The 2023 Riigikogu election-winning Reform Party has decided to invite Eesti 200 and the Social Democratic Party (SDE) to initiate coalition talks, Prime Minister and Reform Party chair Kaja Kallas announced at a press conference on Tuesday morning.
The Reform Party, which won 37 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu, decided in favor of extending the invitation to coalition talks to Eesti 200 and the Social Democrats at a party board meeting Tuesday morning.
Should this coalition materialize and form Estonia’s next government, it would command 60 seats in the Riigikogu.
Addressing the press, Kallas explained that Reform had the most in common with these two parties. “Security, the green transition and people’s welfare ended up the deciding factors,” she highlighted.
She also noted that she proposed that coalition talks begin Wednesday already. “My proposal is to start coalition talks tomorrow with Ministry of Finance officials providing an overview of financial opportunities,” she said.
Kallas said that the other parties also understood Reform’s wish that ministerial portfolios in the government be delegated proportionally between the three parties, rather than split evenly.
On the subject of issues discussed, Kallas said that crucial to the Reform Party is the elimination of the “tax hump,” or bracket creep — where nominal wages and income taxes go up, but without an increase in real income — as this received a mandate in this year’s elections as well.
The Reform Party board discussed four possible coalition combinations on Monday, but at the time had not yet reached a decision regarding who to invite to coalition talks.
The four combinations weighed by the election-winning party were Reform and the Center Party (37+16 mandates, 53 total); the current coalition, i.e. Reform, SDE and Isamaa (37+9+8 mandates, 54 total); Reform, Eesti 200 and the SDE (37+14+9 mandates, 60 total) as well as Reform, Eesti 200 and Isamaa (37+14+8, 59 total).
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