Speaking about the €1.6 billion needed for ammunition requested by the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), Kaljulaid said that as far as he knows, no one doubts it.

"Let us recall that this issue has in fact been under discussion for a long time. And last spring, the Riigikogu's National Defense Committee examined the military advice of the chief of the Defense Forces, which talked about this need for ammunition. I do not recall that anyone then questioned the need for the Estonian Defense Forces to have a critical ammunition stock," he told the show on Wednesday.

"As a member of the National Defense Committee, it's very easy for me to say find the money, but for the people who are negotiating the budget today, it's a much more complex issue."

Kaljulaid hopes, that one way or another, the necessary money will be found.

"This issue is being resolved because, while of course all areas are important – we have a lot of things in the social sphere, in health, in education, that need to be funded and where there are gaps and where there are problems – unfortunately, security is something that is an existential question for the survival of the state," the MP said.

Of course, it is difficult to find these funding sources, to agree on them and to explain to society why this is necessary, he added.

Kaljulaid also proposed to improve inter-institutional cooperation in the field of defense.

"We know that the government has received, in addition to this specific information on munitions, an overview of NATO's expectations of Estonia. This has not actually been seen by the Defense Committee today either. Here, the Ministry of Defense, the Defense Forces and the leadership of the National Defense Commission should think about how to coordinate these things better," he pointed out.

Sessions did not take place in the Riigikogu over the summer, but meetings will begin again shortly.

"It cannot be the case that the members of the National Defense Committee, at the invitation of the Estonian Public Broadcasting, comment on papers they have not seen themselves," Kaljulaid added.

Earlier this week, Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces Brig. Gen. Andrus Merilo told the government Estonia needs to spend €1.6 billion worth of ammunition to stop a future war taking place on its soil. 

For Estonia to implement NATO's force capability goals, defense spending would need to rise to 5 percent of GDP, Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur said.

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