President Lennart Meri today festively opened the new civil proceedings building of the Tallinn City Court. In his speech at the opening of the courthouse, President of the Republic said that the limit has been reached when the resources allocated to courts can not be increased within the forthcoming years. More work needs to be done. Further improvement of people's skills and more efficient arrangement of work are the measures to do this. ''Let this be the main message to the building opened today,'' the President said.

The Head of State emphasised once more the thought he had expressed on the 80th anniversary of the Supreme Court in Tartu at the beginning of this year. ''This greeting's only message is the hope that you will use this day for a serious and unanimous analysis of the current situation of the rule of law in Estonia. We have all come from the totalitarian system, and have quickly learned the vocabulary and outward appearances of a democratic state. And yet I would be much more interested in your answer to the question why several principles of the rule of law are still slow to root in the Republic of Estonia; and why we all have to admit today, at the beginning of the year 2000, that there is a need to address the question of credibility of the Estonian court system.''

President of the Republic discussed the actual legal policy issues with the Minister of Justice Märt Rask and the Chairman of the City Court Helve Särgava; the Chairman of the City Court also showed the President round in the new building.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, October 26, 2000

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