Estonian opposition leader Kaja Kallas (Reform Party) supports the idea of hiring assistants for members of the Riigikogu but said currently not enough work is being done to justify the need.

Ms Kallas stated she supports the idea of ​​hiring assistants after the issue was raised by Henn Põlluaas (EKRE), the Speaker of the Riigikogu, to help members deal with their workflow.

She said: “I have experience [of working] in the European Parliament that shows an assistant helps get the job done. But then there has to be a lot of work to do. Right now, there are very few drafts from the government and the opposition is immediately voted down.

It may be that now there is no need for assistants. If there was a government doing its job there would be more work to do in the Riigikogu”.

In the future, Ms Kallas said, in principle, assistants could be useful because it would improve the quality of parliamentary work. She said aids should be competent and hiring relatives or friends should be avoided.

“Help would be needed for things that don’t necessarily have to be done by a member of the Riigikogu,” Ms Kallas said.

Mr Põlluaas said in an interview with ERR the workload of a member of the Riigikogu is large and that assistants are needed. 

“This necessary step would increase the quality of the work of the Riigikogu,” he stated. 

The article was originally published at: https://news.err.ee/1021310/kallas-supports-hiring-assistants-but-says-there-is-currently-no-need