The council, which falls under the ministry's remit, would amend the Local Government Council Election Act to do so, but the ministry has said this would require additional analysis first, citing the constitutional rights of council candidates.

"A language proficiency requirement is important and has been proposed on several occasions, but establishing it as a norm requires analysis of fundamental rights. Requiring Estonian language proficiency from local council candidates creates an infringement of passive suffrage, as by demanding a document proving education, candidates are indirectly subjected to an educational requirement, which is not stipulated in the Local Government Council Election Act," the ministry noted in the explanatory memorandum to the act.

"Most candidates participating in elections have a command of Estonian, and in most local governments, council members do not have problems with Estonian language proficiency," an education ministry spokesperson said.

The issue of introducing language proficiency requirements for local council candidates has been discussed before, but no good solution has been found on verifying it. "The Chancellor of Justice explained in 2022 that the current legal framework is sufficient and establishing language proficiency requirements is unnecessary. A council candidate must be aware that the working language of the council is Estonian and take this into account in due time.

The ministry representative also pointed to a 2022 Chancellor of Justice clarification, which stated that the existing legal framework is sufficient, while establishing language proficiency requirements would be unnecessary.

"A council candidate must be aware that the working language of the council is Estonian and take this into account in advance. Requiring candidates to prove their Estonian language proficiency is disproportionate to the goal and creates unnecessary bureaucracy," the bill's explanatory memorandum added.

Meanwhile, a representative of the Language Council (Eesti keelenõukogu) wrote an annex to the explanatory memorandum of the same bill, with comments and proposals.

"With the language used in council meetings, several municipalities continue to face problems, the main reason being that many council members do not have sufficient command of the Estonian language," the annex stated.

This means some council members neither fully understand the content of Estonian-language legislation, nor are they able to speak before a council chamber in Estonian, make proposals, express opinions nor ask questions. They are also unable to communicate with voters in Estonian, the language council said.

"There is no requirement for language proficiency established for council members," the annex added.

The Language Council proposes that, to resolve the issue, the Local Government Council Election Act should be amended and supplemented by adding, as one of the conditions for running for council, sufficient proficiency in Estonian to serve as a council member.

This had been the case in independent Estonia prior to 2002.

"In combination with the government's planned constitutional amendments, this would help better ensure Estonian-language work in councils," the explanation added.

Delfi last week reported that Kirill Koltšin, a member of the Koos party elected to the Kohtla-Järve city council at last month's local elections, signaled via social media an intention to learn Estonian.

Koltšin said that he felt he ought to learn the language as soon as possible, and needs to pass the B2 level exam. He conceded that relying on Russian alone will make it difficult for him to conduct council work.

Kohtla-Järve is in Ida-Viru County, many of whose towns are majority Russian-language speaking.

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