Free Party, Reform file 31 amendments to state budget bill

The opposition Reform Party parliamentary group has filed four proposals ad the Free Party parliamentary group 27 proposals to amend Estonia's 2018 state budget bill ahead of its second reading.
The Reform Party said the aim of its proposals is to bring the budget into structural balance and a nominal surplus.
"The government lives beyond its means and spends reserves in the growth phase of the economic cycle, which is where they should be accumulated," said Reform parliamentary group chairman Jürgen Ligi. "There is also no justification for the planned fiscal deficit because it will occur as a result of administrative costs and the unproductive casting of concrete."
According to Ligi, Reform's proposed amendments to the bill total €65 million in value and will reduce the state's administrative costs to the point where there will be sustainable strucutral balance and a nominal surplus consistent with the situation of the economy.
The Free Party, currently the second biggest opposition force in the Riigikogu, said that the 27 proposals it submitted mostly involve reducing ministries' and state agencies' labor and administrative costs by €10.2 million. According to the party, their proposed amendments would save a total of €63.6 million and result in the budget running a minor surplus.
The Free Party, the second biggest opposition force, meanwhile said that the 27 proposals submitted by it are mostly about reducing the labor costs and administrative costs of ministries and state agencies by 10.2 million euros. The total cost-saving effect of the amendments is 63.6 million euros and they would result in the budget running a minor surplus, according to the Free Party.
The 2018 state budget bill passed its first reading in the Riigikogu on Oct. 18.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS