SDE chairman: Current coalition could continue

Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDE) and Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets believes the current coalition will continue but that issues related to security and the economy need to be revisited in the coalition agreement.
The Reform Party's board will meet on Saturday to nominate a new prime minister candidate, which is likely to be Minister of Climate Kristen Michal. He will replace Prime Minister Kaja Kallas who has just been nominated for the EU's top foreign policy job.
If Michal becomes prime minister he could change the parties in the coalition, the distribution of ministries and ministers, or the coalition agreement.
Läänemets said his party currently has no plans to change ministers.
"We have not had such a debate at the moment. It also depends on how we renew this coalition agreement, whether we want to change the positions and proportions of ministers in government. If there are any changes, that could lead to this," Läänemets told ERR.
Speaking about the coalition agreement, the chairman said plans to raise the minimum wage and the issue of rural areas should not be changed.
"But the issue that we certainly need to touch on, in the context of taxes, is people's livelihoods, certainly security – both national defense and internal security. And the economy. If we look at the coalition agreement a year ago, there was a view that the economy was doing better. It has now taken more time, the problems are structural in certain areas. It's important for us that people get better wages and that more money comes into the country. Economic issues are also ones we should be discussing," Läänemets said.
"The economy and security are the issues we should revisit at length," he reiterated.
Läänemets said he has no reason to believe the current coalition would not continue. "Rather, we have worked very well together. Yes, there are some different visions. But that's the point of a coalition, to have different political forces. If they all thought alike, they could all be in the same party. I think this coalition could continue," he said.
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Editor: Anne Raiste, Aleksander Krjukov, Helen Wright