Summary

The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia provides parliamentary and judicial control over the executive powers to ensure the separation and balance of powers. Also, the institutions of the National Audit Office and Chancellor of Justice have been established. This ensures external control according to the Constitution. Likewise, the Government of the Republic Act and the Local Government Organisation Act foresee official supervision. The Civil Service Act governs disciplinary liability, and intra-administrative administrative supervision was established as a new institution with the Law Enforcement Act. Internal auditing and control are also already widely known. Also, the Anti-Corruption Act, with its obligation to submit declarations, is intended to rule out a conflict of interest among officials, and the Penal Code, with its provisions on offences relating to office, to ensure their law-abiding behaviour.
However, it should be asked whether the internal control of executive power is a consistent system without any gaps in today’s Estonia, the individual components of which complement and empower one another to ensure that the principles of the rule of law are followed and fundamental rights are protected.
The article initially provides a brief explanation of the nature, objective and constitutional background of control. Secondly, its possible types are listed. The article mainly focuses on a more detailed approach to the two special types of control over executive power, supervisory control and administrative control, in Estonian law. Brief references to German law are used to illustrate the problems and questions. Due to the volume of the article being limited, it does not constitute conclusive coverage of the issue, but only a brief mapping of the main complicated issues to be further developed in the future.