"I stood before the Riigikogu for several hours. And I must say, the best argument against increasing the parliament's role in the budget process is five minutes of Riigikogu debate," said Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi (Reform) at a government press conference on Thursday. "The level of engagement and interest speaks against those who argue that the Riigikogu should have more influence over the budget. I have argued for many years that the political arbitrariness that dominates there does not allow for proper management of the country's finances. This is why the government is the sole body that presents the budget, and why there are provisions in the law that limit changes to the budget," he added.

According to Ligi, the questions from members of the Riigikogu did not reflect an interest in fiscal policy, but rather a desire to embed misinformation into their questions and push their own talking points. "It's actually quite depressing to look at that transcript," he remarked.

In this context, the finance minister also criticized the media for its coverage of opposition speeches: "Let's take the great Urmas Reinsalu (chairman of Isamaa), who managed to tell four lies in three minutes, and his video is front and center [in the media]. He talks about how people are becoming poorer, how the economy is declining, how administrative costs are rising and what else was there... I had actually given a presentation before that with official data and facts, including that administrative costs are decreasing, the economy is on a growth path, the worst is behind us and I also clarified the issue of poverty, explaining what has happened over the past couple of years and what will happen next year."

"But what makes the airwaves is the boasting of pompous figures about how they're not really interested in anything other than their own talking points," Ligi added.

Ligi also criticized those who accuse the budget plan of lacking transparency: "This talk of opacity has unfortunately taken over much of the budget debate and overshadowed it – ironically making less transparent the fact that our public finances are, in fact, in a tough situation. It has been allowed to run away in the shadow of just such rhetoric and, let's be honest, amidst all this pointless grandstanding."

"To suggest in this situation that the Riigikogu should have more control over the budget – I just can't bring myself to say it. And regardless of whether I'm in parliament or in government, I will say the same. The level of focus and interest is simply too low to loosen things up," the finance minister concluded.

Foreign minister backs Ligi

At the government press conference, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) expressed support for Ligi, stating that he largely agreed with the finance minister's remarks.

"The first reading of the state budget in parliament is very important in substance, but it turned out the way it did. Take Jürgen's words seriously. People need to be given a meaningful debate, not just offhanded judgments that everything is bad. Significant decisions and changes are being made with this budget – economic policy changes, cost adjustments that affect people's lives. And to claim, based on falsehoods, that everything is just getting worse, is not fair to our people," Tsahkna emphasized.

Finance committee chair: Riigikogu doesn't need to decide details

Annely Akkermann (Reform), chair of the Riigikogu Finance Committee, defended the state budget's lack of detail during ERR's "Otse uudistemajast" webcast on Wednesday, stating that the Riigikogu's role is to make decisions at a higher level of generality.

When asked by the host how a member of parliament would know the exact amount allocated to a theater, should they wish to propose redistributing the sum allocated to the Vanemuine Theater to another, Akkermann responded that the Riigikogu deals with broader decisions, while the ministry is responsible for dividing funds between theaters. She argued that this is the better option, as specialists familiar with the sector work in the ministry.

"The minister develops the rules for how state support is distributed between performing arts institutions. A methodology is agreed upon for how the allocation is handled," Akkermann explained, adding that such decisions shouldn't be brought to the Riigikogu level because parliament doesn't have the capacity to make decisions at that level of detail.

"There is no such expertise in the Riigikogu. Parliament can still oversee the broader picture – what our budget position is, how large social benefits are, how much we spend on defense and how much on the economy," she concluded.

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