Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets (SDE) told ERR an agreement is in place that can now be implemented.

"This means that ministries will have to come up with specific lines on exactly which cents will be taken from where," said Läänemets, who added the bill could reach the Riigikogu next week.

The minister said neither defense nor internal security will be severely impacted, however, the Ministry of the Interior will make a one-time cut of €3 million.

"There is repair fund money and maybe some smaller activities. Not everything is known exactly, but there is a general feeling. Of course, this will now have to be reviewed in more detail by the ministry. But the most important thing is that there will be no redundancies and security in Estonia will continue to be guaranteed," he said.

Läänemets gave one example of where cuts will be made: the Enterprise and Innovation Foundation (EISA). He said the cuts will have less of an impact in agencies such as these.

There will be no permanent cuts in the Ministry of Social Affairs either, he said. Those that are made will not come from pensions or support for "people who are in a weaker position, people with disabilities."

Läänemets said the government could have dealt with the 2025-2027 budget right away. "Hopefully the next discussions, which could in principle start tomorrow on the rest of the budget, can be easier," he added.

Tsahkna: There is a base cut of up to 80 percent

Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said reaching an agreement is a good thing, as just a few days ago the situation was more tense.

He said it is important that the number of cuts was not reduced and is still over €100 million.

"What was important for us was that the vast majority of this cut is a baseline cut, which means that it will be carried forward into the following years. We're just not going to do a temporary kind of Potemkin Village like we did here maybe in the past," he said.

The base cut is about 70 to 80 percent of all cuts, he said. "These numbers make it more precise, that's the task that's now been given to the finance minister and all our ministers have to do the job," said Tsahkna.

He noted that no one wants to cut defense investments and internal security, but bureaucracy must be cut in both areas.

Tsahkna said it is also important that the foundations and agencies make cutbacks. "It's about the operating costs, they've got out of hand, they haven't been looked at for years and that's the agreement we've reached today," he said.

The coalition wants to make €175 million worth of cuts to stop the deficit from rising above 3 percent of GDP, which would break the EU's budget rules.

According to the plan, part of this would come from cuts to the state and part from extraordinary dividends of state-owned companies.

The coalition wants the bill to be adopted as soon as possible, and before the summer break starts in June.

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