Earlier this week, the Riigikogu voted to bar people with Estonian language skills below B1 level from the conscription call-up.

President Alar Karis stated in his decision that, under the Constitution, Estonian citizens are obligated to participate in national defense. "If a certain group is given the opportunity to avoid conscription, this must be done in accordance with the principle of equal treatment," Karis wrote. This principle is enshrined in Article 12 of the Estonian Constitution.

"Although conscripts who lack Estonian language skills are not exempted from military service, they are not called up for conscription until they have acquired the necessary level of Estonian," the president noted. "A person may in fact know the language, but if they don't have a proficiency certificate, they cannot be compelled to fulfill their constitutional duty of national defense."

Parliament justified the change by arguing that without sufficient language skills, conscripts are unable to fully understand orders or absorb the content of training.

"Ensuring high-quality and safe military training is undoubtedly a legitimate goal. The development of weapons and command systems has made adequate language skills more important than ever. Avoiding excessive time and training costs is also a legitimate aim and the responsibility of teaching language cannot fall on the military instead of the education system. So lawmakers may justifiably pursue language-level alignment in conscription. However, the current approach ends up favoring those who have not acquired the language sufficiently," Karis argued.

The head of state emphasized that the Constitution requires lawmakers to choose the option that treats people more equally if the same goal can be achieved through either route.

"One alternative to improve the language skills of conscripts would be to assign them to intensive language study before the start of their service, if necessary. If participating in national defense is a constitutional obligation and language proficiency is a prerequisite, then acquiring the language can also be made mandatory. The practical effectiveness of such a measure might be uncertain, but it cannot simply be assumed that intensive language learning would fail. Nor can it be assumed that conscripts who lack Estonian would be incapable of successful training. Making language acquisition mandatory would send a clearer message that all citizens are expected to show equal commitment to defending the state," the president explained.

The president believes the bill should be returned to the Riigikogu for further debate and revision to bring it into line with the Constitution. The full text of the president's decision can be read here.

On November 19, the Riigikogu passed a bill amending the Military Service Act so that only conscripts with at least B1-level Estonian proficiency would be called up for compulsory military service.

The Estonian Defense Resources Agency (KRA) told ERR that the requirement is necessary because military training is conducted in Estonian and the training increasingly involves complex weapons and communications systems, as well as specialized terminology.

"A person with language skills below B1 level cannot adequately understand orders or grasp the training content, which would hinder successful completion of effective military training," said KRA spokesperson Daisi Želizko-Kask.

The Estonian Defense Forces added that about one-fifth of conscripts arrive without sufficient Estonian to participate in training or carry out their duties. As a result, the military is forced to devote time to language instruction at the expense of military training.

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