In the programme, we pointed out that the Estonian Stockpiling Agency has essentially disregarded the task set by the Government of the Republic. Instead, a practice has emerged in which tasks are ignored, responsibility becomes blurred, and the result is a solution that provides reserves for 10% of the population for 30 days. According to the recent National Audit Office audit, this cannot be considered a substantively sufficient solution.

What is especially problematic is that the justification for this self-initiated choice has not been convincing. As has also been noted in public debate and in reference to the National Audit Office audit, there is no clear explanation as to why the objective of covering the entire population for 14 days was replaced with a solution that amounts to food reserves for the whole population for only three days. This raises a fundamental question: whose needs were taken as the starting point, and on what basis was it decided that precisely this volume would be sufficient?

We also emphasised that crisis preparedness cannot rest on the silent assumption that people will solve the shortfalls themselves. The average person in Estonia often lives in an apartment where storing extensive food reserves is neither practical nor possible. The main burden therefore cannot be shifted onto individuals in a situation where the state’s own task has remained unfulfilled.

We invite everyone to watch the programme, as the real gravity of the issue becomes clear in the longer discussion. This is not only a question of reserves, but of the state’s ability to meet the objectives it has set for itself when the situation becomes truly serious.