Michal says 20 seats would make Reform Party a political force

Estonian Prime Minister and Reform Party leader Kristen Michal said the party’s goal of winning 20 seats in the next parliamentary elections would give it a strong team to defend liberal values, ERR reported. The party set the target at a council meeting over the weekend ahead of the spring elections.

Asked on Vikerraadio’s “The Prime Minister in the Studio” programme whether 20 seats would be enough to win the election, Michal said they would allow the party to remain an influential force in Estonian politics and stand up for its beliefs.

He described the Reform Party as a strong liberal party that supports individual and economic freedoms, saying those values were not represented by the Social Democrats or conservative parties.

Michal said an income tax cut during the next term was possible, but the party would need to identify funding for it. He said the tax burden fell from 36.2 percent last year to a projected 35.2 percent next year, and that income tax was being reduced this year.

He said the government should keep defence spending at five percent and reduce the budget deficit by 0.5 percentage points a year. The government could also review public services or generate revenue from new technologies, he said. Michal declined to say how large a tax cut would be realistic, noting that the party’s election programme was still to come.

On a possible fuel excise duty increase next May, Michal said the government was monitoring global fuel markets and would consider whether it could avoid the increase. He said recent government meetings had included the Bank of Estonia, the Estonian Stockpiling Agency, a Finance Ministry representative and fuel market companies Neste and Alexela.

Michal said the country’s fuel reserves were sufficient, citing the assessment of Estonian Stockpiling Agency head Ando Leppimann.