Former Finance Minister Maris Lauri of the Reform Party believes that once the negative supplementary budget is approved, politicians will have to get to work on next year's budget.

"We should not wait until the summer is over," Lauri said. "I think these decisions will have to be made in early August. Because whatever these decisions are, they may mean changes in the law, and that means that these laws also have to be prepared."

The most important budgetary decisions are usually made in September. The summer economic forecast is usually ready by the end of August or the beginning of September, and by law the draft state budget must be submitted to parliament by the end of September.

In between these two events, it has been the custom for many years for the government to meet in a rural setting, usually Vihula or Sagadi, where the more complex issues are resolved.

The finance minister also wants agreements to be reached sooner.

Finance Minister Võrklaev hopes that this year's process will be slightly different. He agrees with his party colleague Lauri that not all decisions can be left until September.

"I think we need to make certain framework decisions sooner, because we can see that we still have a very large deficit in the budget," said Võrklaev, explaining what he means by framework decisions: "We need to agree politically in the coalition what our future fiscal choices will be and how much we are prepared to cut from the budget and from which areas in principle."

According to Võrklaev, on the basis of these agreements in principle, the ministries could already prepare more concrete changes. But the final decisions should be made in September – when everyone has seen the summer forecast.

"Speaking from the past, to a certain extent, either positive or negative, but this forecast always surprises us," Võrklaev said.

He did not say when exactly these important decisions would be taken. "We have to coordinate this with the coalition partners," he said. "For me, the sooner the better. And that's why we've been having these discussions since the beginning of the year."

In this context, the Finance Minister referred to the monthly meetings between the coalition partners, which he said had been very useful. "These earlier discussions were a good input for us to prepare a negative supplementary budget," Võrklaev said.

"Perhaps we had negotiated certain issues and were able to move forward more quickly with the supplementary budget process because the wishes or readiness of the coalition partners were more or less known."

Vihula race cancelled

Võrklaev said that the regular meetings must continue, and this, he said, is also linked to another change: the usual budget outing will be cancelled this year.

"We are not going to Vihula," Võrklaev said. "We've been doing this budget process in the capital since the beginning of the year, and we're probably going to stay here. I believe that times have changed, with the budget process no longer being a pleasant or semi-parliamentary gathering in a rural manor to discuss how we can spend, but rather requiring us to put in the real work and assemble the budget. This process needs to be a little longer and more prepared."

Võrklaev emphasized that, from Estonia's perspective, the discussion of budget issues is not the primary concern. Instead, he believes that we need to change the process and reach agreements gradually.

"Neither the politicians nor the public will experience the stress of reaching quick agreements in that way," he said.

Võrklaev declined to comment on how much last fall's criticism played a role in this decision.

"I don't know that it would have made sense in the past to do these things in a mansion," he said. "It was a certain practice that was carried over from government to government. I don't see it as adding any significant value."

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