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The chairman of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), Margus Tsakhna, says the Estonian government must add a reference to the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty to its decision concerning the ratification of the border treaty between Estonia and Russia.
IRL leader wants govt's ratification decision to refer to Tartu Peace Treaty
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Tsahkna said in a press release published by IRL on the night between Wednesday and Thursday that in its endorsement of the Estonian-Russian border treaty the government must unambiguously state that in concluding the border treaty Estonia is guided by the validity of Article 2 of the peace treaty and the principle of legal continuity.
In Article 2 of the peace treaty concluded between Estonia and Soviet Russia on Feb. 2, 1920, Russia unreservedly recognizes the independence of the Republic of Estonia and voluntarily renounces in perpetuity all rights of sovereign to the territory of Estonia.
«Let us add Article 2 and a political declaration stressing the legal continuity of the Republic of Estonia to the decision of the government whereby the border treaty between Estonia and Russia is approved,» Tsahkna, minister of social protection, said.
«The peace treaty of Tartu is the birth certificate of the Republic of Estonia, the validity of which in principle must not be exchanged for political cash,» he said.
Tsahkna said the border treaty between Estonia and Russia is only about changing the borderline, while the Estonian state must be guided by it that the Tartu Peace Treaty will remain valid in everything else.
The bill of ratification of the Estonian-Russian border treaty and the treaty on the delimitation of maritime areas of the two countries in the Gulf of Finland and Narva Bay will be handled by the Estonian government on Thursday.
The national border to be agreed by the two sides differs minimally from the temporary control line that is guarded as the state border now. In the process both sides will hand over to each other certain land areas, and the changes to the territory of both sides will be equal both on the ground and on lakes. Most of the land that Estonia is about to hand to Russia is already owned by the state. The remaining part that still belongs to private owners has to be transfered to the state.
The Estonian government endorsed the drafts of the treaties on May 23, 2013 and the foreign ministers of the two countries signed the agreements in Moscow on Feb. 18, 2014.
The treaties have to be ratified by both parliaments.
The government first initiated a bill for the ratification of the treaties on March 7, 2014 and the bill passed its first reading on Apr. 16 the same year. As a result of the end of the term of the 12th Estonian Riigikogu in spring 2015 the bill was dropped from parliamentary proceedings and has to be filed anew.