Some opposition politicians said they had not read through the entire 900-page state budget document published this week, with Isamaa chair Urmas Reinsalu describing his approach reading it as "more as a picture book, not like a storybook."

Isamaa is reproaching the government for not addressing inflation in the document. For this reason, the party is also planning to present its own "alternative" state budget this year, with the main goal of cutting administrative expenses.

"It seems to me that this budget is, in the prime minister's view, a case of 'après moi, le déluge.' Estonia's biggest ever debt burden is growing, and we can see that the government plans to scrap all domestic budgetary rules. In reality, what is foreseen is a continuing and accelerating growth of this debt burden," Reinsalu told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

As inequality between high- and low-income earners increases, the opposition Social Democrats (SDE) say, that party also plans to present its own budget. This version would scrap social benefits for the wealthier sections of society.

"The current state budget is burning up our future. It means taking out loans to direct €114 million to the wealthiest people, the top 10 percent. It's like the straw house Nif Nif built (from the Estonian version of the three little pigs – ed.), which at some point will collapse, just so that money can be briefly injected into the economy. The Bank of Estonia has warned that in a couple of years' time the deficit that is being created today will still need to be covered. That means future tax hikes, or very large cuts," SDE leader Lauri Läänemets said.

The Center Party meanwhile criticized the government for its U-turn on pledged tax changes and tax hikes more broadly.

"The VAT rate on food should have been cut to 9 percent, but there are already calculations showing that this would cost the state €390 million. I'll just provide one example: Abolishing the tax hump costs us half a billion, and we certainly believe that in this situation banks should still contribute," the party's Riigikogu faction chair Lauri Laats said. The tax hump refers to bracket creep. LINK

EKRE would cut support for Ukraine

The Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) would rather than borrow scrap major infrastructure projects, namely the Rail Baltica high-speed rail link and on- and offshore wind farm developments.

The party would also reduce its material support for Ukraine.

"During the elections a balanced budget was promised, and it was written into the coalition agreement. But the budget goes deeper into deficit each year, the debt burden increases, the loan amounts rise each year, the repayments grow every year. We are told something about cuts, but that is a pure lie, because although some expenditures are left undone, the overall spending keeps increasing," the party's chair, Martin Helme, told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

The state budget bill presented earlier this week by the Reform-Eesti 200 coalition will boost spend to €20.9 billion in 2026, a rise of over 9 percent, with almost half the funding earmarked for defense.

The state budget must pass three rounds of voting before entering law, by year-end.

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