The government will meet at 8:30 a.m. on Monday to hold an extraordinary session and will then resign. Kallas will then take her letter of resignation to Kadriorg and present it to President Alar Karis.

However, Kallas will continue to fulfill the duties of head of government until the new coalition takes office.

On this, Kallas expressed hope at her final press conference as head of government Monday morning that the new coalition will crystallize as soon as possible.

Looking back on her years as prime minister, since January 2021, when she first entered office, Kallas noted that it has been a particularly tough time as Estonia, Europe and the rest of the world bumped from one crisis to the next.

She pointed out that she started her term at the peak of the coronavirus crisis.

She said: "I am probably the only prime minister who went directly from the government oath-taking ceremony to a government session in which decisions had to be made immediately. There was absolutely no honeymoon period."

The difficulty lay in the need to balance keeping society open with curbing the spread of Covid. In hindsight, Kallas' assessment is that her government managed the crisis well.

According to various WHO reports, Estonian society was comparatively open yet the number of Covid-related deaths relatively low.

Kallas said: "We managed well. Additionally, economic growth at that time was running at over seven percent; nearly eight percent, thanks to the fact that our society was open in comparison with others, yet in neighboring countries it (economic growth – ed.) was between two and four percent. But, of course, this does not get attributed to the government. Things are only taken notice of when they go badly."

Beyond the Covid crisis, the energy crisis, the Ukraine war, and the economic downturn followed.

Kallas said she takes pride in the fact that, alongside managing crises, her government has made significant advancements for Estonia, making decisions that had not been made before, including the transition to Estonian-language education, something which is now becoming a reality.

She also highlighted the strengthening of national defense. "We have significantly streamlined the state apparatus, merged various agencies and state ship fleets, and moved ministries into one building, which also helps cut costs," Kallas went on.

Reflecting on the negative aspects of her time in office, Kallas said: "There are certainly things I regret, but now is not the right moment to talk about them. However, one day, when I write my memoirs, I will cast light on all those things. Right now, everyone else is pointing out the negative aspects anyway."

"I know what the title of my book would be in English. It would be 'Outsider.' I am still an outsider in politics, and this has characterized many aspects. I had worked in the private sector as a lawyer longer than I have been in politics, and that has brought with it many difficulties," Kallas said, half-jokingly.

However, no impending book release is due in the near future, she added.

Kallas said she does not currently have time to write, while she does not consider herself yet old enough to publish her memoirs.

In response to those critics who claimed that Kallas, as prime minister, did not really understand what ordinary everyday life in Estonia means for many people, the outgoing premier said that this was not the case.

She noted she has frequently met with ordinary people as the head of government, listened to them directly, and sometimes even responded to those who have written to her regarding their concerns.

Kallas then wished the incoming coalition the strength and courage to make decisions which, unfortunately, are not always popular, but are always necessary for Estonia to prevail.

Kaja Kallas announced last month she would be stepping down as prime minister, to concentrate on her candidacy as the next EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, replacing Josep Borrell. The hearing for that position is due to take place this week.

When a prime minister resigns, it triggers the dissolution of the coalition that prime minister headed up, and requires new coalition negotiations even if these, as is happening this time round, involve the same parties which were already in office.

Kallas was an MEP 2014-2019, returning slightly early when she became Reform Party leader. While she was expected by many to become prime minister after the 2019 Riigikogu election, she had to wait nearly two years, after the Center-EKRE-Isamaa coalition took office March 2019-January 2021.

Kallas was head of three administrations: The Reform-Center bipartite coalition (January 2021-June 2022), the Reform-Isamaa-SDE coalition (July 2022-March 2023) and the Reform-SDE-Eesti 200 coalition (April 2023-present).

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