Greens warned on finances

TALLINN - Estonian Riigikogu party financing supervision committee deputy chairman Kaarel Tarand said that the committee is of the opinion that the Estonian Greens Party is in essence bankrupt, reports Public Broadcasting.
The committee decided at its meeting on Aug. 21 to send a letter of notice to the Greens due to a high negative net asset balance (-68,000 euros), pointing out the need to implement the obligation of caretaking. “In essence this is a bankruptcy state. Their situation is so serious that there doesn’t seem to be any economic way out,” Tarand said.

Chairman of the Greens party Aleksander Laane said that the party is not in the danger of bankruptcy and an auditor who reviewed the party’s finances thinks the same. “We work every day in the name of paying these debts,” he said. Laane said that the party has around 50,000 euros of debt and collects quite high membership fees that are used to pay off the debt.
Laane said that the party intends to participate in the upcoming local municipality elections.

The Greens party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Greens movement and it won an unexpected 7.2 percent support and 6 seats in the Riigikogu at the 2007 parliamentary elections. Yet, at the 2011 elections it failed to get elected after months of power struggles in the party. The majority of its debts date back to the failed election campaign.