Government of the Republic

The Government of the Republic has the executive power of the State. The definition of executive power of the State also includes a limited scope of legislative drafting and administration of justice. In order to implement laws, these must often be specified further. This is made by regulations of the Government of the Republic and the ministers. The executive power is divided between two functions: governing and administration. The Government of the Republic has the function of co-ordination and supervision of institutions of the executive power of the State.

 

The Government of the Republic is comprised of the Prime Minister and other ministers. Ministers are divided into those who run ministries (the so-called portfolio ministers) and those who do not run ministries (the so-called portfolio-less ministers). There are 12 ministers running ministries. The President of the Republic can assign up to 2 portfolio-less ministers at the suggestion of the Prime Minister. The tasks of the portfolio-less ministers are stated by an order of the Prime Minister. The tasks and competencies of the portfolio ministers are stated in the law.

 

If the Government has stepped back, then the President of the Republic must assign a candidate for the position of the Prime Minister no later than within 14 days, and give this candidate the task of establishing a new Government. The Constitution does not state the criteria for the President of the Republic to use when selecting the candidate for the position of the Prime Minister. According to the practices of a parliamentary

country, the President should assign the candidate as the leader of the political party that received the most votes at the elections or, in extreme cases, the leader of the political party among the parties having expressly declared the will to form a government coalition that received the most votes at the elections.

 

The Government assumes office by giving the oath of office before Riigikogu. From the moment of giving the oath of office, the new government incurs powers and the stepped-back government’s powers end.

Members of the Government of the Republic cannot hold any other state offices and cannot be members of the board or the council of any profit association. The Government of the Republic Act also forbids them from holding an office in a local government and from being active as an entrepreneur or from holding any other paid job. The only exception to this is that a member of the Government of the Republic is allowed to perform scientific or pedagogic work.

 

In order to administrate the various areas of government, the relevant ministries are established according to the law. A certain field of administration is assigned to every ministry and this also includes the fulfilling of government functions primarily related to the tasks of the minister as a member of the government.

A ministry is run by a minister fulfilling a double function: being a member of the Government of the Republic with the main task of political running of the State, and at the same time independently running the ministry and fulfilling the administrative function (implementation of laws, and executive / organisational activities). Only another minister can stand in for a minister.

 

State Chancellery is located at the Government of the Republic, and its main task is to serve the government – organising the document management of the government and the Prime Minister and providing technical services to them. The State Chancellery is run by the State Secretary, assigned and removed by the Prime Minister. The State Secretary is not a political official and his/her term of office is not dependant on changing of governments.