During a meeting of the Toila Municipality Council, Veiko Simm, chairman of the council's education and youth work committee, raised the question of whether the merger process could be halted if necessary after the councils have already approved it.

According to Olivia Taluste, legal advisor for the ministry's local governments department, reversing merger decisions is a legally and practically very complex procedure.

"The merger of local governments becomes irreversible once the central government has confirmed the merger by regulation and it takes effect. Specifically, under the Administrative Division of the Territory of Estonia Act, a government regulation on administrative territorial changes takes effect the day after it is published in the State Gazette, but no later than 90 days before the regular local government council elections," Taluste explained.

The legal advisor added that the regulation's entry into force is tied to the election procedures necessary for the local government council. For merging municipalities, election-related decisions must be made earlier than the usual deadlines set out in the Local Government Council Election Act, such as determining the number of council members and forming electoral districts, which normally must be done no later than the 90th day before election day.

However, in the case of merging municipalities, these decisions must be made no later than six months before the elections. The next local government elections are scheduled to take place from October 13 to 19, 2025.

Merging municipalities will conduct elections in accordance with the Local Government Council Election Act, based on the administrative-territorial arrangements established by the government regulation. The new municipality will be formally established on the day the results of the new local council elections are announced.

"In practice, declaring council merger decisions invalid would create confusion and complications, especially with regard to organizing council elections. By law, municipalities must adopt election-related decisions and orders before submitting all the documents required for administrative territorial changes to the minister responsible for the sector," Taluste noted.

"Council decisions, along with the legally required appendices, must be submitted to the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture no later than six months before the date of the regular council elections. If councils decide to abandon the merger, election-related decisions would also need to be revised, taking into account the deadlines set by law," the legal advisor added.

Jõhvi, along with Toila, Kohtla and Kohtla-Nõmme municipalities, had previously planned to merge before the 2017 elections, during a broader municipal consolidation process in Estonia. At that time, Jõhvi decided to withdraw from the merger at an early stage, and the three other municipalities joined to form Toila Municipality.

Currently, Toila and Jõhvi plan to merge to form Jõhvi Municipality. This plan was approved on Wednesday by the Toila council in a 12-3 vote and by the Jõhvi council in a 14-4 vote.

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