Estonia opposes EU protectionism bill

TALLINN - The Estonian Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs has refrained from giving support to a bill drafted by the European Parliament that would restrict non-member states' access to public procurements.

"Protectionism is not in Estonia's interest. Estonia has always supported an open economy and in our opinion imposing restrictions on third countries is unsound, Taavi Roivas, chairman of the committee, was quoted as saying by the Estonian broadcasting corporation ERR on Saturday.

The parliament committee took a decision to this affect on Friday.

Roivas said,  "We support the removal of barriers so that commerce can prosper. For that reason, Estonia does not endorse adoption of this bill."

The goal of the bill is to regulate bidders from non-EU countries who wish to participate in EU tenders, and to restrict the participation of bidders whose home countries have not opened their own tender contests to bidders from EU countries.

The bill was previously reviewed by the Estonian Parliament's committees on economy and foreign affairs, which both decided against it.

The Estonian government held the same position on the bill.