Court of auditors member to be determined in coming weeks

Photo: Jaanus Lensment

The government will probably decide who will represent Estonia in the European Court of Auditors in the coming weeks. Heads of three coalition parties will meet in the second half of the week to discuss the matter and find a solution.

Nomination of the representative has been on hold for a year and remained a matter of little urgency as Kersti Kaljulaid continued to perform the representative's duties until recently. The government has run out of time, however, as Kaljulaid was elected president of the republic on Monday. The coalition's decision to vote for Kaljulaid in the Riigikogu cemented the need to find a new representative.

Information available to Postimees suggests that last week Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas (Reform Party) signaled Finance Minister Sven Sester (IRL) that the matter needs to be resolved inside a few weeks. The finance minister is tasked with presenting candidates to the government.

Sester was the only member of government willing to comment on the matter yesterday, while even he simply said the government will now have to appoint the next representative.

«I have made a proposal to our partners in the government to nominate Juhan Parts, and corresponding talks are scheduled to continue,» Sester said.

Sester proposed the candidacy of Juhan Parts (IRL) already in fall of last year; however, the government did not appoint Parts due to strong opposition from the social democrats (SDE). Heads of both minor coalition partners, Margus Tsahkna (IRL) and Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE), painted themselves into a corner and weren't willing to compromise. That is why the government had postponed the decision until this Monday.

The fact that no one except Sester was willing to comment is another sign that government parties plan to finally make a decision. Parties want to agree on something before making statements.

It is more likely than before that Parts will not be appointed. If only because several Pro Patria Res Publica Union (IRL) members have secured lofty positions in the past 18 months: Liisa Pakosta as the equality commissioner, Jaak Aaviksoo as rector of the Tallinn University of Technology, and former Pro Patria member Kersti Kaljulaid as the president of the republic.

Even though party background was not a decisive factor in any of these nominations, it is not good for the government's health if too many important positions go to current or former members of a single coalition partner or its predecessor.

How important is the position of European Court of Auditors member? There are members of the government who say they do not want to spend the next three months arguing over such an inconsequential position and prefer to make the decision quickly.

The position is important for IRL mainly in that it would secure the party's former prime- and economy minister Parts a soft landing on his way out of politics.