Raik returns to Narva council and rules out national politics comeback

Katri Raik, who was removed as mayor of Narva, plans to return to the city council and remain in local politics rather than return to national politics in the near future, ERR reported.

As an opposition council member, Raik said she would monitor the decisions of the city government and coalition and ensure that projects launched by the previous administration proceed on schedule.

She identified heating, industry and vocational education as Narva’s main priorities. Raik said she had started a process to develop the local vocational education centre into a training centre for specialists in energy and engineering.

“Narva was and remains Estonia’s industrial capital,” Raik said, adding that the city should cooperate effectively with major companies such as Hanza and the magnet factory, as well as with the Ida-Viru Entrepreneurship Centre.

Raik also highlighted civil society and culture. She said she wanted to establish a people’s university in Narva and revive the idea of making the city a European Capital of Culture in 2036.

She said she would continue living in Narva and working in local politics, while stressing the importance of corruption-free politics. Raik said she was concerned that the new leadership might make appointments without sufficient justification.

Raik said she did not currently plan to become a lecturer. She has worked as Narva’s mayor for a total of five and a half years and has been removed from office twice.

“After such tension, I really want to rest a little,” she said, adding that she would focus in the autumn on the people’s university project and finding funding for it. She is also working on several books and plans to participate in a substitute-teacher programme.

Raik said she would join the Respekt faction in the council on Saturday. The faction was preserved after Aleksander Pahhomov moved from Mihhail Stalnuhhin’s camp.

She praised Pahhomov as a balanced and capable specialist who had worked on municipal housing. Raik said he had helped families with children secure municipal apartments when residents were moved out of the dormitory on Rakvere Street and had led the renovation of the dormitory at 26 Pushkin Street while residents continued living there.

Raik strongly rejected Jaan Toots’s recent claim that no projects were initiated in Narva during her time as mayor. She called the statement “an outright lie” and said she planned to address the issue at the council meeting on Saturday.