Coalition unlikely to last full term say opposition, academic
Kadri Simson, acting head of the Center party, and EKRE board member Martin Helme said the three-strong coalition will be voted in, but will crumble before the next elections.
“If a coalition sets off with such sorrow faces one can guess it won't last four years,” Simson said.
Helme told ERR the talks have highlighted a number of issues likely to affect the coalition's popularity, especially the fact that it is trying to introduces taxes that were not proposed and debated prior the elections.
Agu Uudelepp, Associate Professor at the Estonian Business School, said there has been a lack of euphoria at the coalition negotiations. The usual euphoria that they made it and will be in power has been replaced by a more sober understanding that an agreement must be reached about the concrete actions of the alliance.
“There has been little talk about forming a four-year coalition. There was some at the beginning, but this rhetoric has been abandoned,” he said, adding that the parties are trying to push through concrete election promises, as they feel they might only have two or three years.
Uudelepp said Estonia could have a coalition where, for the first time, no party is really happy to be in.
Commenting on Center Party board's decision to name Simson as the acting head, Uudelepp said other parties are now far more willing to work with the Center Party, which got 27 seats in the Parliament, allowing it to replace either the Reform Party or both IRL and the Social Democrats in the coalition.
Editor: J.M. Laats