Eesti in brief - 2010-09-16

  • 2010-09-15

The Coalition Council discussed on Sept. 13 Pro Patria and Res Publica Union’s proposal to include the budgetary balance principle in the Constitution. Though it did not gain the support of the Reform Party, both parties see an opportunity for including this requirement in the State Budget Act, reports National Broadcasting. PRU’s political secretary Margus Tsahkna noted that PRU presented to the Reform Party a proposal, along with a thorough explanatory memorandum for amending the Constitution. The Reform Party, however, stated that the party has discussed the principle, but is not prepared to support the Constitutional amendment. In order to provide the budgetary balance requirement with the legislative force sooner rather than later, coalition partners agreed that this standard would be included in the State Budget Act.

The Estonian Veterinary and Food Board launches a vaccination campaign of foxes and raccoon dogs from Sept. 13 to at least Oct. 8 in the entire Estonian territory in order to stop the spread of rabies and for the protection of humans and domestic animals, reports Postimees Online. The vaccine will be spread by throwing special bait that contains vaccine from planes into the woods. The results of the vaccination program so far have been very good. The data of vaccination effectiveness control of 2009 indicates that 88 percent of the target group animals ate the vaccine. The general number of rabies cases in Estonia has also considerably decreased. Since March 2008, only three rabies cases in foxes have been verified.