Latest news:
The end of last year left a sense that 2025 will not be an easy year. So far, this has proven to be the case.
This time, we begin at the end of the quarter. As of today, it is clear that the coalition being formed is approaching its agreement drafting from a less conventional angle than usual. This brings both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, it is good that the negotiators are taking time for substantive discussions – this may contribute to the future coalition agreement being more meaningful, well-thought-out, and inclusive.
At the same time, it is important to maintain a moderate level of scepticism. The public knows only that the interest groups to be involved primarily refer to entrepreneurs. It is still unclear how much sector-specific agreements will influence the already concluded coalition agreement. Some initial disagreements have also emerged, such as the question of what will happen to the climate law.
However, one thing seems quite certain: the role of the civil society sector in these negotiations depends primarily on the sector itself. It is time to decide whether to remain merely on the menu or to work hard to get a seat at the table where decisions are made, bringing own solutions. As an association, we have reminded the representatives of the coalition parties of the existence of civil society, its importance, and the benefits brought by involving organisations from various fields.
At the same time, we are launching our own initiative. While a working group for reducing bureaucracy, consisting of entrepreneurs, has been convened by the Government Office, despite civil society being left out, we are starting our own collection of similar proposals.
It is likely that your association has found itself in a situation where you have wondered whether all this paperwork is really necessary? We encourage you to report such situations, so that we can consolidate civil society’s proposals for changing public administration to be more association-friendly. You can submit your thoughts through this form. We expect feedback from the first round by April 25. To kick off the thinking process, here’s a question: is it reasonable that every non-governmental organisation in Estonia must submit an annual report?
The Political Parties Act is being amended. The first reading of the Political Parties Act in the Riigikogu concluded with the realisation that the Ministry of Justice has thrown down the gauntlet to the political parties themselves – they must come to an agreement on the final amendments.
It is now clear that the amendments will primarily focus on issues related to the supervision of party financing. The proposed changes are largely reasonable, but they neither fully resolve the transparency issues surrounding financing nor impose strong enough restrictions on the use of prohibited methods.
The initial draft sought to regulate political party affiliated organisations and electoral alliances more clearly than before. However, the regulation of electoral alliances has now been dropped. With regard to affiliated organisations, the direction is such that in the future, a political party will only be considered to have an affiliated organisation if the organization’s founding members include the party itself (such as youth organisations, women’s associations, etc.) or if the party officially designates the organisation as such.
It is true that this solution still allows political parties to bypass regulation. However, an alternative approach, where all organisations sharing similar views would be considered affiliated organisations, could lead to a situation where even apolitical advocacy organisations could mistakenly fall under the influence of one political party. You can review the draft and documents here.
Our focus remains on the renewal of the Code of Ethics for non-governmental organisations. The need for this update has arisen primarily because the Code was created over 20 years ago and has not been revised since. We want the Code to be relevant, modern, and a useful guide for non-governmental organisations, with adherence helping to ensure legitimacy. The renewal process will continue on 22 April in Tartu, where, under the guidance of the Centre for Ethics of the University of Tartu, we will begin mapping the characteristics that the updated Code of Ethics should include, in collaboration with interested parties.
We submitted civil society proposals for the next Open Government Partnership Action Plan. The aim of the Open Government Partnership Action Plan is to enhance citizens’ and civil society’s opportunities to engage in policy-making, promote co-creation, and strengthen democracy more broadly.
Civil society provided several substantive proposals. We particularly emphasised three priority issues:
- the need to enforce adherence to the good legislative and norm-setting practices in lawmaking;
- to improve the quality of co-creation in local-level policymaking;
- to Estonia’s participation in the Open Gov Challenge, which aims to find innovative solutions to key open government issues.
The preparation of the action plan is overseen by the Government Office. The fate of civil society’s proposals should become clear by June when the Open Government Partnership Action Plan is submitted for approval by the Government of the Republic. We would like to specifically thank the DD Center for Democracy and the Estonian Cooperation Assembly, who have actively contributed to ensuring that civil society’s positions are as substantive and relevant as possible.
In the first quarter, we began collecting input from ministries for the shadow report on the state funding of civil society organisations, focusing on 2023. By the end of the quarter, we had received assessments from nearly all ministries, and as a follow-up, we are now waiting for feedback from non-governmental organisations concerning the 2023 support measures and strategic partnership calls. The term for the completion of the shadow report is set for the end of the second quarter.
Georgia is a concern for us. Together with other non-governmental organisations, we expressed our support for Georgia’s civil society organisations and all citizens who continue to see themselves as part of free Europe and the European Union. In February, Marcus had the opportunity to meet with representatives of Georgian civil society. The discussions provided a better understanding of the situation on the ground, and together we discussed whether and how a positive shift in the country’s development could occur in the near future.
One of the key conclusions we reached during the meeting was that although Georgia’s civil society is well-networked and there are active leaders, they lack a common pillar – a strong, reliable leader or structure to rally behind and empower. Due to this gap, civil society has, among other things, been attempted to be equated with opposition parties. As a result, many organisations are experiencing political harassment and their operational space is being made as restrictive and uncomfortable as possible.
The ‘securitisation’ of EU funds could also affect your organisation. It is entirely understandable that, in a complex security situation, the state is looking for all possible resources that could be used to strengthen security. Therefore, discussions are underway at both the EU and Estonian government levels on how to direct part of the current EU budget funds towards the defence sector.
Although this step may seem logical, it could also mean that the funds from the cohesion policy, which have previously supported civil society activities, may no longer be allocated at the same level. Since more detailed information is still forthcoming, we are closely monitoring these developments. At the same time, we encourage organisations to follow the issue themselves, especially if you have considered applying for EU funding.
We initiated a discussion with the Riigikogu. It seems to us that there is a decreasing understanding in the Riigikogu about what civil society is and why the Riigikogu has an agreement from 2002 called the Estonian Civil Society Development Concept (EKAK) and why this agreement emphasises the importance of cooperation between legislators and civil society. In light of this, we have started meetings with the Riigikogu factions to clarify these topics and also provide information on other issues currently prioritised by civil society.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications have updated the regulations for supporting strategic partners. In general terms, both regulations aim to make the support process clearer and easier for both applicants and ministries. However, there are still some aspects that prolong the application process and may lead to unnecessary bureaucracy – we are moving forward with providing feedback and submitting alternative proposals on these issues.
In the meantime, the OECD has published a civil society paper, ‘Towards meaningful civil society participation at the international level’, and in mid-May, the Civic Forum will publish its ‘Rule of Law’ report, which will provide an overview of the rule of law situation in Estonia. We also contributed to this report.
In the first quarter, we participated in and held many meetings. We engaged in all key steering groups for development plans, EU funding monitoring committees, conferences, etc. Key topics from these activities include the Civil Society Fund, Open Government Partnership, the 9th anniversary of the Citizens’ Initiative, internal security, welfare, people with disabilities, and lawmaking.
