In mid-June, Merle Praakli, Sven Anton, and Remi Fady Punak launched a petition titled "Dissolve the Estonia-Israel parliamentary group in its current form, which in its activities has placed the interests of a foreign state above the Republic of Estonia's obligations under international law."

Within a month, the initiative gathered the required 1,000 signatures to be submitted to the Riigikogu. The Foreign Affairs Committee discussed the petition on Tuesday, with the initiators also invited to attend.

Committee Chairman Marko Mihkelson (Reform) said that in practice, the committee or the Riigikogu can do nothing with the petition, since friendship groups are formed voluntarily by Riigikogu members.

The MP said the Riigikogu has previously debated whether the activities of friendship groups should be regulated, but this would require amending the Riigikogu's Rules of Procedure and Internal Rules Act. This could be more complicated than amending the Constitution, Mihkelson said.

For example, there are currently two Georgia friendship groups in the Riigikogu with somewhat differing views on the country. A Donald Trump support group also once existed in the Riigikogu. Mihkelson noted that at present, nothing would prevent the creation of a Russia friendship group.

The committee chair also said that never before has anyone requested the dissolution of a friendship group, not even after the most recent visit of the China Friendship Group to Beijing.

Merle Praakli, the initiator of the petition, was present in the Riigikogu but could not be reached by ERR during the day.

In the petition, its initiators argued that dissolving the Riigikogu's Israel friendship group would restore consistency and credibility to Estonia's foreign policy and reinforce international law.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!