| Country: | Estonia |
| Estonian Greens | |
| Native Name: | Erakond Eestimaa Rohelised |
| Leader1 Title: | Chairpersons |
| Leader1 Name: | Evelyn Sepp |
| Foundation: | 25 November 2006 |
| Position: | Centre-left[1] |
| International: | Global Greens |
| Colours: | Green |
| Membership Year: | 2024 |
| Membership: | 786[2] |
| Seats1 Title: | Riigikogu |
| Seats2 Title: | Municipalities |
| Seats3 Title: | European Parliament |
The Estonian Greens (Estonian: Erakond Eestimaa Rohelised, EER) is a green political party in Estonia. Founded in 2006, the party held six seats in the Riigikogu from 2007 to 2011. Its objective is to ensure that Estonia's development is environmentally friendly, sustainable, politically stable and economically efficient.
The Estonian Green Movement (Estonian: Eesti Roheline Liikumine) was founded in May 1988. Its chairman, forestry scientist Professor Toomas Frey, was Minister of the Environment from 1990 to 1991.
The first anti-communist Estonian Green Party (Eesti Roheline Partei) was founded on 19 August 1989. A rival Green Party (Eesti Roheline Erakond), under the leadership of former communist Vello Pohla, was founded in May 1990. In 1992, the two parties merged and the Estonian Greens (Erakond Eesti Rohelised). One representative of the Greens' electoral coalition, Rein Järlik, was elected to parliament in September 1992.[3] The Estonian Greens were removed as a registered party on 21 May 1998 due to its lack of the required 1,000 members. Some former Estonian Greens members then joined the Estonian Centre Party.
Organiser Valdur Lahtvee reported that on 1 November 2006, more than 1,000 members had been recruited for the Green Party Initiative Group to register as a political party. This opened the doors to run in the March 2007 Estonian parliamentary election.
The current Estonian Greens party (Erakond Eestimaa Rohelised), was founded on 25 November 2006, when the party held its founding general assembly with 361 of the total 1,203 founding members present. The party's programme was ratified and a board of 13 members elected. According to Marek Strandberg, its goal was to win at least five Riigikogu seats in the upcoming elections and to form a Greens parliamentary caucus. The party's main programmes were to protect Estonia's forests, sea and other resources; to combat climate change, and to promote direct democracy. Economically, the party supported innovation and conservative fiscal policies.[4] In the 2007 Estonian parliamentary election, the Estonian Greens received 39,265 votes (7.1 per cent of the total) and held six seats in the Riigikogu until 2011.[5]
The Greens received 21,824 votes (3.8 percent of the total) in the March 2011 parliamentary election, losing their six seats in the Riigikogu. In the 2015 parliamentary elections, the Greens received 0.9 per cent of the vote and no seats in parliament.[6]
Züleyxa Izmailova was elected the party's chairwoman in March 2017.[7] Although the Greens received 1.8 per cent of the vote in the 2019 election under her leadership, they did not win any seats due to the five-percent threshold.[8]
The Estonian Greens have a democratic parliamentary policy aimed at ensuring that the development of the Republic of Estonia is environmentally friendly, sustainable, politically stable and economically efficient. The party opposes the excessive centralisation of political, administrative and economic power, favouring autonomous decision-making and the importance of citizen participation in decision-making at all levels.
It vigorously supports science: involving researchers in decision-making processes, implementing research results, strengthening health care and guaranteeing public access to health services, a better understanding of educational content and organisation, the development of information technologies, making proposed solutions more reliable and humane, and supporting national co-operatives. It intends to encourage innovation in industry and agriculture, and the abandonment of oil shale as fuel (PÕXIT).
The party encourages innovative, knowledge-based, environmentally responsible and employee- and consumer-friendly businesses. It supports fair resource and environmental charges which take into account the cost of the oil-shale sector. Social and economic problems associated with the closure of the oil-shale sector in Ida-Viru County can be mitigated with resource royalties.[9]
The party's objectives in the energy sector are:
The party aims to make Estonia a country of participatory, direct democracy based on regular referendums, similar to Switzerland. Legislate by referendum the introduction of a new legislative provision or appeal of a Riigikogu decision, an opportunity offered by the first period of independence by the Estonian constitution. To organise a referendum, a specified number of signatures must be collected. The referendum will be preceded by a month-long public debate and equal media coverage of both sides.
The Estonian Greens support a master's-degree requirement for all ministers. The Minister of Education and Research must have a PhD or equivalent training. The party opposes the defamation of others, distinguishing between defamation and freedom of expression. It aims to amend legislation governing maritime affairs so Estonian shipowners' ships return to the Estonian flag. The party favours a personal election by the single transferable vote method used in the 1990 Supreme Council elections to allow all suitable candidates to be selected, regardless of party affiliation. It supports lowering the voting age to 16, and the expansion of local-government revenue base by transferring most personal-income and corporate taxes to local governments.
The party supports security authorities, the police and the tax administration, and civilian control of their activities. It supports shorter compulsory military service and longer recurrent training. The Estonian Defence League should be strengthened, with greater cooperation with the Estonian Defence Forces. The party supports a reduction in the country's defence budget to two per cent of GDP,and an expanded capacity for the development and implementation of defence and security technologies by participating in international exercises.[9]
The party supports activities which help preserve natural landscapes, ecosystems and communities, increase the self-purification of water bodies and improve ecological status. It aims to stop deforestation, making the lumber industry sustainable and limiting cutting to less than five million cubic meters at least until 2030 to compensate for previous overcutting. Loggers (public and private) must negotiate with local communities, presenting a list of benefits and impacts of the planned logging. The local community must have a pre-emptive right to purchase forest land and logging rights. Damage to sites and ecosystems must be taxed.
Public funds should not be used to intensify forest management with roads and ditches. Environmental taxes for disposal of unsorted waste should be raised. Nature-conservation restrictions on private roads should be compensated equitably and efficiently. The party supports a nationally coordinated network of wildlife relief and rehabilitation centers. It recognises animal rights; treating animals as property contravenes the Animal Welfare Act. Animal-welfare organisations must have the right of appeal against animal abuse. The party supports animal-care requirements based on Animal Welfare Council recommendations for facilitating natural behaviour for the prevention of pain, illness and suffering. Fur farms should be prohibited, and the party opposes breeding which does not respect animal welfare.
The party supports alternative civilian service to clean up waste, plant forests and participate in other environmental initiatives.Large-scale projects with a negative environmental impact (such as Rail Baltica, large wood refineries based on outdated technology and new shale-oil processing plants) should be abandoned. A national rail network should be developed, with a fast rail connection to Riga. The party supports scientifically based fertilizers, innovative solutions for fertiliser dosing, environmentally friendly and grassland farming, and the cultivation and preservation of heirloom plant varieties and animal breeds.[9]
The Estonian Greens support health insurance for all citizens, and opportunities for senior citizens and other people with special needs to manage their time well. Loneliness in society as a whole must be systematically tackled. Efforts should be made to increase the birth rate, strengthen parental security and bring the generations closer together. The party supports home care and innovative nursing homes offering a dignified life, with community activities.
The labour market needs increased flexibility in working hours, part-time work, telecommuting, and jobs for people with special needs. The party favours a social tax on robots. It encourages the availability and production of local, organic foods in all child-care institutions to support local producers and promote a healthy diet and a sustainable environment. It supports a significant reduction in the production and consumption of meat and animal products, a more-accessible vegetarian diet and the modernisation of Estonia's dietary recommendations. Vegetarian foods should be provided in the public sector, including educational and health institutions.
The party supports the reform of alcohol and drug policies, with advertising for alcohol and tobacco prohibited. Excise taxes on alcohol in the Baltic states should be standardised and mind-altering substances (such as cannabis and indigenous entheogens) should be regulated, rather than prohibited.[9]
The party supports a flexible, values-oriented curriculum. The link between theoretical learning and everyday life should be strengthened by, for example, outdoor training. Education should be more creative and collective. Secondary schools should offer optional professional subjects and use the technical basis of vocational schools as much as possible. Lifelong learning should be supported, with environmental principles and respect for nature integrated into all curricula, levels of education, subjects and educational institutions. Teachers should be recruited, with support for specialisation and research. The preservation and expansion of Estonian language-learning opportunities should be supported in foreign schools if the Estonian community is sufficiently large.
Equal opportunities should exist at all levels of education, and primary and secondary schools should be decentralised. A student's school should be near their home. Local dialects and culture, based on cultural autonomy, should be taught. Every child should have the opportunity to participate, free of charge, in at least one recreational activity.
The party opposes the replacement of Estonian bachelor's-degree programs with English-language specialties. Teaching and research staffs should be certified separately. Working students should be able to study part-time free of charge. The interest rate on student loans should be lowered to the cost of living, and repayment terms extended. Part of the student loan should be forgiven at the birth of a child or the beginning of public-sector employment.
Each doctoral candidate should receive a stipend near the national average for the field relevant to their doctoral thesis.Free, credit-based higher education should replace the time-based curriculum to allow students to combine learning and work. Research should be funded at one per cent of GDP (three per cent after 10 years), with wasted resources eliminated.
Public authorities should be encouraged to outsource research and expert advice on issues of national importance, incorporating their findings into the decision-making process. The requirement to purchase research materials should be abolished; in most cases, the number of potential bidders is limited. Researchers should be supported for European research, cooperation with foreign research institutes and participation in research networks. The party supports free-enterprise research grants from taxation on the same basis as government stock exchanges and tax incentives for private investment in science. Tax breaks should be given to foreign research graduates conducting research (including postdoctoral research) during their early years in Estonia.[9]
The party prioritises the multilateral global order and pan-European cooperation. The central role of the United Nations as a platform for global agreements must be maintained, but the decision-making power of the permanent members of the Security Council must be reduced in favour of the General Assembly.
Estonia must contribute to and participate in the work of European Union institutions, protecting its interests and providing its point of view. The party aims to base EU economic policy on public interest and global justice, which must promote the efficient use of resources, energy efficiency and innovation. It supports reforming the EU's Common Agricultural Policy to ensure a more equitable, sustainable rural organisation. Only sustainable and environmentally-friendly businesses would receive agricultural subsidies. Environmental protection and health in the European Union must be more important than a free, borderless market economy. The party supports the right of the EU member states to protect their environment and their consumers.
The party questions the legislative powers of the European Commission (unlike the European Parliament). Members of the European Parliament and political groups must have the right to initiate projects, and Parliament should have the final decision-making power over EU laws of the European Union (the case with national parliaments).
Estonia and other European countries must contribute to development and humanitarian aid in conflict areas, minimising mass civilian migration. The party favours a better distribution of refugees based on national standards of living in the countries, cultural context, natural conditions and the wishes of the refugees, and will fight criminal organisations which benefit from illegal human transport. It encourages international migration for education and work, and supports international initiatives and agreements against tax havens and tax evasion. The party supports international financial stability, including the Tobin tax.It supports the rights of peaceful self-determination and cultural sovereignty, and opposes territorial, economic or other concessions to totalitarian states.[9]
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Government | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Aleksei Lotman | 39,279 | 7.14 (#5) | New | |||
| 2011 | 21,824 | 3.79 (#5) | 6 | ||||
| 2015 | Aleksander Laane | 5,193 | 0.90 (#7) | 0 | |||
| 2019 | Züleyxa Izmailova | 10,227 | 1.82 (#7) | 0 | |||
| 2023 | Johanna Maria Tõugu | 5,886 | 0.96 (#9) | 0 |
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Unclear | 10,851 | 2.73 (#5) | New | − | |
| 2014 | Marko Kaasik | 986 | 0.30 (#7) | 0 | ||
| 2019 | Evelin Ilves | 5,824 | 1.75 (#7) | 0 | ||
| 2024 | Evelyn Sepp | 2,246 | 0.61 (#9) | 0 |