The Association of Estonian Cities and Rural Municipalities (ELVL) submitted the proposals, while the board's chair, Tiit Terik, said: "The feedback by local governments also shows that the coronavirus pandemic has given rise to needs that were not prioritized until last year, including the remote learning of children and the ICT solutions supporting it."

October this year sees the local municipal elections.

"We're very grateful for the €30 million allocated to cities and municipalities from the supplementary state budget for this very reason; however, it is not enough for covering the cost of improvements or construction of ventilation systems in all educational establishments. We sincerely hope that support will be disbursed for that purpose also at the European level," Terik, who is also chair of Tallinn city government added.

The Ministry of Finance launched public consultations of the draft recovery plan for Estonia on May 20, which comes to a total of nearly one billion euros.

Feedback on the draft was expected by June 4.

The size of funding to be allocated to Estonia from the recovery and resilience facility is to be set in June 2022, BNS reports.

Tiit Terik said ventilation needs improving in schools in particular, based on scientific evidence that it can stem the spread of the coronavirus, while his deputy at the association, Jan Trei said that investment should go ahead on the planned central Tallinn Hospital, and towards the development of skills supporting the green turnaround.

Digital infrastructure, energy efficiency and cycle and pedestrian lane infrastructure are also worthy of further investment, the board finds.

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