At a government press conference on Thursday, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) said that finding  €1.6 billion for national defense was currently unthinkable and that state spending needs to be looked at as a whole. Kusti Salm, who resigned from the role of Ministry of Defense Permanent Secretary over the same issue, does not believe government has given up on finding the funds, but in fact, is actively searching for ways to source them.

Quite a number of politicians have confirmed this to me, including the defense minister. I think it is now being moved forward very seriously," said Salm.

"Neither the fact that it is difficult to find this money not that it is a large amount has ever been disputed. It is the government's job to find these difficult solutions. But I have a feeling that in parallel to the need, a very creative way of doing things has been taken," Salm said.

"The need for additional resources for defense was the first piece of information that came from the defense people in the fall, and that is why we included a broad-based security tax in the national budget strategy, which will not only cover possible future defense costs but also other security costs more broadly," said Estonian Minister of Finance Mart Võrklaev (Reform).

According to Võrklaev, now that the precise amount of additional funding need for Estonia's national defense is known, preparations can be made for the state budget process and this is the time to propose and discuss firm solutions.

Isamaa chair Urmas Reinsalu, who is also a member of the Riigikogu's Foreign Affairs Committee of said the government has already dragged its feet for too long on the ammunition issue and needs to pick up the pace.

"This €1.6 billion can be found via a national defense loan and it is certainly appropriate to think about this, first of all, to make a corresponding national defense bond for domestic investors. Secondly, to certainly also ask the European Commission not to count the defense investment in the case of debt or a deficit in the state budget, which is also a possibility under the new procedure," Reinsalu said.

In an interview with ERR, Raoul Lättemäe, head of the fiscal policy department at the Estonian Ministry of Finance, questioned whether spending €1.6 billion to purchase ammunition counts as an exception to the extraordinary defense investment.

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