No-confidence motion against social affairs minister fails to pass Riigikogu vote

A no-confidence motion in Minister of Social Affairs Karmen Joller (Reform) failed to pass a Riigikogu vote Thursday.
Thirty-three MPs voted in favor, where at least 51 votes are needed for a majority at the 101-seat chamber.
This was the second motion issued against Joller as minister in recent weeks: A no-confidence motion issued by Center Party and Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) MPs in September failed to pass a vote, but this time MPs from the other two opposition parties, Isamaa and the Social Democrats (SDE), joined the motion. Thirty-seven MPs in total signed.
Speaking at the Riigikogu during the vote, Joller stressed that the social and healthcare fields are a shared concern and called on MPs for greater cooperation. "Let us please work together and get these things fixed. Look where we've come from and where we've reached. We have a lot of work ahead, but we have also accomplished a lot. Let us not think that everything is bad," Joller said.
EKRE chair Martin Helme cited a desire to raise the co-payment for special care institutions by 10 percent, treatment waiting lists, financial mismanagement, making decisions "behind closed doors," greater private funding in healthcare and so deepening inequality, declining to exempt people with disabilities from the car tax, and the ministry not acting to create additional places at care institutions as the main factors motivating the motion.
Joller told parliament that the issues raised against her should be discussed using other methods, such as meetings within party factions, rejecting the claims the government plans to introduce private health insurance on a significantly larger scale.
She also denied ignoring the proposal to exempt people with disabilities from the car tax, adding "the calculations and discussions are actually underway, and at the moment we are looking for technical possibilities for implementing that."
Creating a system that ensures people reach the right doctor at the right time is more pressing than addressing waiting lists at this point in time, Joller, a medical doctor by profession, added.
In addition to Helme, Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa), Lauri Laats (Center) and Tanel Kiik (SDE) spoke during proceedings.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Johanna Alvin, Mirjam Mäekivi










