President of Estonia - Constitutional Role

Constitutional Role

The President of the Republic of Estonia:

• acts as the highest representative of state in international affairs (this task includes signing international treaties preliminarily approved by the Government). In exceptional circumstances the President may represent Estonia in the European Council instead of the Prime Minister of Estonia;

• appoints and recalls, upon proposal of the Government, the diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Estonia to foreign states and international organizations; receives the credentials of foreign diplomatic agents accredited to Estonia;

• declares regular elections of the Riigikogu (the parliament of Estonia) and, pursuant to respective provisions of the Constitution, its extraordinary elections. Extraordinary elections can be declared by the President at four occasions: if the Riigikogu turns out to be unable to pass the annual State Budget Act, if the Riigikogu fails to obtain the nation's approval on a referendum, if the Riigikogu fails to elect the Prime Minister after it receives the opportunity (at those three occasions announcing extraordinary elections is obligatory and the President simply acts as the "highest notary" of the state) or if the Riigikogu passes a censure motion against the Government, and the Government, in its turn, requests the President to consider announcing extraordinary elections (in this case the President may, however, say "no", if he (or she) founds organizing extraordinary elections unnecessary or unreasonable for whatever reason);

• convenes the new membership of the Riigikogu and opens its first session;

• proposes to the Chairman of the Riigikogu to convene an extraordinary session of the Riigikogu (in case of necessity);

• promulgates laws and signs the instruments of ratification. The President may refuse to promulgate a bill into law within 14 days after its receipt (it is mostly done only if the President finds it contrary to the Constitution of Estonia). In this case the President returns the bill to the Riigikogu with a motivation of his (or her) decision. When that happens, the Riigikogu may reconsider and amend the bill according to remarks of the President, drop the matter, or pass the bill without any changes for a second time. When Riigikogu takes the third option, the President may not simply refuse to sign the bill into law anymore, but is obliged to promulgate it or, if he or she still believes it to be unconstitutional, to ask Riigikohus (the Supreme Court) to rule on its constitutionality. If Riigikohus finds no violation of constitution, the President must sign the bill into law.

• may initiate amendment of the Constitution. Until now this right has been used at two occasions only. President Lennart Meri proposed to introduce direct elections of the President and to found a Constitutional Court on the last day of his stay in office. This proposal did not find support within the walls of the Parliament. The Republic's current President Toomas-Hendrik Ilves proposed to remove mentioning the institution of the Commander and the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Forces from the Constitution, so that he or she could be appointed by the Government, and not by Riigikogu. The respective amendment was finally approved by Riigikogu on 13 April 2011 and entered into force on 22 July 2011 ;

• after appropriate consultations with the parliamentary fractions nominates the candidate for the post of the Prime Minister (who is normally the leader of the parliamentary coalition or the largest party in Riigikogu), who has to go through an approval vote in the parliament. If the candidate, nominated by the President, fails to obtain the parliamentary approval or finds himself to be incapable of forming the Government, the President may nominate another candidate. If the second candidate also fails to obtain the approval of the Parliament or if the President refuses to nominate the second candidate, the right to nominate the Prime-Minister is transferred to Riigikogu;

• on the proposal of the Prime-Minister formally appoints to office and dismisses members of the Government, whereas the Prime-Minister's proposal is binding for the President. The President may not refuse to appoint or dismiss a minister, should the Prime-Minister make a respective proposal. So the President's role is virtually limited to a formal signing of the respective documents;

• nominates the Chairman of the Supreme Court, the Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Estonia, the Auditor General and the Chancellor of Justice. The President may, theoretically, nominate any candidate at his or her discretion. However, the traditions of a parliamentary republic suppose that the President organizes respective consultations with the parliamentary fractions and proposes only such a candidate that will be able to secure the support of Riigikogu, for all of those officers must pass through an approval vote in the parliament before they can assume their office;

• upon proposal of the Board of the Bank of Estonia, appoints to office the President of the Bank of Estonia. The President may refuse to accept the proposal and demand for another candidate (theoretically for an unlimited number of times). This option was previously exercised by President Lennart Meri.

• upon proposal of the Supreme Court, appoints judges (judges appointed by the President may be taken to legal responsibility only with the President's consent);

• confers state decorations, military and diplomatic ranks;

• is the Supreme Commander of the National Defense Forces of Estonia (in reality, this function is usually considered largely ceremonial and symbolic);

• makes proposals to the Riigikogu to declare martial law, to order mobilization and demobilization and to declare a state of emergency;

• declares martial law in case of attack on Estonia and orders mobilization;

• acts as the head of the State Defense Council, which is an advising body consisting of the President, the Prime Minister, the speaker of Riigikogu, the chairman of the Riigikogu commissions for state defense and foreign affairs, minister of foreign affairs, minister of defense, finance minister, minister of internal affairs, minister of justice and commander of defense forces of Estonia;

• by way of clemency, releases or grants commutation to convicted offenders at their request;

• initiates the bringing of criminal charges against the Chancellor of Justice.