Culture, Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Real Estate

The chairman of the Estonian Owners Association, Priidu Parna, said that owners' right to property is protected under the Constitution and in the restitution of property all owners must be treated equally no matter whether we are talking about a private owner or a church.

Parna said that now that a solution has been found to the issue of property of the church also the House of the Blackheads needs to be returned.

"The Estonian state will be soon celebrating its 100th anniversary, and we have to complete the property reform which has lasted already more than 25 years by then," Parna said. "In that case the Estonian state will be able to step into the new century as a clean sheet and looking to the future," he said.

The Estonian government decided on Thursday to support churches operating in Estonia with 8.2 million euros, of which the Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK) is to get 6.8 million euros and the Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOK) 1.4 million euros. The government decided to allocate the money from the property reform reserve to help compensate for damages caused by the war and the occupation. In connection with the allocation the churches will abandon their other material claims on the state.

The government, which had initially decided that the House of the Blackheads has to be returned to the brotherhood of the same name, lost a legal dispute on the matter with the city conclusively in November 2013, when the Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal by the government against the decisions of lower tier courts upholding the decision of the city not to return the Old City landmark.