Analysis: Decision-Makers Tend to Jump the Gun
Those making big decisions in Estonia have often been pressed for time, but that does not excuse recklessness, said Auditor General Alar Karis in his annual address to Parliament today.
"Decisions have often had to be made quickly, without spending enough time on evaluating potential consequences, broad-based discussions or coordination of activities," Karis said.
"Not always, especially in recent years, has external pressure been behind these hurried and ill-considered decisions, but often it was an unwillingness and inability to thoroughly examine matters," Karis said.
Furthermore, Karis said, decision-makers don't have a holistic and systematic program for developing Estonia, due to which the average person may not feel that reforms have improved the quality of life.
"We can increasingly sense in society an expectation that the patience and austerity exhibited in the toughest part of the economic crisis will be converted into a tangible improvement in quality of life, and not in the vague and distant future, but in the coming years," Karis said.
"In order for Estonia's essential decisions to be made and carried out, there needs to be a broad-based agreement: on one hand there needs to be a willingness to publicly admit to problems and failures; on the other hand there needs to be a constructive tone, to focus this energy on cooperating to find the best solutions, rather than whacking away at others and focusing on trivial details, thereby further increasing the rift in society between expectations and reality," Karis said.