President Karis formally dismisses SDE ministers from office
President Alar Karis has formally dismissed the four Social Democratic (SDE) ministers from office following the party's removal from the coalition on Monday.
The president carried out this act in his constitutional role as head of state and at the request of the head of government, Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform), who traveled to Kadriorg to do so.
With SDE out of office and the coalition continuing as a bipartite arrangement made up of Reform and Eesti 200, other continuing ministers will deputize for the departed SDE ministers: Lauri Läänemets, who was interior minister, Riina Sikkut, who was health minister, Piret Hartman (regional affairs minister), and Vladimir Svet (infrastructure minister).
This means that from today, Tuesday, Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur (Reform) will be stand-in interior minister also.
Similarly, Social Protection Minister Signe Riisalo (Eesti 200) will take over the responsibilities of Minister of Health – both positions fall under the Ministry of Social Affairs umbrella.
Minister of Climate Yoko Alender (Reform) will be taking on the regional affairs and agriculture minister tasks, while Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi (Reform) will deputize as infrastructure minister.
The Reform-Eesti 200-SDE administration headed by Kristen Michal was the second coalition in a row made up of these three parties and the 54th government of the Republic of Estonia.
It took office on July 23, 2024, after Kaja Kallas stepped down as prime minister to take up her post as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The current government held 13 ministerial portfolios in addition to the prime minister position.
Under the Constitution, ministers are appointed and dismissed by the president at the proposal of the prime minister.
The Reform-SDE-Eesti 200 coalition collapsed on Monday after SDE leader Lauri Läänemets announced his party had been "thrown out" of government.
Reform and Eesti 200 say plan to continue without a third coalition partner, focusing on more economically right-wing policies that SDE had opposed, even though that coalition's majority is only very slim, 52 seats at the 101-seat Riigikogu compared with the around 65 seats it had prior to the ejection of SDE.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mirjam Mäekivi
