Politics
Session: 15th Riigikogu, 5th sitting, press briefing.
Date: 2025-03-19 14:40
Participating Politicians:
Total Speeches: 15
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 13m
AI Summaries: 15/15 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
Riigikogu member Urmas Reinsalu posed questions to Prime Minister Kaja Kallas regarding national defense policy and the disregard for the advice of the Defence Forces Commander. Reinsalu focused on two main topics: the failure to take into account the Defence Forces Commander’s recommendations (regarding capability development) presented in September 2024 in the 2025 budget strategy, and the postponement of the development of anti-drone capabilities. Reinsalu referred to claims made by former minister Lauri Läänemets, stating that the government deemed the September plans financially unfeasible, and quoted the Defence Minister Pevkur’s 2023 response, in which drones were considered "relatively slow and detectable even with the naked eye." Reinsalu accused the government of political timidity.
Prime Minister Kallas rejected Läänemets’s claims, describing them as emotional and embellished memories. Kallas emphasized that government decisions, including the recent goal of raising defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2026, are based on the advice of the Defence Forces Commander. She sharply criticized the Isamaa party and Reinsalu, accusing them of diminishing Estonia's national defense and engaging in public “mud-slinging” that damages Estonia’s reputation and suppliers. In a follow-up question, Helir-Valdor Seeder criticized Kallas for focusing on percentages and posed a series of specific questions about increasing actual capabilities (wartime structure, territorial defense equipment, halting the departure of active-duty personnel). Kallas responded critically to Seeder as well, accusing Isamaa of inconsistency: first criticizing financial decisions, then arguing that money isn’t even needed, but rather internal organization needs to be addressed. At the end of the session, Seeder posed a procedural question, requesting the chair to reprimand the Prime Minister for misrepresenting the positions of Isamaa, which the chair rejected.
Decisions Made 1
Decisions were not made.
Most Active Speaker
Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa) was very active, posing sharp and detailed questions to the prime minister regarding the government's inaction in considering the Defence Forces' recommendations, particularly concerning anti-drone measures. He represented the opposition's critical position.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair announces that we move on, and the fourth question is also for Prime Minister Kristen Michal; Urmas Reinsalu asks it, and the topic is politics.
Urmas Reinsalu
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Urmas Reinsalu raised questions in his speech to the government and the Minister of Defence as to why the Chief of Defence Forces' advice on developing a counter-drone capability has not yet been taken into account, and why funding and the timetable have been postponed, undermining the broad consensus on Estonia's military defence capability.
Peaminister Kristen Michal
AI Summary
Prime Minister Kristen Michal said that he would not comment on a single sentence from a three-page letter and understands the emergence of Lauri Läänemetsa's memories and emotions, and he confirmed that the government's additional defence procurement decisions have been based on the Defence Forces' advice, and he called on Isamaa to refrain from devaluing national defence.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair, Lauri Hussar, thanks and asks Urmas Reinsalu to pose a clarification question.
Urmas Reinsalu
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Urmas Reinsalu accuses the government of a lack of political leadership in the defense sector, emphasizes the issue of acquiring a drone-defense capability and the non-reflection of the 2023–2024 recommendations in the 2025–2028 budget, and notes that the development of national defense is mostly the result of civil servants' work, not the result of government leadership.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
They emphasize that now is your time.
Urmas Reinsalu
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Reinsalu points out that there is a problem with it, Mr. Michal.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The Speaker Lauri Hussar thanks and asks the Prime Minister.
Peaminister Kristen Michal
AI Summary
Prime Minister Kristen Michal said that Estonia will increase defence spending to at least 5% of GDP by 2026, in accordance with the Chief of the Defence Forces' recommendation, to ensure the state's security and public trust, and to avoid demeaning the reputation of the state or the defence sector, emphasising the need to read the Defence Minister's letter and to ask him for clarification.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The chair thanks and gives colleague Helir-Valdor Seeder the opportunity to pose an additional question.
Helir-Valdor Seeder
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Helir-Valdor Seeder emphasizes that the enemy fears not percentages but real capabilities, and poses concrete questions for improving national defence: when to increase the Defence Forces' wartime structure, to outfit the territorial defence personnel and supply communications equipment, to strengthen leadership and logistics, to halt the premature departure of active-duty personnel, to restore SISAK's competitiveness, and to implement the necessary reforms in the internal national defence arrangement.
Peaminister Kristen Michal
AI Summary
Prime Minister Kristen Michal accused Isamaa of an attack on defense procurement on accounting grounds, stressing that Estonia's defense spending has risen above 5% of GDP and could rise further, and urged Isamaa to stop discussing internal affairs and to turn to the relevant authorities.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
Chairman Lauri Hussar thanks the prime minister, ends the fourth question, and before starting the fifth question he draws Seedri's attention to the fact that the topic is 'Politics', and notes that Helir-Valdor Seeder has a question about the procedure for conducting the meeting.
Helir-Valdor Seeder
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Summary: The speech focuses on procedure and emphasizes the chair's duty to call the prime minister to order, whose claim was that defence funding is unnecessary, because thousands of people monitor the information briefing.
Esimees Lauri Hussar
AI Summary
The Speaker stressed that the purpose of the information hour is to allow members of the Riigikogu to pose questions to members of the government and to receive answers to them, not to conduct a thorough fact-check between the chair of the session and the members.