Estonia’s national-conservative opposition party, Fatherland (Isamaa), continued as the country’s most popular political party in December 2025, according to Kantar Emor’s latest poll, ERR reports. Support for Fatherland stood at 24%, which was down from 26% in January 2025. Left-of-centre opposition Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) came second with 21% (13%), followed by opposition Social Democratic…
The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, has rejected the opposition Estonian Centre Party’s (Keskerakond) proposal to lower the VAT on basic food products to 9%, ERR reports. No MPs voted against the proposal, but 42 MPs, mostly from the ruling coalition, abstained. Under the proposal, the VAT on specific categories of food, including vegetables and dairy,…
The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, has approved the state budget for 2026 with 51 MPs voting for and 37 against, ERR reports. The government estimates annual budget revenue at EUR 18.6bn and expenditure at EUR 19.5bn. Investments will total EUR 1.3bn, which will be 45% more than in 2025. Then government expects tax revenues to…
The Estonian government’s job approval continued to be dismal in November 2025, according to the latest Norstat poll for the Institute for Societal Research (YI), ERR reports. Only 28% of eligible voters think that the government is doing a good job, while 66% think that the government is doing its job poorly. Prime Minister Kristen…
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna panned comments by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel who implied that the Baltic States and Poland bore indirect responsibility for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, ERR reported. Tsahkna said that the reason for Russia’s aggression lies in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “inability to come to terms with the collapse of the…
Estonian President Alar Karis has asked the Supreme Court to declare proposed amendments to the law regulating religious organisations unconstitutional, ERR reports. Earlier, the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, passed a law to curb the influence of foreign organisations on churches in Estonia. There are concerns over the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church’s (EKÕK) canonical ties to…
MPs from two parties in Estonia’s current coalition government have drafted a bill to cut the gambling tax, ERR reports. The group of MPs from the Estonian Reform Party and Estonia 200 proposed cutting the gambling tax by 0.5 percentage points every year to 4% by 2029. They argued that the tax cut could, in…
Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) checked around 2,000 bank statements without legal authority, Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise announced, ERR reports. FIU had obtained full bank statements via the data exchange layer connected to the enforcement register, whereas the law only allows FIU access to basic information about bank accounts. FIU told ERR that it…
The Baltic States are disappointed that the UK failed to invite them to a summit of European leaders on the war in Ukraine on 2 March 2025, Sky News reports. A diplomatic source said that the Baltic States were “truly unhappy,” noting that Russia’s leaders and the Baltic public would assess that the US, UK,…