Opportunities to save in the state budget
Session: 15th Estonian Parliament, 4th sitting, press briefing
Date: 2024-12-18 14:15
Participating Politicians:
Total Speeches: 10
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 14m
AI Summaries: 10/10 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
The second question in the Riigikogu addressed the state budget savings and the propagandistic and actual cuts associated with it. The first part concerned the termination of funding for the school psychologists' advisory line 1226 and the need for 30,000 euros; members of the Riigikogu raised the question of whether the funds could be found from the private sector or whether it would be subject to general savings. The discussion also referred to two bills presented by the Centre Party – on the transparency of representative expenses and the salaries of members of the Riigikogu – which were rejected in committee at the insistence of the coalition and for which documents and actual amounts were requested from the minister. The second part focused on broad-based austerity policies related to the economic crisis and regional issues, as well as the plan for special representatives and seed schools or "seed representatives," discussing their benefit to regional development and the logic of their funding.
Decisions Made 2
The government decided not to support the bill to increase the transparency of the Centre Party's representative expenses (along with the rejection voted for by the coalition in committee).
The coalition voted in committee on a bill to make representative expenses more transparent, and the Riigikogu adopted the same decision – the transparency of representative expenses and the precise accounting of expense allowances remain flexibly solvable issues at the parliamentary level.
Most Active Speaker
The most active speaker was Lauri Laats – a member of the Riigikogu, and the chairman of the Centre Party faction. Position: other.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
A member of the Riigikogu, Lauri Laats, asks the Minister of the Interior, Lauri Läänemets, about possibilities for saving in the state budget within the Prime Minister's remit.
Lauri Laats
Profiling Eesti Keskerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Lauri Laats is saddened by the termination of funding for the school psychologists' advisory helpline, emphasizes transparency of costs and salary oversight for ministers and Riigikogu members, refers to the Centre Party's representation expenses and salary proposals that were withdrawn by the coalition, and asks how much representation expenses are actually paid and whether it would be possible to achieve savings from them.
Siseminister Lauri Läänemets
AI Summary
Lauri Läänemets said that large cuts are not sensible, because they affect the average Estonian person the most, and he does not blindly support percentage-based cut decisions. He emphasized reducing bureaucracy and noted that the discussion of representational expenses must take place in Parliament, not in the government.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair thanks and invites Lauri Laats to pose a clarifying question.
Lauri Laats
Profiling Eesti Keskerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Lauri Laats accused the minister of the government and the coalition of rejecting the Centre Party's initiative to make representation expenses transparent, and the same decision was reflected in the committee and in the Estonian Parliament, and he asked the minister directly why he did not support this simple, yet important bill, citing for comparison the 253,000-euro representation expenses and the 30,000-euro cost of closing the school psychologists' advisory line, and requesting a concrete answer as to how large the minister's own monthly expenses are at 1,500 euros per month.
Siseminister Lauri Läänemets
AI Summary
Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets said that the government usually does not comment on decisions made by Parliament, and that expenses and their oversight are the Parliament’s responsibility, while discussing at the same time the possibility of bringing to the Riigikogu a system similar to a checks and commissions system, and he stressed that the Parliament’s salaries and travel allowances questions remain for the Parliament to decide.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The Speaker Lauri Hussar asked Mart Maastikut to pose an additional question.
Mart Maastik
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Mart Maastik criticizes the plan to divide Estonia into four special zones and to create seed-sowing violinists, asking whether a salary of about 62,000 euros per year for each special representative and in total about a quarter of a million euros per year with additional costs is reasonable for the state budget and what these representatives should actually be dealing with.
Siseminister Lauri Läänemets
AI Summary
Lauri Läänemets explained that the regional ministry's plan to lay off 30 people was to find funds to pay salaries and create new jobs in rural areas, in order to slow the depopulation of rural areas and the outflow of knowledge to cities, while noting that last year only about 10% of EU entrepreneurship support funds reached rural areas.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
He thanks the listeners and announces that he will conclude today's discussion of the second question.