TALLINN - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said in his speech to the opening session of Riigikogu that the Parliament has not made enough of an effort in cleaning up its reputation and in determining its proper role, reports news agency LETA. "I do not want to talk about expense reports or checks and leasing contracts 's the matters in this context are clear enough without any further words," he scolded. "The problem is in principle 's if the State budget is based on wishful thinking and long outdated election promises, not on reality, it is not only substandard work on behalf of the government, but on behalf of the Riigikogu as well," said Ilves.
According to Ilves, the state has urged people to live beyond their means. "It is a principal and grave error to promise benefits based on wrong future projections, which cannot be covered in only a few years; such a mistake has lasted for years," said the president.
"The economic turbulence has thrown the government and the Parliament, as well as the President, into a quasi-state of war where a long silence is replaced with sudden, frequent hits on all fronts at the same time," criticized Ilves, explaining that this is the only way to describe a situation where laws, tax rates and benefits systems that have been elaborated on and balanced for years are changed in only a couple of weeks.
"Taking into account a suspension in legislation for two summer months, rushing, and moreover, explaining the low quality of legislation with the need to rush, this is equal to failing to assume the obligations [one has] assumed in front of the people," he said.
The president also noted that Riigikogu has been unjustifiably slow in bringing down the wages of high-ranking civil servants, to that of the country's average pay.
