President Meri pointed out: ''When this question is taken up in public we often see attempts to depict the criminogenic situation in Estonia as an opposite to the European legal order. Alas, the fact of the matter is that the Federal Republic of Germany, for instance, reports 51,000 people serving their sentences in prison more than ever before and this is the inescapable price for the abolition of totalitarianism.''
The President realizes that the parliament has made this unpopular decision in the year leading up to the next general election, and he highly appreciates the readiness of MPs to place the interests of the state on this issue, particularly painful for Estonia, above the interests of their political parties.
''Today's decision of the Riigikogu is a step towards European juridical values. A legal order based on these values commits the state to granting the safety of the people and assistance to victims,'' the President stated.
Press Service of the President's Office
Kadriorg, 18 March 1998
