Estonia, Law and Regulations, Legislation

The minister, Arto Aas, on December 11th acquainted representatives of the organization with the government's plans for carrying out the reform over the next 18 months, spokespeople for the association said. "The process has to be completed in time for the October 2017 elections. Voluntary unification is in any case more advantageous," the minister said.

Some municipality leaders voiced the opinion that signs of bribing can be seen in financial support for merging municipalities. They also pointed at the experience of already merged self-government units that state budget appropriations for education, public transport etc. decreased afterwards. The opinion that forced unification is in conflict with the Constitution and the local government charter also was voiced at the council meeting.

Aas maintains that compulsory merger of municipalities does not run counter to the Constitution. "There might be a constitutional infringement, but this will have to be substantiated in the course of debates," he added.

"There's plenty of ground for contesting forced unifications and I'm sure contestations will come," mayor of the Vaivara rural municipality Veikko Luhalaid said. In his opinion, forced mergers should be put off until 2021 when all results of voluntary mergers are clear.

However, the minister declared that the reform will be brought to end in 2017 and its first phase of voluntary mergers will last till Jan. 1, 2017. It is planned to support voluntary merger with counseling and funds and provide an additional bonus if the population size of the merged municipality exceeds 11,000, he said. Municipalities with fewer than 5,000 residents will be forcibly unified by the government without any financial support.