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SIA, Mariansatama 14/03/24 - On March 14, a debate of candidates for the presidency of the Republic of Saarenmaa was held in Mariansatama, the candidates answered questions from the host of the program on topics affecting four main spheres of society: economic, political, social and spiritual. Elections in the Republic of Saarenmaa will be held on March 16-19. Three candidates will take part in the elections: Mikael Kuningasenen from the Indepemdent Saarenmaa Party, Emilia Hamäläinen from the Social Democratic Party (RSDP) and Antero Autio from the conservative National Unity Party. They will take part in the upcoming elections. PLPSAH and SEIP did not nominate their candidates and declared their support for the RSDP candidate.

Economic Sphere

Q: What measures will you take regarding the economy?

MK: “Of course, this is an important aspect of my policy. Now, it is and will be. In my first term, I ensured systematic economic growth. After election, I will completely remove taxation of small and medium-sized businesses for 5 years. We, the Cabinet of Ministers, my assistants and Our colleagues discussed this initiative for a long time, a corresponding bill has already been prepared, and work on this issue is underway.

Also, the basis of our economy is qualified specialists. In Yuksipar, a bill to reduce taxes for private schools and universities, as well as allocate funding for the creation of new ones, is already in the queue for discussion. We will also index financial assistance for students and researchers who study at government institutions."

Political sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the political sphere?

MK: “First of all, we will continue the policy of neutrality in international affairs, this is a tradition honored by the history of our homeland, and what we now have is due to the fact that we have not deviated from this principle, that is, as I have said throughout my entire term, we are not going to enter into any military blocs and arm the country, we don’t need that, we don’t need war.”

Social sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the social sphere?

MK: The first thing I will mention is that I have always called and will continue to call for strengthening social protection for the poor. In my program there is one of the initiatives on preferential lending, we discussed with my assistants and have already held several meetings with the Minister of Finance and Health and my other colleagues, and in general this bill is designed to create fair interest rates for this stratum of society and make it easier for them to pay the loan , but also to give a boost to the banking industry. I repeat, the goal of our party remains to create conditions for equal access to government and social services for all segments of the population. To do this, we will increase funding for other areas of society, we need to preserve our principle of a welfare state and, most importantly, not allow others to encroach on its legal validity.

Spiritual Sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the spiritual realm?

MK: “I’ll start with the thesis that Saarenmaa is a very hospitable country, this is due to our history, just as in 1920 our ancestors rallied to gain independence, and now we will be happy only if we are together.

A single culture and language is our support, so I will increase funding for studying the Finnish language and foreigners who decide to study it to obtain citizenship will be paid a scholarship.

My party members and I have already prepared a bill and Yuksipar will soon consider it; we propose to introduce specialized talent visas for foreign specialists in the field of art, music and culture. A mandatory item will be the provision of a place of residence, as well as a deferment from tax payments for these persons for a period of 5 years.

Also in the Republic of Saarenmaa, many denominations do not have their own places for official gathering, we will give them the opportunity to do this by guaranteeing that there will be at least one official meeting place."

Economic Sphere

Q: What measures will you take regarding the economy?

EH: “The issue of economics for me is one of the priorities in my program. We all need every person to have equal opportunities for their own self-realization, and the state is obliged to provide high-quality and free healthcare and education for everyone, and this is enshrined in law.

However, our government's current policies do not ensure this for everyone. Why are people like us denied those benefits, simply because they are not citizens of Saarenmaa, why does the current government allow this? How can we change this?

Gas revenues are huge, but tax policy remains the same. The wealth reserve fund has already been filled for more than 10 years, so it's time to focus on people and their well-being, and not on earning money and then pathological accumulation, we are already rich and will not lose it. Upon taking up the position, we will introduce a basic gratuitous monthly payment of 700 euros for each person living in the Republic of Saarenmaa. This can be done immediately and of course we have prepared a corresponding bill.

In addition, stimulating small and medium-sized businesses will create fair rules of the game, since big business strangles and destroys any endeavors of our entrepreneurs. We have done a very important thing - an influx of new specialists. It only started because we made English the second official language. Only because of this, many foreign companies and specialists have chosen Saarenmaa, and not any other countries, to conduct their business and their professional activities."

Political sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the political sphere?

EH “It is important for me that my country coexists peacefully with our neighbors and other partners, maintains a peaceful and constructive dialogue and develops cooperation with all states and communities in the world.

I agree that we will actively work to strengthen diplomatic relations and close cooperation with our partners from the European Union, increase
political and economic integration.

We do not advocate bloc politics; under our power, we will never join NATO. Once again, we stand for cooperation with various states on mutually beneficial terms, respecting their sovereignty and rights. We are against any form of expansion and domination and call on other states to build peace based on respect."

Social sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the social sphere?

EH “My personal goal is for Saari to have a fair and equal society, where every person and citizen has access to quality health care, education, housing and a decent pension.

We, together with my party, discussed and developed many initiatives in the social sphere, which were approved by Yuksipar and, after passing the adoption procedure, were put into force.

We plan to expand universal compulsory health insurance to migrants arriving in our country. Reduce the cost for migrants who have just arrived in the country on a work or study visa. We need to attract more foreign specialists in order to provide Saari with highly qualified specialists in a short time, which will give an impetus to both the economy and the social sector.

We also intend to increase funding for the educational industry and increase the salaries of teachers, now teachers receive extremely low salaries in relation to the average salary - this is not fair and we will immediately correct this oversight of the current government and set a minimum salary for teachers in the amount of 500,000 Saarenmaan marks (4854 Euro). It is our responsibility to provide our children with quality education and a bright future.

We also plan to introduce updated programs to support low-income families, including initiatives to provide housing subsidies for the purchase of housing for families with at least one child and reduce interest rates on mortgage lending to 2%."

Spiritual Sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the spiritual realm?

EH: "Yes, first of all, we always support our citizens to develop culture and art in Saari. As you know, I support the Mäkinen initiative to create new cultural centers, museums, theaters and exhibition halls. We have very little of this and Therefore, people in their letters address this topic and ask us to respond to this oversight. I would like to emphasize that we always support young talents in the field of art and culture, there is such an example as Helena Aitu, an excellent director and thanks to our help she produced masterpieces, which are famous throughout Saari.

However, we must not forget about our culture, which is why we are introducing an initiative to increase funding for private companies aimed at restoration and also strengthen measures for the protection and preservation of historical monuments, architectural monuments and other cultural values. Many monuments of our culture are in deplorable condition and we need decisive measures on this issue.

We certainly also support initiatives to support religious communities, churches, mosques and other religious institutions. We need more religious diversity and prevent the dominant religion from oppressing the less common ones in Saari. "

Economic Sphere

Q: What measures will you take regarding the economy?

AA: “I believe that the economy grows best with minimal government intervention. My actions regarding the economy will be aimed at maintaining free market principles and restraint in government spending.

Of course, it must be said that the current overly liberal government spends significant funds on benefits for migrants and providing them with benefits, which they use irrationally and on things that are not necessary, and the worst thing is that this is happening at the expense of our working population - this is not fair and discriminates our population!

One of the important initiatives is to reduce taxation, the government spends too much on meaningless benefits for unemployed migrants and provides them with material payments, which they implement, and the current government finances the direct degradation of society.

In addition, I believe that it is necessary to stimulate domestic entrepreneurship by increasing investment and easing the strict regulation that the current government has made. Everyone knows that in our country the national technology industry has been completely destroyed, and we are heavily dependent on the imports of our partners - this is the incompetent policy of the current government, which is destroying and first made our economy stagnate, and then will make it fall. It is necessary to correct this situation as soon as possible, revive our technological industry, create domestic products that will be preferable to our citizens, and reduce import dependence. And we can only do this if you elect me."

Political sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the political sphere?

AA: “You know, for all of us, for my country, there is an existential threat, initially this is a war in the Baltic Sea and with our big eastern neighbor. You see, liberals and social democrats are trying to destroy our country
by their actions, they are incompetent, and live with rose-colored glasses and hope for who knows what. Understand one thing - we need to take a tough position in relation to our security and finally revive the military-industrial complex, revive the army, and the first thing that can be done is to purchase an air defense system from our partners and create an initially contract army.

It is necessary to immediately join the NATO bloc like our Scandinavian comrades. Because time is ticking, eras are changing, and now neutrality does not work."

Social sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the social sphere?

AA: “My party and I discussed the social sphere of life in our society, and what measures could be taken, and we approved several of the following measures:

What I am saying is that by reducing taxation and redistributing expenses to more necessary social needs, we will ensure a decent standard of living for all citizens, since salaries will increase after paying income and also, in turn, those taxes that went into the pockets of idle people will go to our pensions grandparents, disabled people and others.

Modernization of the medical system is also required: I personally believe that access to high-quality medical care should be ensured for all citizens without exception. We will distribute the proceeds to increase funding for the medical industry by purchasing new equipment.

The important point is that we need to fight the unemployment of our highly qualified workers. Now foreign specialists who are ready to work for lower wages are taking our jobs - this is not fair and we will eradicate it.

We will also create a program to support family and motherhood for citizens of the Republic of Saarenmaa: we always put the interests of families first and recognize the institution of family as the foundation of our society, so we have developed a program to support families, which includes: Guaranteed work place for the family of citizens of the Republic of Saarenmaa, a guaranteed place for the children of these families in an educational institution or kindergarten.

I promise that if I am elected president, we will implement these measures and initiatives. Trust us, together we will make our country strong."

Spiritual Sphere

Q: What measures will you take in the spiritual realm?

AA: “Everyone knows that our party adheres to traditional values. I support initiatives to promote national culture, history and language. We will introduce a specialized Holmberg card, where there will be funds to attend cultural events, theaters and concerts. We always stands for preserving our traditions of our country and therefore we are going to protect them and not allow them to be insulted or belittled.

As a believer, I attach great importance to spiritual values ​​and religious freedom. I support initiatives to protect Christian churches, mosques and other religious institutions. I believe that religion is an important element of society and should be respected.

I also support initiatives to develop musical, artistic and literary culture. My party and I promoted many laws to protect national literary monuments and were also able to establish control over domestic cultural monuments.

I am proud that I am a Saarenmaan and I have always stood for our people, for our culture and for our traditions and I will always defend! I call on all fellow citizens to support me in the elections and together preserve our cultural and spiritual identity. "