Parliament committee to discuss closing Russian-language versions of govt agency sites

The government, all 11 ministries and more than half of other government institutions in Estonia have Russian-language versions of their websites. Photo: Arvo Meeks

The cultural affairs committee of the Riigikogu on Monday will discuss a bill submitted by the opposition Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE), which obliges the government to close the Russian-language versions of the websites of ministries and other government agencies.

The government, all 11 ministries and more than half of other government institutions in Estonia have Russian-language versions of their websites.

The explanatory memorandum of the bill states that not knowing the official language also means being away from the public information space of Estonia.

«As a result, the political attitudes of the population with a first language other than Estonian will not change either. Thus, more effective measures than before must be taken to improve knowledge of the official language: Estonian public space must be switched to the Estonian language. Without this, the knowledge of the official language will not improve and Estonian society will not become Estonian-speaking,» the memorandum adds.