Promise of €10 Trillion Annual Budget Sends EP Candidate Viral
It's perhaps too early to herald a second major independent contender, but at least on social media, candidate number 185, Svetlana Ivnitskaja, 57, running as an independent for one of Estonia's six MEP seats, has been making waves.
Besides promising to increase the EU's annual budget to 10 trillion euros, Ivnitskaja also said she will stand for a minimum guaranteed monthly income of 500 euros for each EU citizen.
Her video on ERR's election website, where all candidates were given a chance to be interviewed by media production students, has already been recommended on one social media network over 4,000 times; other popular candidates have garnered low double-digit figures.
She also promised to eliminate all forms of state taxation, as “tax should not be mandatory in a free society.” Although addressing funding for her ideas, Ivnitskaja, speaking in broken Estonian, did say all armed forces of the world should be disbanded.
She finished the video with a statement that work should not only bring a paycheck but also happiness, brandishing an award given to her by the Soviet Union for her efforts.