"I think that Urmas Reinsalu, Helir-Valdor Seeder, Priit Sibul and Riina Solman, and whoever the decision-makers are in that party, in my opinion made a brutal decision that is not in the interests of Isamaa supporters. They could have been part of this government, which is a right-wing government, in terms of how we are reducing the tax burden," Michal said.

"I agree that not everybody is getting everything from this government and the tax burden is still higher than we would like, because the war costs have to be covered somehow and a loan has to be taken. But they could have joined. And instead of standing around to admire their popularity or admire their image, in difficult times, they could have come into the government, put their back into it and help get things done," he added.

"That door certainly remains open. Therefore, I would be hopeful. They would have to come to an understanding among themselves. I would offer them a role, but instead of they believed being popular was better, especially in difficult times. But everyone makes their own choices," Michal said.

Urmas Reinsalu, the chairman of that same committee, said in a reply published on social media that his recommendation is for the government to come to terms with itself.

"Over the past two years, we have seen abstract art-style political tensions in the governance of the state, which only erase what was said months ago. /.../ The line of political tensions is long. Unfortunately, the cost of this kind of stalling is lost time for Estonia and a reduction in the efficiency of the functioning of society. /.../ For Isamaa to become an advocate of this policy would be a betrayal of trust in itself, in Kristen Michal and in the Estonian people," Reinsalu wrote.

No overview of possible criminal investigation expected

Michal was asked whether, as prime minister, he has received an exhaustive overview from the Prosecutor's Office regarding a possible investigation into Isamaa's funding.

"The prime minister does not ask for overviews like that. If the prime minister is briefly informed that something might happen in a certain area, the prime minister is not engaged in the details," Michal replied.

"It is difficult for me, as the head of the executive, to say that the Prosecutor's Office, which is an independent body, should provide explanations to the executive. The quality of the work done by the Prosecutor's Office is controlled by the courts. The court decides whether its activity was adequate and later, the public or, for example, the Riigikogu committees can discuss it," he added.

"In (Estonian news outlet) Eesti Ekspress, it was nicely spelled out in a document, which Isamaa said was classified and could not be revealed. So, it turned out that Isamaa probably slipped up a little bit for all of us. That's the first thing. The same answer was also described in there. And secondly, having been exposed to these kinds of actions as Minister of Justice, the Prosecutor's Office doesn't answer questions like that. That's the way the Prosecutor's Office conducts its investigations," Michal said.

"If you are asking me whether an investigation should be public, then in general, for those investigations where it is possible to be public and share information with the public, it is certainly worth it. However, I, as the head of the executive, cannot interfere in that. It would be a very strange state of affairs if the head of the executive said, 'Conduct this investigation in one way or the other'. We don't want a state like that," the prime minister added.

Michal was then asked what might happen if Reform's government coalition partners Eesti 200 were to collapse after this fall's local elections.

The prime minister said it was unlikely that would lead the drafting of yet another coalition agreement. "Eesti 200 have also nicely outlined that their priority is the 2027 [Riigikogu] elections," he said.

Will there be a supplementary budget?

Michal said that next week the government will debate defense issues and that the possibility of a supplementary budget has not been ruled out.

"The defense minister and the finance minister will present their visions on how to raise defense spending in the future, and defense investment is probably the point from which we will start this debate. I am not yet promising that there will be a supplementary budget, it would perhaps be premature to promise that. I will only promise it if and when we have agreed that we will have a supplementary budget. The prime minister will not make empty promises before that. We will certainly look at what is needed in the defense sphere and see whether there is a way or the capacity in the defense area to spend more money more quickly and get the things that are needed. If we need to change the budget in order to do that, then we will change the budget. Defense is the absolute basis from which all our activities start," Michal said.

According to Michal, €1.6 billion for the purchase of ammunition will also be included in the state budget strategy (RES). "We will probably write as much as we can into it, and it may exceed €1.6 billion for ammunition and other capabilities. It very much depends on what can realistically be procured in that time," he continued.

"We will be primarily driven by the need to spend on defense and will round the RES and also the budget if necessary. We will have that discussion next week," Michal said.

Ways to raise teacher salaries could be sought

Speaking about the current coalition negotiations between the Reform Party and Eesti 200, Michal said the talks are now at the stage where the main issues have been identified, and experts, interest groups and market participants are being consulted. "After that we will have the first [version of the] text. That will then be fed back and I would expect that we could have the basic text in place in May," Michal said.

In early April, Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) said she wanted to reach a deal with teachers on pay rises for the next two years.

"The desire and the need teachers' pay rises has been noted. I would rather expect that possibilities will be sought in the coming years. How big those numbers and opportunities will be depends very much on what goes into defense. How quickly the defense sector can use this money and also on other choices regarding the state budget," Michal said, adding that the possibility of a pay rise for teachers could be discussed in August, when the state budget talks begin.

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