Summary

The limits of tolerance of health care systems is not the only area that the global triumph of the corona virus has put to the test. The fight against COVID-19, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11 March 2020, requires extraordinary measures from state authorities. Authority of the state, which has remained in the background in democratic countries for decades, has now been called upon to take decisive measures for the protection of the public health. An emergency situation has been declared in several countries, including Estonia, to battle the disease or at least slow its spread. The emergency situation provides authorities with unique means to effectively combat the exceptional threat, including the right to restrict people’s freedoms and functioning of a democratic state to an unusually broad extent. Implementation of social distancing rules by states as a necessary move to prevent the spread of COVID-19 brings about bans on free movement and meetings, and the need for quick political decisions may limit the participation of the Parliament in the decision-making process and reduce the role of the opposition as a watchdog on democracy.

A watchful eye that assesses the legal framework of emergency situations and the appropriateness and moderateness of each measure is not a motion of censure against Estonia, but a contribution towards the functioning of the constitutional order of the State. The objective of emergency situations provided for in the Constitution is to protect the constitutional order. The aim of each emergency situation is to return to the pre-crisis situation of peace under the customary democratic governance. Only this objective gives the executive power the right to combat the threat with measures that do not require prior approval by a legislator authorised by the people.