Postimees Digest, Friday, May 10
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Center Party evicts Parbus and Sepp.
The oppositional Center Party has evicted from its ranks former Tallinn city official Ivo Parbus and head of the now bankrupt Jüri Vilms Foundation Elmar Sepp after the two men were convicted of bribery offenses in district court yesterday.
The party's press representative Taavi Pukk said that Parbus and Sepp were excluded from the party's member list on Wednesday as soon as it became clear the Supreme Court would not hear their appeal. The district court decided not to overturn Harju County Court's ruling from last spring that sentenced Parbus to two years and six months in prison for repeated and extensive asking and taking of bribes. Sepp was punished with a conditional sentence of two years and six months, of which he has to spend five months in prison.
Government does not support lower environmental fees.
The government discussed the justice chancellor's proposal to lower mining and special use of water rights fees and decided not to support the chancellor's initiative at yesterday's cabinet meeting. Chancellor of Justice Indrek Teder proposed the government lower fees to the level of 2009 after his analysis found that the current fees are unconstitutional as they breach the principle of just expectation.
Environment minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus said the government's regulation will remain in effect and that frankly she doesn't understand the justice chancellor's crusade in a situation where even the current fees cannot fully make up for the damage done to the environment.
Committee would halt proceedings to evaluate the constitutionality of restrictions on founding pharmacies.
The Riigikogu Constitutional Affairs Committee has sent to the Supreme Court an application to cease proceedings to review the constitutionality of current restrictions on founding new pharmacies as the parliament has initiated proceedings to evaluate the current situation and look for solutions. "Since the legislator is under constitutional obligation to ensure protection of health and make carefully weighed socio-economic choices, and since it is the Riigikogu's prerogative, it needs time to comply," the committee noted in its address.
Smaller parishes more costly to run.
Postimees compared the management expenses of local governments to their own income based on data from the riigipilv.ee portal and found that smaller municipalities are generally more expensive to run than their larger counterparts. Management costs were highest in local governments having less than 3,000 residents (24 percent on average) and lowest in parishes and towns with more than 5,000 residents (16 percent). Management costs were highest in Piirissaare, Ruhnu and Alajõe parishes and lowest in Ülenurme, Tartu and Rae parishes. The capital Tallinn came in 16. as its 54.9 million euro running costs (2012) make up 16 percent of its income.