Analyses into the effect of moving the academy on the quality of its instructional work were currently being carried out, Ratas said in the Riigikogu on Wednesday. Work groups had been put in place, and they were looking into it.

The Ministry of the Interior has introduced three possible solutions to the question. The first would mean building the academy’s new main campus in Narva instead of Tallinn, as previously planned. There would be facilities for up to 850 cadets. This would mean maintaining the academy’s training center in Väike-Maarja in Lääne-Viru County, while the current training grounds in Paikuse close to the city of Pärnu would be closed. This would cost some €63 million euros.

The second option is already considerably smaller, with a campus to be built for some 700 cadets while keeping both the facilities in Väike-Maarja and Paikuse open. This option would cost about €36 million.

The third option calls for the establishment of a center for only practical instruction of about 100 cadets in Ida-Viru County, while the academy’s main campus would remain in Tallinn. This would mean keeping Väike-Maarja as well as Paikuse open.

Other opinions in the government

Minister of Justice Urmas Reinsalu (IRL) has repeatedly said that the costs of keeping the facilities in Tallinn open and renovating them would also be high, so any option including the current status quo was necessarily more expensive than it appeared if only looking at the cost of a new campus in Narva.

Minister of the Interior Andres Anvelt (SDE) has said that the move could easily become too costly, and that more feasible solutions should be given preference. This opinion notwithstanding, Anvelt’s party, the Social Democrats, recently voted in favor of moving the bulk of the academy to East Estonia.