Unity lacking

TALLINN - The OECD has completed one of the most thorough and extensive analyses on Estonian state governance that stresses the need to move towards more unified governance, reports National Broadcasting. The main conclusion of the more than 400 page report is that Estonia is too small and poor to allow fragmentation, which is manifested in the build-up of government institutions, work processes and the provision of public services.

“Their main recommendation was that Estonia should move towards more united governance. Recommendations have been written on 14 pages. Now we have to work through them and make a choice on what to focus,” State Secretary Heiki Loot said in an interview with ETV’s morning program.

State institutions and ministries have to see across barriers, cooperate more and in the name of joint aims, the report says. Although Estonia is coming out of the economic crisis, the budget is still in the red. “While earlier we initiated new things on the basis of budget growth, now it is not possible to do that anymore. Now the only possibility is to look inside – where the resources are and how to invest them to achieve new priorities,” Loot said.

Loot said that the report also speaks of administrative reform, the contents of which, however, Estonia itself has to decide upon: either merge municipalities to make them bigger and stronger or focus on increasing the cooperation ability. The report also recommends revising the role of county governments, since the current process doesn’t justify itself.