Before the top comes the middle
Centre Party pushes for bigger salaries
Election time means time for big promises, and Estonia’s Centre Party led by Edgar Savisaar announced last week that the average monthly salary in Estonia should be raised to 25,000 kroons (1,600 euros) over a period of four years (this includes the salaries of bureaucrats and civil servants). “If we want to be among Europe’s wealthiest, we must first reach the middle,” said Mr. Savisaar.
Savisaar’s opposition says the state has nowhere near this kind of money and points out that the state may only raise salaries of civil servants, other salaries dependent on the market economy. Taavi Veskimägi, former finance minister, suggested anyone who believed the promise of 25,000 kroons was “light-minded.”