Estonia passes budget with eye on euro

Dec 10, 2009
Oskars Magone

The parliament passed the budget after bringing it in line with requirements to adopt the euro (photo: keskerakond)

TALLINN - The Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) has passed throgh next year's hotly contested budget, bringing the document within the bounds needed to meet the Maastricht criteria and join the eurozone.

The budget passed with a vote of 55 to 39 in the 101 member legislature.

Next year the Estonian state will run a deficit of 2.8 percent - well below the 3 percent mark needed for the country to meet the Maastricht criteria that govern which countries may adopt the euro.

Finance Minister Jurgen Ligi said that the country could already meet the criteria this year.

"It is probable that we will fulfil all the Maastricht criteria already in 2009," he was reported by Reuters as saying. 

Negotiations were fierce over next year's budget as the country is facing a contracting GDP of approximately 15 percent this year.

A total of 410 million kroons was slashed from the budget between the second and the third readings. The budget also saw an increase to fuel and electricity taxes to help raise funds.

Estonia aims to adopt the euro in January of 2011.

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