The chairman of the Estonian Conservative People's Party, Martin Helme, comments on the political situation in Estonia and the activities of the national conservatives both in and outside the parliament in the Kuku radio section "Sihik". The hosts were drawn in by the latest market research ratings, where EKRE has risen to third place with 14 percent support and the air is starting to run out of Isamaa. Martin Helme spoke about the party's activity - that it communicates a lot directly with its voters, using all its own channels. In politics, people are always more active before elections. As in sports - form is used for competitions. He also noted that parliamentary politics went through a crunch when the decisions of the Riigikogu board were confirmed by the Supreme Court. This took away any idea of ​​holding any kind of debate in the Riigikogu, which is why they communicate with the public and the electorate in a different way. There was also a brief discussion about the state budget, to which Helme said amendments were made, but none of them were passed. Amendments proposed by other opposition parties also did not find support. “We will definitely vote against the state budget. This is a budget of blatant tax increases. There is no question of any tax peace, as Michal says. This budget will lead the Estonian economy into even deeper stagnation,” Helme described. According to him, the budget will not achieve balance, and the money collected from the security tax will not actually go to ensuring security, but “everywhere,” as former Finance Minister Võrklaev admitted. It will patch up the budget holes resulting from the clumsy governance of the Reform Party members. “But let’s put lipstick on a pig and say it’s a security tax,” Helme made a figurative comparison. Helme also pointed out that no criticism of the security tax is allowed – the government is dealing with security and you all should shut up. In fact, it is literally a propagandistic tax. The amounts directed to national defense are not as large as what is collected with this tax. He reminded that EKRE had already asked for additional funds to be allocated to security five years ago, but then it was considered pointless and also pointed out that the only capability that has been added to national defense is coastal defense, and that too has been done by EKRE. Another increase in excise taxes was briefly stopped. Namely, last week, the Riigikogu considered raising excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, fuel, and electricity. Raising gasoline excise taxes will hit private consumers the hardest, because they use gasoline as fuel in their cars. Together with the car tax, people will be hit hard next year. With the alcohol excise tax, we are stepping on the same rake for the third time. Border trade is already underway and will only gain momentum, because Latvia's excise tax increase will still be lower than Estonia's and importing alcohol there will still be cheaper. There is nothing new in the justifications. Still the same worn-out theses - if you raise alcohol excise taxes, less alcohol will be consumed. According to Helme, this is not true, because when larger supplies are brought home from across the border at once, the convenience of the goods also changes consumption habits. Hosts Tarve and Ruussaar also investigated the Climate Act, pointing out that the law went through a coordination round and received 900 proposals for amendments. Martin Helme called the Climate Act a socialist planned economy management law that cannot be continued under any circumstances. This law has nothing to do with the climate, and help to stop it will probably come from America, where Donald Trump was elected as the new president. Helme concluded by stating that the Climate Act is yet another law, the order to implement which came directly from Brussels, and without giving an account, we are rushing back to the society of Tammsaare's time, when everything was prepared on the spot. This, in turn, will lead to a drastic decrease in the population. The show will premiere on December 9, 2024.