It is highly likely that the amendment to the Estonian Defense Forces Service Act will remove the clause denying conscription to young people who do not have a B1 level of proficiency in the Estonian language. ERR reports this.
On Monday, December 15, President Alar Karis received members of the parliamentary committee on national defense at Kadriorg and confirmed after speaking with them: the burden of language training cannot be placed on the army.
Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur sees several possible options and believes that this point should be removed from the bill for now and discussed separately.
"The first option is mandatory language courses before the start of service. The second is to create something similar to alternative service for those who still do not know the language, where there will be no military training. We need to pass this law in parliament in an amended form, that is, to remove the requirement for language proficiency. And we hope that in January or February it will become clear what to do with this language requirement, what possible alternatives exist. But all conscripts must serve," says Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur.
Member of the National Defense Committee Raimond Kaljulaid does not support the alternative service option – one where a soldier could do without the language – and considers the idea of intensive mandatory courses ineffective. According to him, either the wording of the bill needs to be changed to satisfy the president, or this point should be removed altogether.
The approach will be sought by the deputies on Tuesday, December 16, during meetings of the Constitutional Committee and the National Defense Committee, and on Wednesday, the amendments will be discussed again in the Grand Hall of the Riigikogu.
