Jaak Aab weaning Ida-Viru County off oil shale

This is your third time serving as public administration minister. Has anything changed over the years? What is the number one topic in your administrative area today?

One important topic is the state reform. It sounds abstract, but these activities are very practical and we will be moving forward with them. During my previous term, there was major consolidation in four areas: agency and institutional mergers, removal of duplicated tasks and consolidation of support services. We are trying to render public administration more efficient and will likely find ways to cut costs. While this saving is not immediate, it will allow us to keep expenses in check in the future. This line needs to be maintained.

The state reform was a political priority in the previous coalition agreement, while that no longer seems to be the case.

We will not be curbing this priority. Let us recall that the administrative territorial reform initiative came from the Reform Party, even though I had to see it through. Such activities have been a part of their agenda, which is to say I do not think this priority will be abandoned. We did not go into detail as our views are quite similar in this matter. These activities must continue. We also have a state reform activity plan from the previous government a lot of which has been accomplished. Consolidation was the number one topic there.

You have said that the network of e-services is not on a secure footing today. How did the Tiger Leap end up here?

We need to fix a number of things. For example, data management and public registers, use of data and cross-usage, which it has to be said has come along in recent years. People and companies should not have to give certain information to the state several times. For instance, Statistics Estonia and the Tax and Customs Board have shared databases today, while this should be taken forward.

The problem is that while we can use EU support to develop systems, which has been done quite consistently, there is often none left over for basic and support services and fixed costs, which is when problems arise, for example, in terms of security. We recently had a problem with the ID-card. The entire structure and mechanism needs to be robust. Right now, it is possible to use the recovery instrument to strengthen base services and maintain a strong e-state foundation. Local governments and their IT capacity makes for a separate topic. Coordination of central and local government databases. Cross-usage of data makes life so much simpler, not just for local government officials but also individuals and companies turning to the state.

The Center Party has sought to introduce free public transport all over Estonia, while Reform has never supported the idea. Does this mean the plan has been shelved in the new coalition?

We make no secret of the fact that Center and Reform have different visions regarding some matters. Allow me to remind you that the Reform Party is a liberal right-wing party and Center is centrist. We want to have a bigger middle class and make sure not too many people fall behind or run away.

We have always said that county public transport should be free, while Reform has suggested the market should be allowed to sort it out. We have agreed that current subsidies for county public transport will continue for at least two years.

Who decides whether residents can ride for free? There will be no change, with county public transport centers still in charge of where to spend the money. Most counties have free coaches today, while I cannot tell you that will remain the case with 100 percent certainty as it is up to public transport centers.

What message do you have for people in Ida-Viru County? The end of the fossil fuel era will bring about great change in the region, with the green turn now on the horizon. How far along are negotiations with the EU Just Transition Fund?

I issued a press release today (Tuesday – ed.) on the Just Transition plan. We have agreed in the coalition not to apply for a wider target region. It was a matter of contention in the previous government. Our coalition partners wanted the eligible region to go beyond the current territory of Ida-Viru County. I have been of the mind that we should limit aid to Ida-Viru County from the first. It is also a clearly defined region in the eyes of the EU. Expanding it would have required us to go up against the European Commission and we could feel right away that European officials were not keen on the idea. We could spend the next several months arguing. This would mean no approval for activities and measures we aim to use to help Ida-Viru County. How much longer should we mess about?

Good news for Ida-Viru County then?

Yes, definitely. We decided to spend no more time arguing and move on to the contents of the Just Transition plan. It needs adjustment as the European Commission has already said that some elements of the initial plan might not qualify for support. We need to adjust certain things based on that feedback.

We will try to do that as quickly as possible as enterprise support and new jobs are in everyone’s interests. But things are not standing still. We have created a few hundred new jobs in the region through industrial investments. And these are jobs sporting above average pay for the sector that matters a great deal in Ida-Viru County as the oil shale sector has relatively high salaries. Why should a person want to switch to a job that pays less?

There were lengthy arguments as concerns the green turn. We laid down the goal of moving toward climate neutrality and not just as part of the EU common goal but also as a national priority. Oil shale energy in general depends on what the European Commission will decide in summer. There are a lot of question marks. Will the oil shale industry have free quotas or not? To what extent will these quotas be traded? Will they be taken off the market that would immediately hike prices and cause problems? Will oil shale energy still be competitive in terms of price? The initial indication is that shale oil production could be feasible for another 15-20 years at least. That is the hope.

A lot will depend on EU and UN climate policy. These mechanisms have finally come to life. We do not want to leave our children a polluted planet. We have not left Ida-Viru County with the healthiest environment. Personally, I cannot say whether an oil shale power generator will still be operational in 2035. It will depend on whether we will have something with which to cover peak energy consumption by then. We have no such alternative capacity today.

The public administration minister was rather unexpectedly tasked with overseeing use of money allocated for [anti-abortion] NGO March of Life (Elu Marss) last year. Do you have clarity today?

As far as I know, the matter lies in the administrative area of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It made for a serious topic during coalition talks. The problem is the entire practice of protection money (direct regional investments allocated by MPs – ed.). I do not know whether there is still a party that considers the system to be normal.

Do you?

Personally, I think it is used to support regional development, which is no bad thing from the point of view of public administration minister. Rather, the question is whether certain NGOs need to be supported. We agreed to at least analyze the system and try to render it more transparent. There are several ways one can do this, while I would refrain from going into detail. The goal is for the system not to come off as unjust and opaque.

Do I understand you correctly that allocation of funds to the aforementioned NGO has not been audited yet?

The money has not been paid out to the best of my knowledge. What comes next is up to the interior ministry as far as I’m aware.