament will revisit the topic remains to be seen.

Aab said: "This is very difficult to forecast, and it also depends on the committee's workload and other issues, but I sincerely hope it will happen by October at the latest."

"The Ministry of Justice has submitted the amendments, and we are awaiting explanations on these, so we will definitely discuss this at the committee soon. The changes address certain issues relating to private property, such as how specific parts of a structure or symbols can be removed. The President had criticized it, saying it was ambiguous and required clarification, but there are other changes too," Aab went on.

The Ministry of Justice has announced that this spring and summer correspondence between officials from the Riigikogu's economic affairs committee, the justice ministry and the culture ministry requested more thorough explanations of the bill.

Justice ministry spokesperson Maria-Elisa Tuullik said: "The Ministry of Culture has submitted its explanations directly to the [Riigikogu's] economic affairs committee."

"The Ministry of Justice plans to address the issue further after the conclusion of the state budget negotiations," Tuullik continued.

On February 15 of last year, the Riigikogu passed amendments to the Building Code, the Act to Implement the Building Code and the Planning Act, and the State Assets Act.

However, the head of state, President Alar Karis, declined to give these amendments his assent, arguing they were vague and conflicted with the Constitution.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine starting February 2022 brought heightened scrutiny on monuments, statues, war graves, frescoes and other features in the public space in Estonia and left over from the Soviet occupation, which ended over 30 years ago.

High-profile changes have included the relocation of a Soviet tank from a plinth just outside Narva to the Estonian War Museum in Viimsi, and the excavation of several cemeteries dating to World War Two.

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