ESTONIA: Estonian President vetoes contentious law to move a Soviet-era Red Army monument from the centre of its capital to a cemetery

The controversial Disallowed Construction Removal Bill has been passed in the Estonian Parliament, but vetoed by its President. Estonia's president vetoed a law passed by parliament on Thursday (February 15) to remove a Soviet-era Red Army monument from the capital Tallinn, a plan which had sparked strong Russian criticism. Parliament had given final approval to a bill requiring the government to move the bronze statue of a Red Army soldier to a cemetery within 30 days of the law coming into force. Russia said such a move would be "an act of blasphemy". President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said the amendment requiring the government to remove the monument was against the constitution. Politicians had known this beforehand, he said in a statement, and he would not promulgate the bill. The Estonian Parliament passed the Disallowed Construction Removal Bill on its third reading on Thursday. Members of the Reform Party and from the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica all voted for the bill while the Estonian Centre Party, Estonian Social Democratic Party and Estonian Peoples Union voted against. The bill was passed by 46 votes. The Prime Minister, Andrus Ansip, said the law was necessary for Estonia, but in its initial form without the added amendment obliging the government to remove the monument. A flurry of legislative activity on sensitive issues linked to the Soviet-era has prompted allegations that nationalist parties are trying to score points. The decision by Ilves was likely to take the immediate heat out of the row with Russia. However, Estonia already has a law on war graves that may still lead to the removal of the statue. Russia regards removing the monument as an act which dishonours Soviet soldiers who expelled the Nazis from Estonia at the end of World War Two. The plan has highlighted lingering resentment over what Estonia views as a 50-year occupation by the Soviet Union. Parliament has also passed a law to make September 22, which marked the liberation of Tallinn from Nazi forces in 1944, a commemoration of resistance to the Soviet Union. Estonia regained its independence in 1991 and is now a European Union (EU) and NATO member. JD/JRC

ITN Source | February 16, 2007

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