"We'll head to Tartu, look deep into one another's eyes and figure out what our options are," ERE chairman Lauri Tõnspoeg told ERR.

"Naturally there are several options," he explained. "It's always possible to run together with someone in local elections — to run a joint list, but remain in separate parties. Another option would be to form a joint party with someone." He added, however, that it would nonetheless be preferable to remain an independent party going forward.

According to Tõnspoeg, Estonian law would make it difficult to form a joint political party. Nonetheless, he noted that ERE has sought common ground with the Free Party, the Estonian Greens and other smaller political parties.

"In this area, the most similar to ERE is the Free Party, with whom we share relatively similar views regarding both democracy and nature conservation," he highlighted. "For some strange reason, we have less in common with the Greens. The Greens should join the Social Democrats (SDE) if they want to grow bigger."

Tõnspoeg commented that the Greens lack substance, and that they don't know what to do to actually save Estonian nature. "They're like a green party for city-dwellers," he said.

"And Estonia 200 is this relatively incomprehensible new Reform Party or something like that," the ERE chairman continued. "We don't have much common ground with them either."

ERE's general assembly is scheduled to take place in Tartu on January 25.

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