Local Government

in Estonia

Rodolphe Laffranque

Estonia in brief

• Area : 45,227 sq/m• Population : 1,347 million

inhabitants including :- 69 % in urban areas- 31 % in rural areas

• Density : 31 inhab/sqm• Capital-city : Tallinn

Main dates to remember

• 24th February, 1918: Declaration of independence of Estonia and establishment of the Republic of Estonia.

• 15th June, 1920: Adoption of the first Estonian constitution.• 17th June, 1940: Occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union.

End of the first period of Estonian independence.• 3rd March, 1991: Referendum on independence.• 20th August, 1991: Restoration of the Republic of Estonia.• 28th June, 1992: Referendum on the adoption of the

constitution.• 29th March, 2004: Estonia is incorporated into NATO.• 1st May, 2004: Estonia joins the EU.

Territorial Structure

Estonia is a unitary state and is divided into :

• 15 regions (maakonnad) = central government field offices

• 227 local authorities (kohalikud omavalitsused) = local government- 33 cities (linnad)- 194 rural communes (vallad)

Institutional Structure at the national level

President of the President of the RepublicRepublic

Head of state, 5year-mandate

Elected by Riigikogu

RiigikoguRiigikogu

Unicameral parliament 101 MPs directly elected for

4years

Judicial systemJudicial systemState Court State Court

(19 juges) Supreme and constitutional court

District CourtDistrict Courtcourt of appeal

County courts County courts and

administrative tribunalsadministrative tribunals

The GovernmentThe GovernmentPrime Minister

(named by the President ) and Ministers

The Government is appointed by the President after a vote for

nomination by Parliament

Law ChancelorLaw ChancelorOmbudsmann and responsible for

constitutionality of acts of parliament and treaties and of legality of all the law

Office of State ControlsOffice of State Controlsrun by the State Controller;

in charge of financial and budgetary control over public administration

Executive Bodies Legislative Body Judiciary and Comptrolling Bodies

15 regions in Estonia

Central Government Regional Offices

• Regions are not autonomous public authorities• They are regional offices (maavalitsused) lead by

regional governors• Every governor (maavanem) represents the Government

in the region. He/She is appointed for 5 years by the Cabinet following a proposal issued by the Prime Minister

• His/her fields of responsibilities are :- Environment protection policy - Spatial planning and economic development - Co-ordination of services in case of emergency crisis- Control over individual decisions made by local authorities

Local Government Structure

Since 1992, Estonia has only have one sole tier of local government : the communes

Local self-government in Estonia

The legal basis of local government The structure of local government The control over decisions made by

local authorities Local councils’ responsibilities Local councils’ resources

The legal basis oflocal self-government (1)

• The Constitution was voted on 28th June, 1992

- Chapter XIV determines the rules applicable to local authorities and their operation.

- Article 154 recognises the principle of local self-government: “All local issues shall be resolved and managed by local authorities, which shall operate independently pursuant to law“

• The European Charter of Local Self-Government was ratified by Estonia on 28 September, 1994

The legal basis for local self-government (2)

Local Government Act (2 June,1993): determines the organisation of local authorities Territory of Estonia Administrative Division Act (February 22, 1995) : determines the division of the territory of Estonia into counties, cities and rural municipalities

Act (16 June, 1993) on Budgets for rural communes and cities Act (16 September, 2010) on the financial management of local

councils (to susbtitute for Local Taxation Act to be abolished by 1st July 2012)

Act (27 March, 2002) on local elections Act (28 June, 2004) aiming at amalgamation of local authorities.

Communes as self-governed authorities (1)

• Constitution, Article 155

« Local authorities are rural communes and cities. Other local authorities can be created according to the law»

• Up to-day Parliament has created no new local authority

Communes as self-governed authorities (2)

• 227 communes : 33 citiesand 194 rural communes.

They all have the same legal status. • Only 5 communes are over 40,000 inhabitants• Average population : 5,600 inhabitants.• 50% of communes have a population of under

2,000 inhabitants.

The three biggest Estonian cities

Tallinn (400,394 inhab.)

Tartu (101,169 inhab.) Narva (68,680 inhab.)

Local governement organisation

• Every local authority is made up of a local council and an executive body as the communal administration.

• In cities the local council is called linnavolikogu and the local executive body linnavalitsus.

• In rural communes, the local council is called vallavolikogu and the executive body vallavalitsus.

The local council• The local council is the deliberative body for

the commune.• It is directly elected for a 4 year-mandate..• The number of councillors depends on the

size of the local authority : 79 in Tallinn City Council, 49 in Tartu and 7 (legally the smallest number) for Ruhnu commune.

• The council elects its president.

The Right to vote at local elections

• Estonian citizens of 18 years or more who permanently live within the borders of the related commune ;

• EU member-state citizens of over 18 who permanently live in the related commune ;

• Foreigners (non EU citizens) of over 18 who permanently live in the related commune and have been granted a long term or permanent residence permit.

The local executive body

• The “municipal government“ (linnavalitsus / vallavalitsus) is the executive body of the local authority.

• The mayor is at the head of the executive body authority (linnapea in cities and vallavanem in rural communes). - is elected for a four-year mandate by the local council- is in charge of the mayor’s traditional duties

• The members of the governing body have to be confirmed to office by the local council

Organisation of districts within communes

• Any commune is entitled to devide its area into districts called linnaosa in cities and osavald in rural communes

• This is the case for 2 cities : Tallinn and Kohtla-Järve ; and 2 rural communes : Vinni and Väike-Maarja.

• Each district must set up its own executive body (a district governing body and a district mayor).

• Communes can freely create other bodies in the districts. In Tallinn they have created an ‘administrative assembly’ (halduskogu, an equivalent to neighbourhood committees, ‘conseils de quartier’)

Control over decisions made by local authorities

• Local councils’ decisions are under external and permanent control by central government

• Control is implemented by – the regional governors (maavanemad), – the Office for State control (Riigikontroll) and – the Law Chancelor (õiguskantsler).

Local councils’ responsibilities• Education : building, maintaining and management of

nursery, primary and secondary schools. Since 2001 communes have payed for teachers on behalf of central government

• Social Assistance : to elderly and hadicaped people, …• Health• Culture, management of leisure and sports facilities• Garbage collection and waste management• Drinking water distribution and sewer system• Roads and public parks maintainance • Transport• Housing• Town-planning

Local councils’ resources

• Every local council has its own resources to enact its policies :

human resources financial resources

Human Resources• Local Government Staff Act (25 January,1995)

3 categories of members of staff : - Permanent staff (ametnikud),

- Subsidiary staff (abiteenistujad) et

- Contracted-out staff (koosseisuvälised teenistujad).

• Total number of local government staff : 68,754 members, 49% of all public sector employment in Estonia (141,164 jobs) (in 2009)

• 5,325 members of local government staff were permanently employed (in 2009).

Local Revenue

Local Expenditures