On Thursday afternoon, Riina Solman, head of the party's Tallinn faction, said the party would not interfere with SDE's choice of candidate and that she thought Jurtšenko had changed her views. But after this evening's meeting, the party's messaging changed.

Solman raised concerns about Jurtšenko's previous negative comments on the transition to Estonian language education, which will start next week.

"This is an issue that we consider it essential to discuss with our coalition partners," she stressed.

"For Isamaa, Jurtšenko's statements are a serious problem. The transition to full Estonian-language education will affect the Estonian population unevenly depending on the region. More than a quarter of the parents and students affected by the transition live in Lasnamäe. Therefore, it is important that the elder of the Lasnamäe district carries and promotes the positions agreed in the coalition," the politician said, adding appointing Jurtšenko as the district head sends the wrong signal.

"As Julianna Jurtšenko has questioned the transition to Estonian-language education, we consider it necessary to discuss this issue with our coalition partners," Solman said.

Despite being in office for several months, Tallinn's four-party coalition – SDE, Isamaa, Eesti 200 and Reform – still needs to find an elder for its biggest district, Lasnamäe.

On Wednesday, SDE announced its candidate is former elder and longtime Center Party member Julianna Jurtšenko. She left Center on the same day.

However, Jurtšenko has previously criticized the upcoming widespread education reform that will see Estonian become the only language of instruction in schools. This led to questions that coalition partners may block the appointment, as they did with SDE's last candidate Tatjana Lavrova.

Jašin: Jurtšenko must take back her words

Eesti 200 Tallinn region board member and Tallin's deputy mayor responsible for education Aleksei Jašin told ERR the party has concerns about Jurtšenko's candidacy.

"A member of the Center party who, one and a half months ago, wanted to stop the transition to Estonian-language education, is SDE's candidate for the elder of Lasnamäe district. I deeply doubt that a person's views on such fundamental issues can change in a matter of weeks," he said.

Jašin said he had sent a letter to Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) which lays out the conditions of Eesti 200's support.

"She must say publicly both in Estonian and in Russian that the transition to Estonian-language education is possible and feasible. Eesti 200 will monitor very closely whether and what statements Jurtšenko makes today and tomorrow. This is very important for Eesti 200," Jašin said.

He said they needed to be sure that Jurtšenko would really back the reform when speaking to Lasnamäe's parents and teachers.

Jašin speculated that SDE is trying to win votes from the Russian-speaking community at any cost, and called such behavior questionable.

"It is very difficult to understand their behavior as the most important education reform of the century is at stake," he noted.

Pere: Every person deserves a second chance

Pärtel-Peeter Pere, Reform's Tallinn faction leader, also highlighted Jurtšenko's comments.

He called the Estonian-language education reform the city government's "most important task" and added that Jurtšenko's op-ed last month calling for it to be scrapped was validation that they are on the right path.

"If we are not in a common language space, it is pointless, if not impossible, to talk about common values, attitudes and aspirations. In Estonia, things are done in Estonian. "No" is the right and only answer to the question "Could it be in Russian?". Websites of state and city authorities, notices in shopping centers – in Estonian, please," he said.

However, Pere also said people also deserve second chances.

"Everyone needs to be given a chance. Sometimes a new chance, and so it is in politics. If Jurtšenko really has changed her mind in a very short time, in addition to her party, then good for her," he said, adding her comments caused a lot of backlash at the time.

"A politician has to make decisions and form their worldview not from their own (often home-grown) wisdom, but still make informed and moral decisions, and occasionally change their attitudes in the light of new information or the environment. Even if it gives the impression of u-turning to some voters," Pere added.

But he said clear answers are still needed before the process can move forward.

"There is no getting away from the fact that Jurtšenko's position in the summer was an outrage to society and provoked a lot of reaction. Therefore, it is now necessary to get answers to the question already raised by Ülle Rajasalu, head of the education committee of Tallinn City Council. Namely, is the current reform in the country and the ambitious agenda of the Tallinn City Government a good one or not? Was Estonia occupied or not? Should an Estonian speak Russian or a Russian speak Estonian? Is it still possible to get by in Tallinn without good Estonian?" the politician said.

"In a friendly way, I would just say that the question remains whether the Social Democratic Party no longer gives opportunities to current members, including people with Estonian names. Or why Kirill Klaus, who has done a good job so far as deputy mayor of the Lasnamäe district, was not given a realistic chance," he added.

At the end of July, Jurtšenko – a former Lasnamäe elder between 2022-2024 –published an op-ed in Eesti Päevahleht criticizing the transition to Estonian-language education. Yesterday, she rowed back on her statements, saying her comments were linked to one specific part of the reform.

"My last criticism comes from a time when the government had not yet made concessions for teachers to have extra time and the opportunity to learn the language," she said. Last month, the education ministry introduced one-year contracts for teachers close to passing the B2 language exam.

On Wednesday, Mayor of Tallinn Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) said Jurtšenko has assured him that she supports the transition to Estonian-language education.

"Critical views regarding one or another nuance are understandable to me. I myself have been critical regarding certain nuances at the time when this reform was adopted," he added.

Lasnamäe is Tallinn's biggest district with a population of almost 120,000 – bigger than Estonia's second-largest city Tartu. It has a high share of Russian language speakers and strongly supports the Center Party.

Eesti 200's Kristina Kallas, minister of education, is responsible for the implementation of the language reform.

This article was updated to add comments from Riina Solman and Pärtel-Peeter Pere.

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