Editorial: what’s the budget line for financing optimism?

Photo: Urmas Luik / Pärnu Postimees

It’s still summertime, but the signs of fall can’t quite be denied – note the occasional showers and birds of a feather flocking together. The joyful holiday faces of politicians as shining at Festival of Opinion Culture – the Arvamusfestival – in Paide recently will soon undergo a change in the corridors at Toompea, some to be thoughtful, some critical. As the Reformers and soc dems are hammering away at their first common budget, it takes no political or economic analyst to see – the task ain’t easy at all, in the current situation.

On the one hand, questions come with the composition of the coalition. By world views, the parties hail from two ends of the spectrum and some political observers see the budgeting process as a touchstone. But let’s not jump to conclusions – faced with reality, a politician will seek to secure his position of power – the need translating into budgetary decisions. 

Next year it’s parliamentary elections year. Reform squirrels and soc dems would love to stay in their seats in wake of March 1^st voting, and why not together. For this, the end-of July pan-Estonian Public Broadcasting ordered TNS Emor poll offers them, theoretically at least, a mandate by the people. Of those interviewed, 31 were for reformers and 24 for soc dems. Note the stability of ratings: in June, the levels were almost the same.

Much more complicated than mutual agreements – rather mastered by politicians as professionals in the art of compromise – it is to handle the external foreign environment. Activities of Russia, the military conflict in Ukraine, Western sanctions towards Moscow, and surely the lingering tensions in the Middle-East and Iraq – it all has an unavoidable effect on world economy, and predicting the possible developments is a tough nut to crack. Clearly, security in the narrow and broader sense demands budgetary attention, as does the need to mitigate sanctions etc.

«In the economy, just the mood alone equals conjuncture – regrettably,» is how finance minister Jürgen Ligi aptly points out in Postimees today – a definite aspect to be considered with next year’s budget. On the one hand, the budget needs to be prudent and cautious, on the other hand they’ll be trying to send the public an optimistic signal i.e. assure the people (read: the voter) that life is getting better. Get the antennae up, the signal’s coming very soon.