Head of Center ministers prefers current coalition
Head of the Center Party's government delegation, Minister of Public Administration Jaak Aab said that he prefers to continue in the current coalition with the Reform Party and would not like to see extraordinary elections.
"To me, the political reality suggests we should try and stick with the current coalition as there is relatively little time left until regular elections – just ten months," Aab said on the "Terevisioon" morning show on Friday.
Asked how he feels about the possibility of extraordinary elections, Aab said he would not like to see them. "I believe it is not a good plan now and that we should rather concentrate on the difficult matters on the table. Attention will shift elsewhere during elections campaigning – parties will be concentrating on elections and the focus of debate will move."
Aab emphasized on numerous occasions that Center wants more attention paid to social topics and would not rule out borrowing to finance benefits and price alleviation.
He said that the recently passed supplementary budget largely failed to address subsistence issues. "I would have liked to see price advance and especially energy price hikes paid more attention. It is clear what will happen come fall," Aab suggested.
Asked how to fund bigger social spending, Aab pointed to the possibility of loans. "In situations where countries need to contribute more to society, they do it by borrowing. All countries are either lowering taxes or using support schemes," he said. The minister suggested that Estonia seems to be behind the curve – looking on but doing nothing.
Talking about loans more specifically, Aab emphasized that Estonia's fiscal situation is still very good and loan burden low.
Aab said that the government is working and that the main conflicts and dissatisfaction with the current situation are in the party board and Riigikogu.
"Whether the government will continue greatly depends on political will," he suggested.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski