The extent to which the Social Democrats are dominating in the government, despite their mandate being far weaker than the Reform Party's, is worrying. How to clear the pink mist being thrown up by the man in the red tie?

The political theater where the Social Democrats are playing a cynical game of roulette with Estonia's national security for the Russian community's vote at local elections is tragic and unpleasant to watch. Their calculation is simple: you get to vote for Putin and the only thing we want in return is for you to vote SDE at locals.

Revoking the right to vote [in local elections] of Russian citizens is not yet a done deal, looking at recent statements from different parliamentary parties. A massive circus has been built up around this important security matter. The Social Democrats' purpose in trying to include stateless persons in the Constitution is to derail the revocation process as a whole.

The duo of Jevgeni Ossinovski and Eduard Odinets seems to have full control of [party leader] Lauri Läänemets, while the latter in turn dictates coalition cooperation, as evidenced in the same pattern repeating itself time and again, with Reform and Eesti 200 on one side and SDE stubbornly on the other.

Why and for how much longer will society be forced to put up with the Social Democrats' agenda?

Childish and obvious ploy for votes

It is clear that the Social Democrats need to pull out all the stops with little heed to the consequences, as the party's rating is tanking, which has caused in-house restlessness. Involving the Centrists has paid little dividend, and SDE are now clinging to the only card they still have to play – the voting rights of stateless persons.

The Social Democrats have also set the goal of engaging in "mentality control" in the face of upcoming local elections, even though a child could understand that any attempt to control how people think is unconstitutional and will never fly.

Their crocodile tears over potential constitutional infringement were the voting rights of Russian citizens simply revoked, which several well-known legal experts have recommended, come off especially hypocritical in this light.

Unsurprisingly, the Social Democrats have been too busy coming up with political trickery to make real grassroots efforts to improve life and take responsibility for it.

By the way, America's most famous social democrat Bernie Sanders recently scolded the Democratic Party over their staggeringly convincing defeat caused by forgetting about what social democracy stands for. Perhaps it would do our Social Democrats good to also reflect on this criticism.

Headlessness in healthcare

Under the stewardship of SDE's Health Minister Riina Sikkut, the only solution found to the deficit in the healthcare sector was dipping into government reserves. It is surprising how the decision flew largely under the radar even in the media. While Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi (Reform) initially opposed the plan, suggesting that the sector needs to be cut instead, it was still decided to cover the hole in funding using €167 million from the reserves a few days later.

It comes off as another case of the Social Democrats simply putting their foot down and the rest of the coalition caving under the pressure. Where now is Jürgen Ligi's much-touted courage and honesty? Where is the Reform Party's statesmanlike character in allowing such chaos?

The Riigikogu is deliberating amendments to the Income Tax Act and Military Service Act in which the government initially proposed expanding the list of services where employers are exempt from having to pay fringe benefit tax. The plan was simple: if our healthcare system is not functioning properly, employers need to be given additional tax breaks for investing in their employees' health.

But an amendment proposal sent from the Ministry of Social Affairs to the chair of the Riigikogu Finance Committee now reveals that the ministry has changed its mind and wants to rework the list of services once more. The question now is whether their coalition partners will once more bashfully cater to the Social Democrats' whims.

Is going back on prior agreements really the government's only policy?

With silent consent from the rest of the ruling coalition, the Social Democrats have been allowed, both in the recent coalition agreement and in earlier governments, to meddle where they shouldn't. For example, minimum wage talks have traditionally been an agreement between unions and employers in which political forces have not intervened. For some reason, the Social Democrats do not hold the professional associations capable of making independent decisions and are aggressively meddling in the talks for the second time.

No tax peace in sight

Despite the coalition's promise of ensuring a so-called tax peace, SDE's Minister of Regional Affairs Piret Hartman is looking for ways to introduce local taxes. The minister has tasked officials with brainstorming proposals for new taxes with the potential of solving local level problems. Examples include a tourism and real estate tax, toleration and development fees etc.

One cannot help but suspect that the coalition is secretly continuing its search for new taxes.

Siim Kallas, the first chairman of the Reform Party, recently said that returning to corporate tax was a mistake. This is yet another project we can attribute to the Social Democrats, while the entire coalition participated. The question of why is the Reform Party putting up with such brash violations of what has traditionally been its policy remains. It really is a mystery.

It might be time to recall the Reform Party's abstract on the Riigikogu website. "The Estonian Reform Party group is right-centrist and proceeds in its policy from the liberal ideology, emphasizing the central role of low taxes and greater personal, market and entrepreneurial freedoms in the development of the country."

Meanwhile, the Social Democrats' vision for kickstarting the economy and governance in general seems to boil down to more taxes.

Reform Party, are you truly willing to trade your principles for political pocket change and a comfortable term in office? Are said principles even there anymore?

I would add that the Reform Party has not fully realized that [the government's] recent policy is not just undermining the situation of a few groups in society, but, as pointed out by Rein Lang, for as long as the man in the red tie (and I do believe he meant Lauri Läänemets and not Donald Trump) is dictating the political narrative, sensible decisions will not be seen in any walk of life.

Talking to entrepreneurs, I get a sense of depression, fear and hopelessness. Actors, hotels and restaurants have already been out to protest. The coming months will show whether pressure to save what can still be saved will build in the Reform Party, or whether Estonia will be drowned in a swamp of pink mist.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!