By Plenary Sessions: Jaak Valge

The primary social issue is wealth inequality, which is being described as the greatest challenge of modern times. This inequality places Estonia second in the EU, just behind Cyprus. The rising inequality (where the share of net assets held by the richest 5% increased from 43.7% to 48%) is viewed as a negative consequence of the government’s economic policy.

The main social issue is immigration, regarding which strong opposition is voiced against the current policy and the proposed plan to make the quota more flexible. Particular concern is highlighted that several times more people lacking adequate language skills are entering from third countries than schools are capable of teaching Estonian to, pointing directly to integration problems.