Narva city council meetings to be held only in Estonian

Starting this week, sessions of the Narva city council will no longer feature bilingual speeches from deputies — only Estonian will now be used during meetings. The decision was made by council chairman Urbo Vaarmann, who cites legal requirements as the basis.

Vaarmann explains that the Language Department had flagged a problem: statements made in Estonian and in Russian during sessions sometimes differed in content, creating a risk of manipulating both individual citizens and the council as a whole. He says the goal is to ensure everyone present receives the same information.

Reactions from politicians

Riigikogu member and Centre Party representative Aleksei Jevgrafov says he has no objection to the decision itself, since it is based on the law, which must be followed. However, he points to a practical problem: many Narva residents do not speak Estonian fluently, so careful thought is needed on how to keep them informed about council decisions and debates.

Opposition politician and former Narva mayor Katri Raik takes a more critical view, calling the move hypocritical and an attempt to silence the opposition. She notes that some residents who follow sessions via the Volis system or YouTube risk being left without a clear understanding of proceedings, and questions how the chairman intends to address this.

Vaarmann responds that technical staff are already working on a solution — adding Russian-language subtitles to the video broadcasts of sessions. The system is expected to be tested this Thursday during the council's next regular session.