Parempoolsed suggests expanding conscription to include women, cutting taxes

In a governance plan sent to the Reform Party and Eesti 200 as inspiration while they draw up a new coalition deal, the nonparliamentary Parempoolsed has proposed expanding mandatory military service — or conscription — to all citizens, including women. The party is also calling for several taxes to be lowered or repealed altogether.
"Mandatory and manageable military service must be established for all citizens in order to systematically prepare the entire population to prevent and handle war and crisis situations," Parempoolsed stated in its governance plan.
Currently, male Estonian citizens become subject to conscription at the age of 17, when they are entered as call-up selectees in Estonia's national defense obligation register. Men are called to serve conscription between the ages of 18-27, inclusive. Women aged 18-27 with at least a basic education are eligible to volunteer for conscription as well.
Among its other ideas, Parempoolsed also proposed lowering the income tax to 18 percent and value-added tax (VAT) to 20 percent to encourage working, saving and investment. A party representative noted that these tax cuts are feasible, and that the party has already calculated the cost to the state budget involved.
The nonparliamentary party further suggested capping the social tax at four times the average wage, as well as repealing the car tax, excise hikes and other increased burdens, which would leave more money in people's pockets.
Other suggestions included in the Parempoolsed governance plan include increasing copays, doing away with national-level teacher salary negotiations between unions and the Ministry of Education and Research, and introducing partial tuition in higher education.
In the social welfare system, Parempoolsed believes the automatic indexation of expenditures including pensions should be discontinued, citing a need for a thorough reform of the pension system and a shift from solidarity toward greater personal responsibility.
In the most recent Riigikogu elections in 2023, Parempoolsed earned 2.3 percent of the vote, falling short of the 5 percent election threshold. Support for the nonparliamentary party is currently polling between 5.6 (Norstat) and 8.5 percent (Kantar Emor).
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Editor: Aili Vahtla