"I wish her strength on this new journey. It is certainly in the interests of Estonia, in the interests of our region, that she succeeds in this office," Urmas Reinsalu, chairman of Isamaa, told ERR.

But he also had strong criticism for the outgoing prime minister.

"As her personal priority for essentially a whole year has been to get on with her career project, governance has taken a back seat. And this is a very serious problem," Reinsalu said.

"Consequently, the leadership crisis in Estonia, which we have been in for a very long time and which the leading politicians of the coalition in power today can no longer hide, must be resolved without delay. I call on her to resign as prime minister immediately, and then a new government must be formed without delay. She should have done this a long time ago," said Reinsalu.

The Isamaa chairman does not believe Reform's next leader will change anything.

"Our expectation is that the leaders of the Reform Party who want to continue to lead the state show that they are capable of some kind of fundamental political correction," said Reinsalu.

EKRE chairman Martin Helme was even more critical.

"I consider Kaja Kallas' time as prime minister to be one disaster after another. A lot depends on the prime minister's personality, both in terms of her leadership decisions and indecisiveness. In any case, we will have a new prime minister," he said.

"Under normal circumstances, there would probably be no speculation about the coalition at all. However, given the state of the coalition as a whole and the state of the other coalition party, Eesti 200, the main question is how realistic it is that we will continue to have the same kind of coalition, even if it continues with the same composition. I am quite sure that political priorities will be redefined. If we already have a coalition agreement that was made a year ago that is not really in force, then I think that the coalition agreement will be taken off the table," the EKRE chairman said.

"I do not think they will change course significantly, their worldview has not changed. The point is that the limits of reality have been reached, and raising taxes is almost impossible. The economy just cannot sustain it, people will soon be coming out on the streets or everyone will move away from Estonia," Helme said.

"With the current composition of the Riigikogu, no good combination can be achieved in Estonia. We have such a tilt towards extreme liberalism or radical left-wing parties that, even if the current coalition were to collapse, nothing much better could come out of it.," Helme commented.

"This means that actually, Estonia still needs to hold extraordinary elections. But well, it is very difficult to call them in Estonia," he added. EKRE has called for extraordinary elections since the coalition took office.

Center Party Chairman Mihhail Kõlvart said Kallas constantly sent mixed messages about her plans.

"All year we waited for the fate of one particular person to be decided. And that was the main priority of Estonian politics: what would become of Kaja Kallas?" he commented.

"I would remind you that only a few months ago, the honorable prime minister promised that she was not going anywhere, because she wanted to see the fruits of the difficult but right decisions taken. Does the fact that she has now decided to go anyway mean that the fruits are already there, or that we are not really going to see them?" said Kõlvart.

Kõlvart stated that he does not have much hope that the new government will offer fundamental solutions to the current economic crisis.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!