Estonian entrepreneur Urmas Sõõrumaa has withdrawn his candidacy for mayor of Tallinn, ERR reports. Earlier, Sõõrumaa proposed forming a technocratic city government that would follow guidelines from the Estonian Reform Party and the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) until the local elections in October 2025. Reform’s current coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SDE), accused Reform…
The Estonian Reform Party and the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) will topple Tallinn’s current city government next week, incumbent mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski of the Social Democratic Party (SDE) said, ERR reports. He accused Reform’s mayoral candidate, businessman Urmas Sõõrumaa, of holding token talks with other parties to obscure the party’s plan to form a new…
The free world needs a new leader, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Estonia’s former prime minister Kaja Kallas, stated, ERR reports. Reacting to an acrimonious public exchange between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in the White House on 28 February 2025, Kallas said that it was now up to Europeans to…
Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal will host a summit of Baltic rim NATO countries in Helsinki on 14 January 2025 to discuss the security of critical undersea infrastructure and Russia’s shadow fleet, ERR reports. Political leaders from all Baltic rim NATO countries, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Commission…
The Estonian government may allocate EUR 100mn to state-owned energy company Eesti Energia to speed up the construction of a new gas power plant in Narva, ERR reports. Also, the government is discussing the possible differentiation of renewable energy fees for companies and reducing network tariffs or changing electricity taxes for private consumers. The moves…
Estonia’s former president, Arnold Rüütel, died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 96, ERR reports. He will be buried with full state honours. Rüütel was born on the island of Saaremaa in 1928. He was chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in occupied Estonia in 1983-1990, chairman of the Supreme Soviet…
The Estonian government has dropped plans to impose a tax on sugary beverages, Prime Minister Kristen Michal announced, ERR reports. Health Minister Riina Sikkut said that she proposed withdrawing the proposal, noting that the coalition agreement only allowed new taxes to finance defence and security needs. Michal expressed hope that opinions on the matter would…
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal has submitted his government’s draft state budget for 2025 and budget strategy for 2025-2028 to the country’s parliament, the Riigikogu, ERR reports. According to the Ministry of Finance, budget expenses and investments will increase by 3.8% to EUR 19.1bn and revenues by 5.2% to EUR 17.7bn in 2025, ERR reported….
The Estonian government expects to raise around EUR 2.47bn of new tax revenue to finance increased defence spending by the end of 2028, the Ministry of Finance estimated, ERR reports. The new so-called broad security tax will consist of three components: increased VAT rate, rise in personal income tax, and a corporate profit tax. The…