Ratas: Government set itself bold aims for first 100 days in office
At the government’s weekly press conference, Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center) said that his government would take up work on its main goals already in the next few months.
“The government has set bold aims for its first 100 days,” Ratas said at Thursday’s government press conference. He said that the main aims listed in the program were a strong and united Estonia, and a united Estonian people, less confrontation and inequality, and a well-protected country.
“During the first 100 days we will not only analyze, but will also take concrete steps toward meeting the government’s goals,” Ratas said, adding that the time to fulfill the tasks set for the first 100 days would run out on Mar. 3, 2017.
The prime minister said that the goal was to make the population grow, to which end the government would try and improve the incentives for people to return to Estonia, and increase the child allowance for the third child. It also wants to raise teachers’ salaries, and to secure funding for it already in the state budget for 2017.
“The second major sub-topic is increasing the society’s wellbeing and cohesion. Central to this is the tax reform,” Ratas said. He said that raising the basic exemption from €170 to €500 a month meant a gain for more than 80% of working-age residents.
The government will also continue with the project to relocate some state agencies and institutions to different counties.
“It is important to take Estonia out of economic stagnation,” Ratas stressed. He also pointed out that the government would cancel the increase of the excise duty on diesel in 2018, and make investments in collaboration with the city of Tallinn in the domains of tourism and the conference economy.
At the same time Estonia would seek to maintain a strong security posture by means of additional defense investments, Ratas said.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn
Source: BNS