No. 22

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How and where to proceed with the Constitution

15 December 2010

Politics

RiTo No. 22, 2010

  • Jüri Adams

    Jüri Adams

    Member of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 13th Riigikogu; co-author of the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia

The author of this article does not support Rait Maruste’s proposal to start a thorough revision of the Estonian Constitution adopted by a referendum eighteen and a half years ago.

Although many reforms and changes that could not be foreseen at the time the Constitution was drawn up have taken place in Estonia, the author, unlike Maruste, thinks it would be best to just delete the places causing excessive confusion from the text of the Constitution. If a new constitution were to be drawn up, the main concern would be that no matter in which form it would be done or who would do it, it would not only open a political discussion on all statehood solutions but also end the little domestic peace Estonia has so far managed to keep in citizenship, language and other sensitive issues. There is no doubt that all organisations and powers who are interested in replacing the existing bases of the state of Estonia by different citizenship and language regulations will see it as the best opportunity to develop their political programme. Therefore it is recommended to all who are considering similar plans to adopt the principle of one organisational amendment at a time in updating the Constitution.

Full article in Estonian

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