On March 14, Postimees published an article by Estonian news editor Anu Viita-Neuhaus titled:
“Kalle Grünthal Demands Disciplinary Investigation into Deputy Secretary-General Over Unemployment Insurance Reform”
Unfortunately, the article was quickly removed from the publicly accessible Postimees website and is now only available via search engines using specific keywords from the title.
In my view, this action was taken because someone gave the order to suppress it—meaning the system stepped in to protect its official.
Why was there such a need to hide this issue from the public?
The reason lies in the fact that on February 11, the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament) Social Affairs Committee discussed the Unemployment Insurance Act Amendment, initiated by the Government of Estonia. It was revealed that the government had failed to comply with the Good Legislative Practice and Normative Technical Guidelines, which require the inclusion of relevant stakeholders in the legislative process.
During the discussion, Kadri Palk, an education and labor policy advisor for the Estonian Chamber of Disabled People, pointed out that they were not sufficiently involved in the preparation phase and that the process had been non-transparent and superficial.
The Chairman of the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund, Meelis Paavel, admitted that the government had decided to terminate unemployment benefits financed from the state budget and replace them with a new unemployment insurance scheme financed by unemployment insurance funds. Shockingly, he also noted that he had learned of this decision by accident.
Despite these remarks, Deputy Secretary-General Ulla Saar continued to falsely justify the government’s actions, claiming that the bill had undergone all the necessary consultations and approval rounds as required by law. Immediately after making this statement, she left the meeting.
Both Kert Kingo and I repeatedly pointed out that the bill was incomplete, contained numerous deficiencies, and that its explanatory memorandum failed to sufficiently describe its impact. Most disgraceful, however, was the deception regarding stakeholder involvement.
It is worth remembering that the same manipulative tactics were used when pushing through the car tax and other tax laws.
This issue is significant because the unemployment benefits reform will cost the Unemployment Insurance Fund approximately €45 million per year.
As a result, I submitted a request to the Riigikogu leadership, asking them to urge the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Deputy Secretary-General Ulla Saar for providing false statements during the parliamentary committee meeting.
Of course, the Riigikogu leadership took no action and rejected my request. Since the issue had already gained significant attention and a journalist had picked up the story, the article was subsequently hidden from public view.
This is how things work in Estonia.
In reality, all of this proves one thing: if you serve the interests of the Reform Party government, you are untouchable.
/Kalle Grünthal, Member of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu)/
