Estonian employers urge parliament not to pass climate law before general election
Estonia's Confederation of Employers has asked the Riigikogu's environment committee not to send the draft climate law to a second reading, leaving it to the next parliament. It criticises how the bill was developed and its unclear costs.
The Estonian Confederation of Employers, which represents business interests in the country, has proposed that the environment committee of the Riigikogu, Estonia's parliament, not send the draft climate law to a second reading. The organisation wants the bill left for the next parliament to consider.
Kai Realo, a representative of the confederation, said employers support a cleaner economy. For that very reason, she argued, a law that will affect the Estonian state and economy for decades should be created transparently and on the basis of data, giving businesses a sense of certainty. In her view, the way the law has been prepared in recent months has done the opposite and undermined trust.
Main objections
Realo named several problems:
- substantial amendments were made to the bill after the first reading without consulting the businesses they affect;
- the size of the costs the law places on business and society, and how they would be financed, remains unclear;
- ministries and the government would be given powers to impose new obligations and restrictions on business, although the Constitution allows this only directly by law.
The confederation, described in the source as the main lobbying organisation of Estonian business, therefore recommends that the committee disregard the amendments submitted to the bill and not send it to a second reading.
Elections approaching
The confederation says the drafting process, which has lasted three years, has reached a dead end. In its view, the bill cannot be prepared thoroughly before the parliamentary elections in spring, and such an important law should not become a subject of political bargaining.
