The Isamaa chair made his remarks in the wake of Prime Minister Kristen Michal's call earlier this week for NATO member states to boost defense spending to as much as 5 percent of GDP per year.

However, Reinsalu said that focusing on percentages was not the way to go.

"I believe our starting point should not be operating with percentage figures as the basis for our thinking," Reinsalu told ERR.

"Our starting point during this critical time should be to develop our military capabilities, based on the advice of the Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces," he went on.

The Reform-SDE-Eesti 200 government had ignored such advice when it came, in the summer of 2023, to procure additional ammunition and capabilities, Reinsalu added.

"We expressed our concern about this," he went on.

"In 2024, we saw that same level of ambition not being achieved. Even the secretary general at the Ministry of Defense, Kusti Salm, resigned in protest," Reinsalu said.

"We also submitted our proposals for the 2025 budget, including a proposal to revise the 2025-2028 state budget strategy, which the coalition then voted down."

Such proposals continue to be dismissed down to the present, the Isamaa chair said.

"Even just yesterday (Tuesday – ed.), an Isamaa proposal was under discussion to procure critically needed ammunition reserves within four years, instead of seven," he continued.

"We also proposed sources of funding, including defense bonds and the creation of an option to use EU structural funds for one-off defense investments. The government did not support this."

"The government representative stated that Isamaa's proposals conflict with the European economic governance regulation and so cannot be supported," Reinsalu added.

At the same time, Reinsalu said that Isamaa supports all and any steps necessary to enhance defense capability at critical times, provided their basis is assessments from Estonia's military leadership.

But leadership, not from the military but from the politicians in office, has been wanting here, Reinsalu said.

"I have had to make some serious criticisms, as I absolutely cannot accept this kind of 'casual leadership culture' and misleading the public on our national defense issues."

"The public has been repeatedly misled by representatives of this and the previous government," he went on, referring to the coalitions headed by Kristen Michal and before that Kaja Kallas, starting spring 2023.

"Representatives of the governing coalition have repeatedly confirmed that they are acting in full accordance with the commander of the EDF's military advice. [Yet] this morning, I hear that the advice given by that EDF commander in the autumn was entirely different," he continued.

"Then this casually slipped-in reference to 5 percent, in this context, in my view, does not reflect mature leadership," Reinsalu added.

As for funding sources, Reinsalu said there needs to be a clear understanding of how the money will be used.

He said he supported both defense bonds and taking out a defense loan, as well as relaxing the European Commission's budget rules to allow defense spending to exceed permitted limits.

However, Reinsalu said that the government itself has told him that Estonia cannot even begin a dialogue with the European Commission on the use of EU funds, since these funds have already been allocated.

"For me, this situation is, at the moment, paradoxical," the Isamaa leader went on.

"I am seeing that priorities cannot be clearly defined, while earlier decisions cannot be adjusted accordingly," Reinsalu continued.

Another way in which defense spending could be funded is by abandoning the removal of the income tax hump, a key Reform policy referring to the removal of "bracket creep."

"This is the political fixation of one parliamentary party, which has destabilized the entire tax environment," the Isamaa leader concluded.

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