Estonia is set to slash planned defense spending by more than €100 million compared to the current Defense Forces development plan and the previous state budget strategy (RES). Total defense spending will remain above 2 percent of GDP.
Defense spending will be reduced by €114 million compared to the current Defense Forces development plan and defense investments program (KIP), Minister of Defense Kalle Laanet (Reform) said at a press conference on Tuesday. While the 2022 defense budget is bigger by €59.4 million compared to this year s, it falls €16.6 million short of what was prescribed in the previous government s fiscal strategy. The gap between recent plans and the new RES will grow in future years.
Former Ministry of Defense undersecretary and current Estonian ambassador to the United States Kristjan Prikk spoke to ERR s Toomas Sildam about the pains, gains, connections and backgrounds of national defense. He also spoke on the decision to cut the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) orchestra.
You graduated from University of Tartu with a degree in political sciences, have worked as an official in the defense and foreign affairs ministries and in the State Chancellery. How interesting has Estonian politics been for you?
Politics - what is happening in society - has always interested me. And there have certainly been more colorful times and more boring times in Estonian politics.
Minister of Defense Kalle Laanet (Reform) admitted that there are too many documents labeled "information intended for internal use" (AK) in the Estonian public sector and he would be opposed to extending the classification of documents indefinitely.
While the state budget strategy for 2022-2025, which austerity measures totaling cuts of €61 million in a year, may have passed government approval this week, the document is interim in nature and unlikely to form a solid basis for government activities going forward, senior ERR journalists Anvar Samost and Toomas Sildam say. For these cuts to total €61 million in a year seems artificial and pointless in the extreme, Anvar Samost said Sunday afternoon, appearing on regular head-to-head politics radio talk show Samost ja Sildam . The whole effort undertaken in order to demonstrate how swingeing the cuts are is a type of self-delusion, regardless of which side of things the government looks at. As former long-term prime minister and former Reform Party chair Andrus Ansip told ERR yesterday, this €60 million in cuts will not affect the bigger picture, and there is no point talking about a balanced budget, he went on.
A NATO naval sea mines countermeasures group has arrived in Tallinn, ahead of an operation taking place next week.
Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One (SNMCMG1) , which Estonia takes part in, is due to start with operation Open Spirit next week. The operation will further work already done on clearing up aging sea mines and any other ordnance to be found in Estonia s waters.
The group s commander, Lt. Cdr Jan Wijchers, said: The annual Operation Open Spirit is crucial in getting rid of all the historical explosives from sea conflict on the Baltic, and to help reduce threats to fishing, shipping lanes and the environment.