President: Personally, I would have liked to see Kallas resign

Kaja Kallas arriving in Kadriorg, seat of the President of Estonia.
Kaja Kallas arriving in Kadriorg, seat of the President of Estonia. Source: Siim Lõvi /ERR

President Alar Karis, after meeting with chairmen of parliamentary parties Monday, said that he would have preferred it if Prime Minister Kaja Kallas had resigned when the scandal first broke.

President Karis met with heads of all Riigikogu parties to mark the start of the Riigikogu fall session on Monday.

The topics of discussion also included the Russia business of a member of PM Kaja Kallas' family and the premier's explanations.

"Personally, I would have liked it if the prime minister had resigned at the beginning of the series of events that has made her the focus of the crisis. It would have spared her, her loved ones, the effectiveness of the government and the credibility of messages coming out of Estonia. But everyone needs to make their own decisions in such a situation, after weighing the moral problem," Karis said.

The president said that the work of the Riigikogu must not grind to a halt as a result of obstruction efforts.

"It's easy to point fingers in terms of who is to blame for this spring's filibustering, while a solution is now needed for putting the deadlocked parliament back on track," the president stressed. "We need to find and release the hand brake of domestic politics, The Riigikogu must work."

"It is also important for the next state budget to show how the coalition plans to solve several important matters, from broad-based national defense, including internal security and civil defense, to the competitive ability of the Estonian economy or the transition to Estonian schooling," the president said.

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Editor: Barbara Oja, Marcus Turovski

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