Eesti põhiseadus ja Eesti Panga pädevusega seotud õigusküsimused

Abstract

Ilmar Selge's article discusses legal issues related to the competence of Eesti Pank: what is the competence of Eesti Pank provided for in the Constitution and its meaning in the current Estonian legal order, and how should the provisions of the Constitution concerning Eesti Pank be interpreted within the framework of the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union?
The institutional, functional independence of Eesti Pank and the personal and financial independence of the members of its decision-making bodies cannot be achieved without legislative powers and the right to issue regulations, i.e. the right to issue general legal acts binding on third parties. If Eesti Pank were to request that the legal acts necessary for the performance of its tasks arising from the European System of Central Banks be issued by the Government of the Republic or the Minister of Finance, representing the executive power, this would not be in accordance with the fundamental European principles of the independence of the central bank of a Member State of the European Union, and Eesti Pank would become dependent on the Government of the Republic or the Minister of Finance in the field of legislation. Therefore, the article takes the position: if the Riigikogu, as the legislator, decides that the right to issue legal acts needs to be delegated to Eesti Pank in an appropriate enabling provision, this is a question of the expediency of the law in order to ensure Eesti Pank's independence in a similar way to the European Central Bank. Since, according to Section 112 of the Constitution, Eesti Pank operates on the basis of law and reports to the parliament or Riigikogu, the decision to delegate legislative powers to Eesti Pank falls within the decision-making competence of the Riigikogu.

Keywords: Constitution, European Union law, European Central Bank, European System of Central Banks, Eesti Pank, legislation.