A press release sent by Center Party spokesperson Andres Kalvik stated that, during an extraordinary session of the Riigikogu's Finance Committee held on Tuesday morning, the committee's deputy chair Andrei Korobeinik (Center) gained a consensus on a proposal to be put forward to a plenary of the Riigikogu to repeal the car tax.

"The deputies' initiative was based on an analysis by the Chancellor of Justice, which she presented to the Finance Committee last week, stating that the car tax is unconstitutional. Since the coalition deputies have not taken this issue seriously enough, we decided to come to their aid and speed up the process," Korobeinik said.

Korobeinik explained that, according to the Riigikogu's Rules of Procedure Act, if one third of the members of the committee request an extraordinary meeting, that is sufficient to convene one. According to Kalvik, four members of the committee, which represents 36 percent of the total number of committee members, expressed that request.

Committee Chair Annely Akkermann (Reform), was on mission in Belgium at the time.

Akkermann: Korobeinik does not have authority to convene commission meeting

Reform Party spokesperson Kristofer Rennel pointed out that the press release about the alleged decisions of the Finance Committee was sent out by the Center Party's parliamentary group, not the Riigikogu's Finance Committee itself.

"This meeting of the Finance Committee did (officially) not take place because the vice-chair does not have the authority of the chair to call a meeting," Rennel said.

Chair of the Finance Committee Annely Akkermann said Korobeinik did not have the same powers as the chair, including the authority to convene a committee meeting. "The press release issued by the Center Party about this meeting is misleading," she said.

"It is also a bit rude, even on a personal level, to send an invitation to colleagues at 9.08 p.m. in the evening about a discussion the next morning at 9 a.m., when the working schedule of the Riigikogu includes the working hours of all the Riigikogu groups, and all six points ought to be given time to be considered depth. What is more, these are tax changes for which there is no budgetary cover. This is not the way to go, neither in terms of the law nor in terms of human dignity," Akkermann added.

Akkermann noted that, while she was in Brussels, she had not instructed the vice-chair of the committee to replace her to convene, chair or otherwise take charge of any extraordinary meetings.

In order to avoid the coalition being in the minority on the committee, Eesti 200 MP Tanel Tein was appointed as a member of the finance committee on Thursday. Prior to this, the opposition had a majority there.

Thursday's agenda could not be approved

On Thursday, the Center Party sent out a press release stating that the Reform Party and Eesti 200 MPs on the Finance Committee wanted to discuss the Chancellor of Justice's proposal to declare the car tax unconstitutional again. According to the committee's vice-chair Andrei Korobeinik (Center), that proposal had already been backed at Tuesday's extraordinary session, where all six deputies present voted in favor of it. However, five members of the committee from the Reform Party and Eesti 200 did not attend.

Korobeinik said that Thursday morning's committee meeting was cut short as half of the members did not support the adoption of the agenda. "The coalition, led by committee chair Annely Akkermann, has twice tried to reverse the decisions taken at Tuesday's extraordinary session, but both attempts have failed," said Korobeinik.

"A new attempt was made today in the framework of the regular session. However, six committee members did not support the adoption of the agenda. We continue to share the view of the Chancellor of Justice that the car tax is unconstitutional. We believed it is fair and just that the Riigikogu should be able to vote on this proposal," Korobeinik said.

On Friday, Korobeinik told ERR that the bills related to the car tax are expected to reach the Riigikogu's plenary in two weeks.

Akkermann: It's a flea circus

Annely Akkermann said Korobeinik's move to call an emergency session was a circus. "The finance committee sent me to Brussels for a tax symposium on those days. They thought they were being very clever to make the request at 9.09 p.m. in the hope that I would ignore it. Because at that time I was supposed to be at a tax symposium dinner. And with that hope in mind, Korobeinik called an emergency meeting at 9 a.m. the next morning," said Akkermann.

"I noticed the invitation late in the evening and the next morning around eight o'clock I sent an invitation for an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning, but they didn't turn up," said Akkermann.

"This is a such a flea circus and has no meaning whatsoever," she added.

"It's such a populist maneuver on their part. The Center Party then put out such a proud press release stating that the Center Party would repeal the car tax law through the eight votes they have. They wanted to send it to the plenary, but I'm going to send it to the plenary in any case," Akkermann said.

"In fact, the intention was to set a precedent whereby if the committee chair goes abroad, the vice-chair will quickly call a meeting and make their moves and political antics. Because at the end of the day, it's the plenary vote that counts," said Akkermann.

ERR asked Korobeinik if he was trying to take advantage of Akkermann's time abroad in order to pursue his own agenda.

"We had a majority in the committee. These bills have been on the agenda for quite a long time. Annely promised to put them on the agenda on Monday, knowing that she was going away, but she didn't do that. My own view was that I acted in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, which state that if there is no chair, the vice-chair will fill their role," Korobeinik explained.

"At an extraordinary meeting of the committee, a majority of committee members have to be present, which was the case. That the opposition wants to take advantage of the fact that there are more of us than there members of the coalition, is just how it works. Unfortunately, the coalition has done this quite a few times. And because of that we are where we are when it comes to the Estonian economy. To level accusations that something has been done behind the scenes, in a situation where the majority in the committee have very clearly expressed their will, is, to put it mildly, typical Reform Party rhetoric," he added.

However, Akkermann said that nothing bad happened inside the finance committee and the necessary bills will move on to the Riigikogu on 10 April 10 as planned.

"Nothing is broken. There is a basic understanding in the coalition that the Chancellor of Justice's proposal to bring the Motor Vehicle Tax Act in line with the Constitution is supported and the corresponding draft will be initiated within the Ministry of Finance," Akkermann said.

Last week, Toomas Kivimägi, who is a member of the Reform Party's Riigikogu group, said that as board members do not sit on committees, this means the coalition has 50 MPs to put on committees and the opposition 48. According to Kivimägi the coalition has the chance of achieving a majority in only two committees.

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