The new coalition is a continuation of its predecessors – Reform, SDE, and Eesti 200 – which had been in office since May 2023.

Leaving office this week will be Reform's Kaja Kallas (prime minister), Mart Võrklaev (finance minister) and Madis Timpson (justice minister); and Eesti 200's Tiit Riiisalo (minister of economic affairs and IT).

Newcomers are Reform's Jürgen Ligi (finance minister); Erkki Keldo (economic affairs minister), Yoko Alender (climate minister); SDE's Vladimir Svet (infrastructure minister); and Eesti 200's Lisa-Ly Pakosta (justice and digital minister).

One surprise announcement was Vladimir Svet, who until Sunday was a member of the Center Party. He was deputy mayor of Tallinn (2021-2024) and a Lasnamäe councilor.

There will be 14 ministers, one more than in the last government, following the creation of the infrastructure portfolio at the Ministry of Climate.

The division of ministers has changed slightly, with SDE getting 1 more post – infrastructure – as it is now the second-largest coalition party after its number of MPs grew following the collapse of the Center Party earlier this year.

Reform has the same number of portfolios (seven), but has swapped justice for economic affairs with Eesti 200

The coalition is gender balanced, with seven women and seven men. This is compared with six women and seven men in Kallas' last coalition.

On a lighter note, the number of coalition members with the second name Kallas has dropped from three back in April 2023 (Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, joined by Kristina Kallas (no relation) as education minister and Madis Kallas as regional affairs minister), to just one this time around.

Outside of the government, Eesti 200 also holds the Riigikogu speaker position (Lauri Hussar), whose two recently elected deputies are Toomas Kivimägi (Reform) and Arvo Aller (EKRE).

In summary:

The Reform Party gets the prime ministerial post, plus the defense, finance, economic affairs, climate, social protection and culture positions.

SDE holds the interior, health, regional affairs and infastructure portfolios.

Eesti 200 will get the foreign, education and justice posts.

Reform ministers

Prime minister: Kristen Michal

Kristen Michal becomes prime minister, replacing Kaja Kallas. He was previously assigned the role of climate minister in the last government, where he created the ministry from scratch. Michal has previously served as minister of economic affairs (2015-2016) and is a longtime Riigikogu member.

Finance minster: Jürgen Ligi

Veteran politician Ligi, 65, replaced Mart Võrklaev. He was finance minister between 2009-2014 when Estonia battled with the worldwide economic crash. Estonia joined the euro on Ligi's watch, in January 2011.

He has also previously held the defense, foreign and education ministerial posts.

Defense minister: Hanno Pevkur

Hanno Pevkur continues as defense minister. He has held the post since July 2022. He has previously served as social affairs, justice, and interior ministers and was chairman of the Reform Party January 2017 to April 2018.

Economic affairs and IT minister: Erkki Keldo

Erkki Keldo takes up the economic affairs and IT minister position straight from being Reform's chief whip at the Riiigkogu. He was first elected to parliament at the 2019 Riigikogu election and was returned in 2023.

Between November 2018 and May 2022 Keldo was the Reform Party's secretary general.

This is his first ministerial appointment.

Climate minister: Yoko Alender

Yoko Alender is another first-time minister though she has been a Reform Party MP since 2015.

An architect by profession, Alender is a former Tallinn city councilor, and ran for Reform at the 2014, 2019 and most recently June 2024 European Parliament elections.

Social protection minister: Signe Riisalo

Another returnee is Singe Riisalo, who has held the post since January 2021, initially in the Reform-Center coalition. Riisalo had been a long-serving social affairs ministry official, before entering into politics.

Culture minister: Heidy Purga

Heidy Purga returns as culture minister, a role she has held since May 2023. Purga is a former TV and radio presenter and was an MP in the preceding two (XIII and XIV) Riigikogu compositions. She is also a former producer of Eesti Laul, Estonia's annual competition to find its entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, and is a past member of ERR's Supervisory Board, where she represented the Reform Party.

Social Democrats

Interior minister: Lauri Läänemets

Lauri Läänemets returns as interior minister, a role he has held since July 2022. Läänemets has been SDE chair since February 2022 and member since 2010. He is a former mayor of Väätsa, a rural municipality in Järva County, prior to the 2017 redrawing of local government boundaries.

Health minister: Riina Sikkut

Riina Sikkut will hold the health portfolio for a third time. She took up the role in May 2023 under Kaja Kallas' third government and previously acted in this capacity between 2018-2019. She has also previously been economic affairs and communications minister. Sikkut was runner-up to Läänemets in the SDE leadership contest in 2022.

 Regional affairs minister: Piret Hartman

Piret Hartman is another returning minister for SDE, as she took on the regional minister position in April, after Madis Kallas, also of SDE, stepped down.

Hartman was culture minister in the Reform-SDE-Isamaa coalition, in office July 2022 to April 2023.

Hartman has not sat at the Riigikogu, and is a previous undersecretary for cultural diversity at the Ministry of Culture and board chair of the Integration Foundation (Integratsiooni Sihtasutus).

Infrastructure minister: Vladimir Svet

Vladimir Svet is a first time minister for SDE, having only been announced as a candidate last Sunday, the same day he joined the party.

He had previously been a long-term Center Party member and was one of the Tallinn deputy mayors, from November 2021 until April this year.

Svet is a former Lasnamäe, and before that, Kesklinn, district elder. He declined to take up a Riigikogu seat both after the 2019 and 2023 elections, to remain in Tallinn city government.

Eesti 200

Foreign minister: Margus Tsahkna

Margus Tsahkna continues as foreign minister, a role he held in the last government. He has also acted as defense minister (2016-2017) and held the social protection minister portfolio prior to that.

Education and research minister: Kristina Kallas

Kristina Kallas returns as education and research minister. A University of Tartu academic, she has also served on the city council in Estonia's second-largest town. She co-founded Eesti 200 and was its leader until October 2022. 

Justice and digital affairs: Lisa-Ly Pakosta

Lisa-Ly Pakosta is another newcomer to government, though she has been an MP 2011-2019 (with IRL, Isamaa's forerunner), and again since the 2023 Riigikogu election, when she ran for Eesti 200.

She is a former commissioner for gender equality and a former director of the National Heritage Protection Board (Muinsuskaitseamet).

What happens next?

On Monday, the new government was given a mandate by the Riigikogu to form a government and then appointed by President Alar Karis. Ministers will take the oath of office in front of the Riigikogu on Tuesday.

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