Chamber lambasts Estonia's €100 million investment support threshold

According to the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the current economic and security situation makes the requirement for a minimum €100 million investment to qualify for large-scale investment support too high.
The government has decided to establish a €160 million support measure for the period 2025-2028 to promote large-scale investments. To qualify for support, investments must amount to at least €100 million, be export-oriented and create well-paid jobs. The first payouts are expected to be made by the state in 2026. The €160 million measure will allow for the financing of two projects per year or a total of eight large-scale investments.
According to the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the €100 million investment requirement is too high given the current circumstances. "There are few investments in Estonia that have exceeded this amount. Considering the current geopolitical situation and the European economic environment, it is unrealistic to expect a significant number of such large investments in the coming years," said Mait Palts, the chamber's director general.
He proposed significantly lowering the investment threshold to broaden the range of potential investments eligible for support. "We suggest replacing the requirement for at least a €100 million investment with a €30 million threshold in the draft regulation. We believe that even a €30 million investment qualifies as large-scale in the Estonian context," Palts said.
The chamber also suggested reconsidering the requirement to create at least 30 new jobs. "For the Chamber of Commerce, it is questionable whether it is reasonable to require the creation of at least 30 jobs to qualify for support. Given that investments of this scale are likely to involve high levels of automation and digitalization, such a requirement may not be appropriate," Palts added.
Additionally, the chamber recommended clarifying in the draft that the average salary for newly created jobs should correspond to the average salary in the respective sector, rather than the national average salary. It also proposed specifying that the salary criterion should be based on the average gross monthly salary for 30 jobs in the same sector, rather than evaluating each job individually.
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Editor: Urmet Kook, Marcus Turovski