Estonian parliament initially fails to approve weekly agenda

Estonia’s parliament failed to approve its working week’s agenda on Monday after a vote ended in a 46-46 tie, ERR reported. Speaker Lauri Hussar called a 15-minute break to discuss how to proceed with the parliamentary board.

The vote followed speeches in which MPs criticised the prime minister for failing to respond to parliamentary interpellations within the legally required period.

Lauri Läänemets, chairman of the Social Democratic Party, said the opposition was also angered by the coalition’s handling of a proposed investigative committee on national defence. The committee’s establishment had been placed as the agenda’s 10th item.

“The coalition had put it somewhere in the night between Wednesday and Thursday. The Social Democrats proposed moving it to the beginning,” Läänemets said.

He said most MPs believed the matter was important enough to be the first item on the agenda, and that the failure to move it had meant there were not enough lawmakers present to support the agenda.

After the vote failed, the parliament’s council of elders discussed the matter and decided to make establishing the investigative committee the first item on Wednesday.

The parliament then reconvened and voted on the revised agenda. It passed with 87 votes in favour and one against.