Parliament's Constitutional Committee is discussing whether to classify for 30 years all recordings and transcripts of parliamentary committee meetings, according to Eesti Ekspress.

Meetings have been recorded for years, but journalists and prosecutors have been denied access to the records, the paper reported on January 23, adding that the secrecy is currently not specified in legislation.

If passed, the motion would also ban committee members from revealing what other members had said at meetings, with only the results, not the arguments, being revealed, and that only after discussions have ended.

There would also be provision for opting not to record the proceedings at all.

Of the four parties in Parliament, only the Social Democrats have said they would want committee meetings to be open.

Head of the Constitutional Committee Rait Maruste said that the cloak of secrecy allows politicians to be more open, adding that the secrecy of committee meetings and other high-level meetings is an international norm.

ERR News