Postimees Digest, Saturday, February 9

Photo: Toomas Huik

Postimees

Chief justice criticizes state attitude towards judicial system.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Märt Rask criticized the government and the parliament at yesterday's Court en banc for lack of political will to develop an independent and autonomous judicial power in the country. He said that planned changes are not discussed with judges, that decisions are politically motivated and criticized the court jurists pilot project, saying that corresponding positions should have been created in all courts and not just the Harju County Court.

The chief justice said that it is impossible to achieve considerably shorter proceedings deadlines in a short time even with major investments, which is something politicians would like to be able to serve as an achievement.

"The previous justice minister told the chief justice that administration of justice belongs in his administrative area. He did not misspeak, it was a clear political conviction," the chief justice said.

Rask concluded that judges must take up the responsibility for the judicial system instead of waiting to be consulted more often. Minister of Justice Hanno Pevkur said that he has nothing against the Supreme Court taking over administration of affairs and conducting negotiations with the finance ministry over the budget, but that it requires consensus from the judges and 51 votes in the Riigikogu as the Courts Act is a constitutional one.

PM satisfied with EU budget.

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said that the results of EU budget talks, that will see direct agricultural support rise to 75 percent of the European average for the Baltic countries and retains financing for the Rail Baltic project, were satisfactory and that debates took place in a constructive environment.

The PM said that for Estonia long-term agreements were the greatest achievement of the talks as the alternative of returning to yearly EU budgets would have benefited neither the country nor the entire union. Ansip added that 5.89 billion euros have been made available to Estonia in the budget and an additional 1 billion set aside for the Rail Baltic project's Estonian stretch of infrastructure.

Audit office decimates film financing.

The National Audit Office published its recent culture financing audit yesterday the results of which are less than encouraging for Estonian cinema. The report concludes that film financing is not subject to clear rules and that existing ones are not complied with, that one person has too much say in decisions (Estonian Film Foundation's chief expert Karlo Funk), that there are too many exceptions and that decisions are opaque, unjustified and impenetrable.

Filmmakers accuse the culture ministry of using the audit to steamroll the formers' interests while the ministry said that facts presented in the report finally allow for some change in the field. The Estonian Film Institute (formerly the Estonian Film Foundation) claims that most deficiencies were dealt with even before the audit was launched in 2012 and that certain exceptions are in order to ensure Estonian cinema does not miss out on big opportunities.

Citizens happy with free public transport.

A recent survey ordered by the Tallinn city government and carried out by Eesti Uuringukeskus suggests that residents of the capital are satisfied with their new public transport system as 47 percent of people questioned said the new contact cards system is very easy to adopt and 70 percent agreed it is either easy or very easy to use.

Deputy mayor of Tallinn Taavi Aas said that intersection cameras registered 10 percent fewer vehicles in January than they did in December and that the number of cars on the capital's streets has even come down by 14 percent during the first week of February. The number of public transport users is up 10 percent and schedules have been adjusted accordingly, Aas added.