Opposition’s cannon loaded

«The planned referendum is ridiculous, senseless and cruel,» Reform chairman Kaja Kallas (right) said. Chairman of the Constitutional Committee, Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) MP Anti Poolamets (left). Photo: Eero Vabamägi

The Riigikogu opposition has loaded its attempt to kill the coalition’s marriage referendum draft resolution with 9,480 motions to amend that were handed over to the Riigikogu Constitutional Committee on Wednesday. Voting on individual motions to amend, complete with 10-minute breaks between voting, would paralyze the Riigikogu and the legislative process.

While the Reform Party and Social Democratic Party (SDE) are on the same page as concerns the referendum, the two opposition parties sport different tactics when it comes to drawing up and filing motions to amend. SDE also asked the people to send in proposals, while Reform drew up its own motions. The social democrats’ 5,800 motions have been digitally signed and presented electronically, while Reform Party MPs decided to file their proposals on paper, meaning it will take longer to prepare them.

“Our goal is to prevent the referendum from taking place no matter what for which purpose we will render processing it as difficult as possible,” Reform chairman Kaja Kallas said when handing over her party’s motions to amend. “The planned referendum is ridiculous, senseless and cruel.” Asked why paralyze the work of the parliament during a time when other more pressing matters need attending to, Kallas said that the ball is in the coalition’s court that is free to withdraw the bill at any time.

It is doubtful the coalition will do that. Chairman of the Constitutional Committee, Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) MP Anti Poolamets told Postimees that he will first consult with legal experts as the situation is unprecedented and complicated.

The MP said that never before have so many lawyers been involved in the work of the committee over a bill. “Once the lawyers make their proposals, we will return to this matter in the coalition as decisions need to be made by politicians,” Poolamets said.

Asked whether he has found time to acquaint himself with motions to amend, Poolamets compared the material to a folklore database. He described the fantasy of MPs as exuberant. Poolamets feels the motions should be sorted into piles of sensible, humorous and other proposals. “Unfortunately, they also include some that should be filed under obscene,” he said.