Prime minister denies giving Nordica extra funding

Estonian state-owned airline Nordica, which filed for bankruptcy at the end of last year, received a loan of €1.5 million from Kredex last spring. However, Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) denies allocating additional funds to the airline in his previous role as climate minister.
"I truly believe that Estonian taxpayers' money should no longer be spent on such non-strategic experiments," Michal said in November 2023, when he was the minister responsible for Nordica. He became prime minister in July 2024.
In 2020, the government allocated €8 million to the airline. That money was paid out in €2 million chunks by Kredex in November 2022, March 2023, and April 2023.
Newspaper Eesti Ekspress reported that Michal, as climate minister, approved another €1.5 million loan disbursement in April 2024.
In total, this means the beleaguered airline received €7.5 million in loans.
Michal has previously said Nordica did not receive extra funding from the government in 2024.
So how did the €1.5 million loan still reach the company's bank account?

The prime minister said this money was part of the agreement made in 2020, and no extra funding was allocated to the airline by the government last year.
He said Kredex made the decision to pay out the €1.5 million.
Wednesday's "Aktuaalne kaamara" reported the government could have blocked the move if it had wanted to – as it has done in other cases.
Following the broadcast, Michal clarified the process did not go through the government. He said it was more accurate to say the government did not intervene or prevent the disbursement.
"Ministers do not approve Kredex loans. This is a matter between Kredex and Nordica," he said.
However, in 2023, it was agreed to stop an additional payout when the airline, at the time managed by Jan Palmer, had fallen into deep financial trouble.
"The management board proposed taking what was essentially the final installment, having already drawn €4 million in working capital loans in March and April," said Sander Salmu, deputy secretary general at the Ministry of Climate and a member of Nordica's supervisory board.

"At that moment, the supervisory board rejected the proposal because it was clear that this money would simply run out very quickly," he explained.
Salmu said, by 2024, the company's financial situation had improved and a requested loan was granted. This information was not made public at the time.
"At that time, it was like any other borrowing obligation, negotiations with clients, negotiations with partners. At that moment, it was part of the business activity," Salmu said.
This could give the impression that the €8 million loan had already been exhausted, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.
Riigikogu Anti-Corruption Special Committee Chair Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart (Center) said she only learned of last year's loan disbursement in January.
"We also directly asked during the session whether there had been any additional decisions related to financing. And in the committee, we were assured that the government had not made these decisions, and that all recent financing decisions were made by previous governments," Kovalenko-Kõlvart said.
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Helen Wright