Ministry: Estonia's limit is up to 156 migrants in 2 years

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Estonia is capable of accepting from 84 to 156 migrants in two years, it appears from a memorandum of the Interior Ministry drawn up on the basis of analyses conducted by several government ministries.

This is almost ten times less than the tentative quota for Estonia published by the European Commission.

The numbers put forward by the Interior Ministry are based on the assumption that the number of migrants to be accepted must be consistent with Estonia's capabilities, considering that Estonia's population makes up 0.26 percent of the EU population and the country's GDP makes up 0.14 percent of total EU GDP.

Estonia's preferences lie with vulnerable categories of the population, such as orphans, minors, women who have fallen victim to torture, single mothers, as well as families and Christians, it stands in the memorandum obtained by BNS.

Admitting refugees on the scale put forward by the Interior Ministry would require four million euros from the budget of the Interior Ministry, 3.1 million euros from the budget of the Ministry of Social Affairs and 1.7 million euros from the Ministry of Culture in 2016–2017. The potential costs for the Ministry of Education and Research are yet to be specified.

The costs related to relocation could be covered to the extent of almost 45 percent with external funds. The additional cost for the state budget would be approximately 4.8 million euros over two years or 2.4 million euros per year, it stands in the memorandum.

According to the estimate offered by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the rent of a dwelling for a refugee would take 400 euros a month, meaning a sum total of 10,050 euros in two years. About 8,000 euros per refugee per year would be needed to renovate and furnish a dwelling belonging to a municipality, along with 1,560 euros a year for teaching of Estonian language and 1,040 euros for translation services.

«If the number of recipients of international protection is 150, the costs over the two-year period may amount to up to 3,097,500 euros. If 700 persons are accepted, the costs over two years may amount to 14,455,000 euros,» the Ministry of Social Affairs said.

Interior Minister Hanno Pevkur refused to speak about numbers at the government press conference.

«I wouldn't like to go before the European Commission with one definite number. I would like to go there with the knowledge that I have a mandate and the prime minister has a mandate too to negotiate,» Pevkur said.

«If we go there having one number with us, that one number will be locking us out very much and we will not have much leeway,» the minister said. «We have said, as regards a fair breakdown of migration capacity, which can only be based on the principle of voluntariness, that it can only happen clearly in relation to population size and the size of the economy,» he added.

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