Prime Minister Andrus Ansip's purportedly open-ended
statement that his current term as premier would be his last has been
reiterated in the context of a specific proposal.
Responding to a query from the Center Party during question hour
today, Ansip said the state-owned energy company Eesti Energia would not
be listed on the stock exchange during his time in office.
"As I
have declared that this election period will be my last in the office
of prime minister, I can confidently say that it will not be possible to
list the shares on the stock exchange in the time remaining," he said.
Ansip
first made remarks about his last term in February 2012, but questions
have been raised over whether he meant that only in a case where the
government collapsed before elections. He later made a remark that
seemed to indicate that he might prefer to retain party leadership and
take the Reform Party into new elections, which are scheduled for 2015.
On
the subject of the energy sector on Wednesday, Ansip said due diligence
would be complicated following the still-crystallizing situation on the
power market following deregulation in January.
"I am certain
that the current time is not right for listing Eesti Energia, as too
much is up in the air in the field of energy."
"What is up in the
air, exactly?" he continued. "First of all, we don't know exactly what
Eesti Energia's economic results will be in the conditions of complete
opening of the electricity market. And if we can't forecast it exactly,
we will not be able to forecast the true and fair price we want to get
for the shares from the markets."
He said the investments into
oil production were not yet generating a return, as the new plant is
currently still in testing mode.
"What the output of the plant
will be, we do not know. If we don't, it would not be the right time to
have the shares listed on the market."
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