Isamaa Parliamentary Group is right-wing and conservative in its worldview, and its policies are primarily focused on defending the national interests and the security of Estonia.

Isamaa has held the responsibility of a partner in government coalition for long periods, and so the Isamaa Parliamentary Group in the Riigikogu is one of the parliamentary groups that have had the greatest impact on the life in Estonia. The main role of the parliamentary group has been to stand for the legislation that would protect national interests, support the livelihood of the Estonian people, promote open economy and guarantee high-quality education that is available to all. The priorities of Isamaa are the survival of the nation state, and the birth more children in Estonia, who could grow up in happy and well-off families.

Isamaa initiated the bill on the national maintenance allowance fund, according to which the government guarantees the paying of maintenance to parents who are raising their children alone. We have stood for increasing the child and family allowances, and we will continue to do that. Earlier, Isamaa initiated the establishing of the parental pension, thanks to which, from 2013, pension supplement for raising a child will be added to the old age pension, the pension for incapacity for work and the survivor’s pension.

Isamaa’s aim is to ensure that people in all regions of Estonia have access to the services they need close to home, that there would be high-quality public transport and high-speed internet everywhere, that electricity would be affordable and high-quality education would be available. Under the auspices of Isamaa, several state agencies have been transferred from the capital to the county centres. For example, the Ministry of Education and Research was moved to Tartu and the Rural Development Foundation to Viljandi.

World view

The guiding principle of the policies of Isamaa comes from the preamble of the Estonian Constitution, and it is the preservation of the Estonian nation, language and culture through the ages. Besides economic and defence issues, the policies of Isamaa focus on increasing of population, improvement of living standard, and the availability and quality of education. For us, it is important that it would be possible to get by speaking Estonian everywhere in Estonia, and we stand for the introduction of language requirements both in local government councils and in the service sector.

Isamaa is associated with long-term perspective, because Isamaa keeps in mind the impact of today’s decisions in a more distant future.

Political priorities in the short term

The priority of the parliamentary group in the coming years is to ensure, after decades of delay, the transition to fully Estonian-language education in primary and general education schools, which finally became a law on the initiative of Isamaa in the previous Riigikogu, so that all our young people would grow up in a common information space and have equal opportunities to enter independent life. Isamaa believes that the teaching profession should always be valued and stands for the preservation of free higher education in the Estonian language.

Isamaa is the only political party in Estonia that has pursued a consistent family policy, and our goal is to bring Estonia out of the current demographic crisis, which threatens the survival of our nation state. We stand for Estonian families to have a sense of security and confidence and to be able to grow as large as they wish.
For decades, Isamaa has been the staunchest advocate of Estonia’s national defence. In the complicated geopolitical situation, we consider it necessary for the Defence Forces and the Defence League to have all the capabilities that the leaders of national defence have considered necessary, and we also believe that strong alliance relations must be maintained. An inseparable part of ensuring Estonia’s security is that Russian citizens must be deprived of the right to vote in Estonian elections.

History

Isamaa was born as a result of the merger of several, mainly right-wing political parties. The beginnings of the party date back to 1988, when the Estonian National Independence Party was founded on the initiative of Tunne Kelam. That party laid the foundations for the election coalition Pro Patria, which won the elections in 1992, and the Pro Patria Union that was formed in 1995. The national conservative policy of the party has largely been aimed at developing and reforming economy, national defence and education.

In 2006, the Res Publica party merged with the Pro Patria Union, and the party was renamed the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (in Estonian, Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit or IRL). In 2018, the party changed its name to Isamaa (Estonian: ISAMAA Erakond).

The general public mainly knows Isamaa by the radical market economy reforms carried out during the first half of the 1990s initiated by the former Pro Patria Union and its Prime Minister Mart Laar. These reforms were known as shock therapy among the people, but they brought Estonia rapid economic success and the global reputation of being an economic prodigy.

Mart Laar and Tunne Kelam are the honorary chairmen of Isamaa.