| Siim Kallas | Presentation in the Riigikogu at the 1st Reading of the Draft State Budget Act 2000 |
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| Kalle Jürgenson | State Budget 2000, What and Why? |
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| Olev Raju | Commentaries on the State Budget 2000 |
| Madis Võõras | Estonia on the Way to Full Membership of the European Space Agency |
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| Ene Ergma | Estonia Has Become a Space State |
| Urve Läänemets | A Good Teacher Should Be Ready to Learn Also from the Pupils |
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| Külli Eichenbaum | Using the Local Peculiarities of Old Võromaa |
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Parliament of Estonia the Riigikogu, the National Library of Estonia has published an e-publication of the biographies of the members of the 1st Riigikogu. The publication contains the biographies of all 168 persons who belonged to the 1st Riigikogu. The mandate of the first composition lasted from 20 December 1920 to 30 May 1923, and ten political party lists were elected to the parliament.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Parliament of Estonia the Riigikogu, the National Library of Estonia has published an e-publication of the biographies of the members of the 1st Riigikogu.
The 120 members of the Constituent Assembly, who had been elected by the people, convened for the first time on 23 April 1919. This assembly and the Riigikogu elected on the last elections are united most of all by their faith and love towards the people of Estonia.
Riigikogu Toimetised is publishing part of the book by Jaak Valge Estonian Parliament 1917–1940. Political History, without citing the references. The book has already been edited and will be published shortly.
The exhibition “The Estonian Parliament 100” gives a brief overview of the hundred-year history of the representative body of Estonia. The exhibition is divided into two sections: 1917‒1940 and 1991‒2018, separated by a half a century break, when the representative body could not convene.
After a depressing Communist Party dictatorship, otherwise known as the Soviet era, the second national awakening began in Estonia on the second half of 1986. This short period brought along three hugely significant revolutions: restoration of national independence (revolution in statehood), building up of democracy (revolution in social structure) and substitution of planned economy with market economy (revolution in economy). Historians specialising in recent history, and the general public, have largely concentrated their interest in the first of these, i.e. the restoration of national independence. Even this has often been treated one-dimensionally, as a one-day event; in actual fact, the state building went on for years before the events of August 1991.
On 19 August 2013, the Chancellery of the Riigikogu and the National Library of Estonia presented a collection of articles on the 12th Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR that convened on 29 March 1990, continued as the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia from 8 May 1990, and decided to dismiss itself on 14 September 1992.
Since 2004, the Chancellery of the Riigikogu in cooperation with the National Library of Estonia have been issuing collections on statistics concerning the activities of the Riigikogu.
The article describes the preparation of the draft of the Persons Repressed by Occupying Powers Act, forming of the government committee dealing with the problems of the repressed people and the passing of the Persons Repressed by Occupying Powers Act. The Act entered into force on 1 January 2004.
This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the day the Riigikogu Legal Protection Committee started its work after the restoration of the independence of Estonia.
This article is a direct continuation to the „A Trip from St. Petersburg to Pechory”, published in the Riigikogu Toimetised in 2005 (No. 12).
The author finds that Estonia was successful in the restoration of the state and the legal order in the years 1990–1992 and thereafter owing to several different circumstances.
“Women in the Parliament of Estonia, 1917–1940 and 1992–2010”, an electronic publication of the National Library of Estonia (www.nlib.ee/14889), gives an overview of the activities of women in legislative bodies (in different periods of history this body has had different names – Provisional Assembly of the Governorate of Estonia, Constituent Assembly of Estonia, Riigikogu, Rahvuskogu).
In foreign relations, the competency of Estonian parliament as a legislative body can be thought of as consisting of two elements. First, legal competence of parliament, which is set forth in the Constitution and legislation and international legal acts governing foreign relations (conventions, treaties, operating principles of international organizations), and political competence, which develops through the distribution of functions between government agencies.
In the War of Independence, Estonia’s Bolsheviks had been part of the Russian Communist (Bolshevik) Party.
The writer stresses that the primary framer of the decisions to restore Estonian independence was the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia, elected in March 1990 as the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR, for the first time on democratic grounds, which played a decisive role in shaping the state’s foreign policy and promoting international ties and seeking diplomatic recognition.
The last century placed Estonia repeatedly in front of difficult decisions.
Although only a few westerners truly explore the depths of the Tibetan culture, its effect on western thinking is remarkable.
As a persona, Boris Yeltsin was unique and indispensable. In his personal recollections, the writer deals with only the few episodes when his and Yeltsin´s very different paths unexpectedly crossed or even converged.
Even though it seemed, after the Eesti Pank Act was adopted in 1993, that the central bank was guaranteed for all time the ability to follow an independent monetary policy free of the government, this sense of security proved premature.
The writer recalls the strong opposition that developed between financial experts and the Ministry of Justice in the early 1990s, when the central bank was in the process of drafting a new draft legislative act on Eesti Pank, the central bank.
From his first days as an MP, the writer of this article studied how to launch proceedings as quickly as possible on an act to prevent corruption.
Part II of the article (part I was published in The Riigikogu Toimetised No. 11) provides an overview of the work of legislators of the 7th, 8th and 9th Riigikogu in regulating state revenue and expenditures, environmental protection and promoting market economy relations, also in developing enterprise and economic reforms, resolving social and cultural issues and managing the country's international relations.
The article provides an overview of the legislative work of the 7th, 8th and 9th composition of the Riigikogu in restoring and strengthening Estonia's sovereignty, developing fundamental civic rights and setting forth the prerequisites for the state's transition to a market economy.
The author, a former member of parliament, recalls the trips of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe non-member states committee to a session in A lbania from 6–10 September 1993 and the Greek peacekeeping organization KEADEA as well as to the European Conference on Peace, Democracy and Cooperation in the Balkans organized by Russian and Balkan peace committees in Greece from 10–16 November 1993.
In the early 2002, the Riigikogu secretariat organized a competition for preparatory school students - collecting memories from MPs in the 7th Riigikogu. Even though only 12 works were received, they proved that there was enough interesting material to go around.
The 9th Riigikogu closed for business, as it were, on February 13, 2003, having passed 881 acts of law, joined by two acts passed at extraordinary session on February 25 - a constitutional amendment and the appointment of the Auditor General - bringing the total to 883 (771 laws, 110 decisions, 1 proclamation and 1 appeal).
From March 1994 to July 1995, four Estonian party summits took place at the behest of the Centre Party. Two were followed by continued meetings where unfinished business was discussed, and by the work of various work groups. The summit, planned as an extraordinary event, gave rise to a tradition of summits over a period of 18 months or so. Since July 1995, there have not been as many well-attended summits, though subsequent years have seen a number of roundtables held in various forms and levels.
The idea of judicial constitutional review in Estonia has a long history of maturing and realisation. As an important issue of political life, it has enjoyed lively discussions and debates in the course of elaboration of independent Estonia's constitutions.
With the 1938 Constitution, Estonia attained a two-chamber parliament consisting of a State Assembly (Riigivolikogu) and a State Council (Riiginõukogu). Its term was five years. The State Assembly was a house of deputies that had 80 members elected from a list of names on the basis of relative majority, from one-mandate constituencies. It adopted laws, approved the state budget and controlled the Government. The State Council was the passive house of the Parliament. It did not have the right to make law by itself, as all legal acts only became law after being reviewed by the State Assembly.
The first Constitution of the Republic of Estonia was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 15 June 1920. According to the Constitution, the supreme body was the parliament (the Riigikogu); no position of Head of State (the President) was provided.
In 1925, from 12-22 May, the parliamentary delegation of the Estonian Riigikogu, led by August Jürman, the deputy chairman of the board of the II Riigikogu, visited the Polish Sejm.
In the life of the Estonian Parliament, an important change has taken place in 2000 – the Government of the Republic moved out of the Toompea castle into a building at Rahukohtu 3 on Toompea Hill, and thus the separation of legislative and executive power has been effected also on the physical and geographical level.
On 23 April 1919, the democratically elected parliament of the Republic of Estonia – the Estonian Constituent Assembly – began its work.