Reform Party chairman and Second Vice-President of the Riigikogu Hanno Pevkur has hired former Reform minister Rein Lang as his adviser. The decision was criticized by fellow opposition members right after it was announced, as Lang will work on Reform’s platform for the 2019 elections, not for the benefit of the national parliament.
Rein Lang, who was foreign minister under Juhan Parts as well as minister of justice and later minister of culture under Andrus Ansip, will receive a salary from the Chancellery of the Riigikogu, since Pevkur hired him in his function as the national parliament’s deputy president.
As Pevkur said on January 3, Lang’s “rich political experience” will help the Reform Party in its preparations for the coming election campaign. “It is clear that the people’s expectations are growing every day to the Reform Party’s winning back the responsibilities of government,” Pevkur said. “We need to work hard to justify these expectations, and we have to do this with the best possible team.”
Chairman of the Free Party Artur Talvik wrote on social media on January 3 evening that he doesn’t agree with the premises under which Lang was hired. “Lang getting a salary from the Riigikogu chancellery. Wow! To write Ref’s platform. Wow!” Talvik wrote.
The Riigikogu’s deputy president should deal with the Riigikogu’s affairs, and any adviser to him should work on the same, Talvik added.
VES/ERR News
