Influential politicians in the Estonian Parliament have proposed to allocate 300,000 euros from the so-called protection money funding pool to Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR), so that the media organization can afford to air the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“Estonian Public Broadcastng should be really thankful for this funding,” ERR’s chief executive, Margus Allikmaa, told uudised.err.ee.
“It’s not the norm to compliment the parites and the government, but I certainly acknowledge Parliament for the fact that this money has currently been put in the budget,” he said, with a weeks-long dispute now appearing to be behind.
The head of the Reform Party faction in Parliament, MP Jaanus Tamkivi, said he believes the Finance Committee will approve the coalition parties’ proposal. “A political agreement has been reached,” Tamkivi said.
Ironically, the move comes just a short time after ETV ran an investigative segment that rapped MPs for how they spent a state budget line item - up to 10 million euros in some years - designated for miscellaneous purposes. The editor of the story did mention that ERR could get a windfall from this year’s 6 million euro amount.
Source: Estonian Public Broadcasting
http://news.err.ee/v/sports/81ee5868-54ee-48ed-a49a-c83ff07cacd0