Ratas: Talk about a new coalition going on for half a year already
Chairman of the Center Party Jüri Ratas said on Monday evening that tentative talks about a new coalition had been going on in the Riigikogu for half a year already, and that all parliamentary groups had been involved.
On Monday evening, the junior partners in the coalition, the Social Democrats and IRL, asked Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas to resign. Chairman of the Social Democrats, Jevgeni Ossinovski said that Estonia’s next prime minister would likely be Jüri Ratas.
Ratas said in an interview with ETV’s “Aktuaalne Kaamera” newscast late on Monday evening that he had been talking to “practically all parliamentary groups”, and that there had been general as well as specific talks about government positions already.
“Out of the Reform Party, I’ve mainly talked to members of the Riigikogu, but yes, also with a few members of the government,” Ratas said, although he said he wouldn’t say who.
According to Ratas, tentative talks about a new coalition have been going on in the Riigikogu for half a year already. Rõivas’ coalition government hadn’t been cooperative from the beginning, and currently all parties wanted the standstill to end, and for things to move on.
Center Party’s agreement with United Russia: No work done, no contacts
Talking about the Center Party’s cooperation agreement with United Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s party, Ratas said that things had cooled off over a number of years and that there were no contactsm and no work being done.
“What’s clear is that as long as bilateral relations are as bad as they are today, there will be no contacts and no cooperation of any kind,” Ratas said.
About Edgar Savisaar’s future, Ratas said that in the assessment of a majority of the party’s members Savisaar would make a very dignified honorary chairman, but that without the former chairman’s agreement, this job couldn’t be given to him.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn