According to Vadim Belobrovtsev, deputy chairman of the Riigikogu’s Central Party faction, the Reform Party is cynically trying to shift the state’s responsibilities onto the shoulders of the city of Tallinn, demanding that the capital must bear the salary increase of school and kindergarten teachers.
“The reform party has made an amendment proposal to the 2024 budget of the city of Tallinn, which demands a salary increase for teachers, forgetting that it is a state obligation,” he said Vadim Belobrovtsev. “If you compare the budgets of the state and Tallinn for next year, you can see a big difference. If the government increases taxes and excises, cuts subsidies for large families and freezes the salaries of policemen and rescue workers, Tallinn increases social benefits by 10 percent and investments by 20 percent and significantly increases funding for education. The budget priorities of the Government of the Republic and the City of Tallinn are radically different.”
Commenting on the Reform Party’s demand that Tallinn must raise teachers’ salaries, Belobrovtsev noted that considering the teachers’ strike planned for January, this behavior of the squirrels in the capital’s council is particularly cynical.
“All people have clearly seen in recent months how the government led by the Reform Party has persistently avoided fulfilling its promise to guarantee a decent salary for teachers. Reform parties, social democrats and Estonia 200 promised to raise teachers’ salaries to 120 percent of the national average within four years. However, the reality was only a 1.7 percent increase, which is clearly below even the current average salary, and next year the gap will increase even more. Therefore, the promised 120% will probably remain a dream,” said Belobrovtsev.
The deputy reminded that in local governments where the Reform Party is in power, funding the education sector is not a priority. “For example, the city of Tartu for some reason is not in a hurry to raise teachers’ salaries, and the Rae municipality, located near Tallinn, is already raising the kindergarten fee for the second time in six months – from January 2024, the fee for one child including meals will be around 200 euros per month, which is almost 2.5 times more than In Tallinn, where the fee for a kindergarten place has not changed for several years in a row. Besides, neither Tartu nor Rae municipality can be called poor,” said Belobrovtsev.
The member of the board of the Central Party added that the city is increasingly forced to take on the responsibilities of the state, and this is not a normal practice. “The city has decided to proceed alone with the Tallinn Hospital project after the Reform Party government refused to direct European funds there. Then, Tallinn took over the funding of the police orchestra, which was facing closure, and is now trying to maintain the Kopli rescue command in the same way. What next? If the Reform Party is unable to lead the country and the government is increasingly trying to shift its responsibilities to the capital and other municipalities, power in the country should be handed over to other political forces that can do better,” argued Belobrovtsev.
