Today afternoon, President Meri had a meeting with the Constitutional Commission of Riigikogu. The head of state met the members of the Constitutional Commission of the ninth Riigikogu Tiit Käbin, Maret Maripuu, Ivar Tallo, Tiit Toomsalu and Toomas Varek in order to determine the issues that need to be dealt with in the future.

Preparations for joining the European Union, including also bringing Estonian laws in conformity with the laws of the European Union, were discussed at the meeting. President Meri said that the Bureau of European Integration has been working well and its motivation has been high, but Estonian voters still have no real knowledge of the meaning of this work and the benefits of joining the European Union. The President thinks it would be necessary to inform people that joining the European Union also means an increase of the market and the number of jobs.

The idea of the President to restructure the OCSE mission into a centre of science was also discussed and it found the support of most of the members of the Constitutional Commission.

The role of state officials in Estonia was discussed. According to the President a dangerous tendency is emerging in Estonia – the state officials are made to depend on the election results. The President pointed out once again that Estonia is the smallest state in the future European Union, its human resources are limited and skilled people must be cared for. The members of the Constitutional Commission informed the head of state that they have discussed the increase of the number of political offices in the state machine so that
non-political officials would not have to make political decisions in order to solve issues arising in their everyday work.

The need to increase the efficiency of protecting the constitutional rights of people in the Republic of Estonia and the future work of the Counsellor of Justice in the fulfilment of the tasks of the ombudsman were also discussed.

The need to amend the Constitution of Estonia was also talked about in the meeting held today. The members of the Constitutional Commission said that this is being considered, since the opinion and work materials of the Constitution Expertise Commission have been submitted to the Commission for analysis. The President was concerned about the possibility that the next process of presidential elections might damage the reputation of Estonia because the political landscape of the state is not clearly developed yet, and asked the
Commission to consider the possibility to have an electoral college elect the President.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, May 11, 1999

back | archive of press releases | main page