On Wednesday, Julianna Jurtšenko, Mayor of Tallinn Jevgeni Ossinovski, vice-chairman of the Social Democratic Party, and the Tallinn regional board of the Reform Party met to discuss Jurtšenko's candidacy.

"We listened to Jurtšenko and Ossinovski's explanations. We are not going to come to the same final vision, but that is what we have different parties for. We found out that, in theory, we are doing the same thing, i.e. moving to Estonian-language education according to the procedure and at the pace prescribed by law, without any slackening of the rules," Pere told ERR.

"We received assurances from Jevgeni Ossinovski that the city administration will not ask for any relief," he said.

"We feel that we now have an opportunity to meet with our coalition partners. If the Social Democrats want to go ahead with Julianna Jurtšenko, we will discuss it and take a joint decision," Pere added.

"It is a general practice when creating and working with a coalition that one political party does not impose its personnel choice on the other. In this case, fundamental questions have arisen with Julianna Jurtšenko. We got answers. We no longer have to talk about whether Estonia is occupied or whose Crimea is. We agree on these issues. We also agree on the transition to the Estonian language. We have found enough common ground that further cooperation may be possible."

Support unit next to Jurtšenko

Pere said his party had proposed the creation of a unit to support Jurtšenko with the transition to Estonian-language education.

"It would be necessary to consider that, as part of this review, we restructure some of the existing posts in the Lasnamäe district administration in such a way as to support the district mayor in her work on the transition to Estonian-language education," Pere said.

He said the unit could help with supervision or sharing information with schools and parents.

The unit would not supervise the head of the district. "The aim would be to provide a better service, which means that this transition to teaching in Estonian takes place as it should – with quality and without delay. The district mayor reports directly to the mayor, and on such a sensitive issue, the mayor, and our city administration as a whole, will want to know how the transition to Estonian-language education is progressing in Lasnamäe, or in other districts, in September, and what the summary will be by the end of November. We certainly want to get those overviews. But the fact that we are now putting together some kind of support unit that will go and check only the district mayor, I am not sure that it is the wisest idea to have, for example, four people checking the work of one person. Support her. And carry out what the city government has agreed to," Pere said.

Pere said this is not a condition for Jurtšenko to become the elder. "We have not set any conditions," he said.

If SDE does not agree to the idea, then the proposal will not be implemented: "As always in a coalition, we have to decide these things together. And if we come to an agreement together, we will. If we do not, the thing will not fly, which would be a pity," Pere said.

Riina Solman, chairman Isamaa's Tallinn faction, on Wednesday recommended Ossinovski consider other candidates.

SDE: We will find common ground with coalition partners

Jevgeni Ossinovski told ERR that SDE has made its decision.

"I thank you for this very generous suggestion, but I have been considering candidates together with the Social Democrats in the Tallinn region and our candidate is Julianna Jurtšenko," he said.

Ossinovski said that the procedure for appointing the head of the district is as follows: the head of the district who is a person under the direct authority of the mayor is appointed by the city government at the proposal of the mayor, after listening to the opinion of the entire district.

"I have forwarded the nomination of Julianna Jurtšenko to the Lasnamäe district assembly for consideration. As far as I know, this discussion will take place next week. Once it has taken place, the city administration will be able to make this decision," the mayor of Tallinn said.

Ossinovski believes Jurtšenko will receive the support of all three coalition partners.

"In the coalition, we work by consensus. This means that partners agree on all the decisions we take. With our coalition partners, we sit around the same table every day, putting together the city's budget strategy. I am sure that we will find common ground on this issue too," he said.

Eesti 200 still forming position

Deputy Mayor of Tallinn Aleksei Jašin (Eesti 200) told ERR his party does not yet have a position. The party will meet with Jurtšenko on Friday morning or early next week.

"His previous and recent positions, as well as his letter about a month ago, which became public yesterday in the internal list, have caused a lot of skepticism in the attitudes of my good colleagues," said Jašin.

Jašin said the Reform Party has made a support unit – or as Jašin called it a transition working group – a condition on Jurtšenko's appointment.

--

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