However, Reform's deputy mayor, Pärtel-Peeter Pere, said no such agreement was made.

The issue of kindergarten fees is one of the main sticking points in a recent spat within the ruling Tallinn coalition, with three of the parties, Isamaa, the Social Democrats (SDE) and Eesti 200, lined up against the Reform Party.

The supplementary budget in Tallinn passed its first reading the week before last.

Leading politicians from the capital's ruling coalition met on Monday morning: From SDE, Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski and Deputy Mayor Kaarel Oja from SDE, Kase and Sven Sester from Isamaa, Tallinn deputy mayor Pärtel-Peeter Pere and Õnne Pillak from the Reform Party, and Aleksei Jašin from Eesti 200, another deputy mayor.

Kase told ERR after the meeting that the representatives of Isamaa, SDE, and Eesti 200 had asked the Reform Party whether their goal was to find a solution to abolish kindergarten fees within the current coalition, or with the Center Party, for years the dominant party in Tallinn but now in opposition, instead.

Kase said: "Everyone agreed to try to find a joint solution concerning changes to the earlier agreement."

"But bringing the Center Party back to power just months before the election was not the wish of the three parties. And today it turned out that it's not the Reform Party's wish either," he continued.

Kase added that an agreement was made that the supplementary budget bill would be removed from this week's council agenda. This would also eliminate the question of how the Reform Party would vote on a similar proposal from the Center Party.

"Now we have a month to find a solution and funding sources, but that requires work from everyone, not just throwing about around slogans about what needs to be done. On that understanding, we parted ways this morning," Kase concluded.

Pere: No agreement made to pause supplementary budget process
Reform's Tallinn deputy mayor, Pärtel-Peeter Pere, however, has said no agreement to pause the supplementary budget process for a month has been made, adding his party wants the proposal, to abolish kindergarten fees, to be adopted at this coming Thursday's city council meeting.

However, Deputy Mayor Pere interpreted the meeting and its outcome in quite a different way, posting on social media his third critical message about coalition partners in a short space of time.

Pere wrote: "No, the Tallinn city government did not agree on Monday morning to postpone the supplementary budget to the second half of summer. I spoke about abolishing the kindergarten fee, and we also discussed potential funding sources and the city's budget strategy. Then a few hours later, we read in the newspaper that the mayor is once again talking about postponing, and not even in definite terms."

Pere added that he does not support delaying the abolition of kindergarten fees, or removing the second reading of the supplementary budget from Thursday's city council meeting.

"We want to abolish the kindergarten fee according to the original plan and to adopt the supplementary budget at Thursday's council meeting, as the budget also includes other important items, such as additional support for Estonian-language education. Actions matter, not words," Pere went on.

He further criticized his coalition partners by saying that a year of working with them had demonstrated how important matters are constantly getting postponed.

Originally, the city council's finance committee had been supposed to meet on Monday evening to discuss both the supplementary budget and the kindergarten fee abolition proposals, but with the postponement to July, this item was due to be removed from the committee agenda.

With Reform's different understanding of things, uncertainty remained in the afternoon about whether the finance committee would be discussing the budget at 5 p.m. or not.

Anatomy of the Tallinn power crisis

The current rift in the capital's ruling coalition broke out last Monday when the Reform Party announced, at 6:30 a.m., that it would propose abolishing kindergarten fees within the supplementary budget, a plan which met no support from coalition partners.

However, less than 90 minutes later, the opposition Center Party made an identical proposal, prompting speculation that the two parties were potentially eyeing a future coalition.

A sharp public exchange of opinions followed all week between SDE, Isamaa, and Eesti 200 on one side and the Reform Party on the other.

While Eesti 200, SDE, and Isamaa charged Reform with working to bring Center back to power, a party which has had three criminal convictions to its name, the Reform Party accused its partners of blocking a key election promise.

Pere personally accused mayor Ossinovski of failing to implement significant reforms, prioritizing his own party's agenda and then almost everything demanded by Isamaa.

Eesti 200, SDE, and Isamaa have also accused Reform of halting bills and using no-confidence votes as a way of making threats.

The latest Norstat poll shows Center leading in Tallinn with 36 percent support, followed by Isamaa (16.2 percent), Reform (15.5 percent), and SDE (14.5 percent).

At the 79-member capital city council, the Center Party would get 31 seats, Isamaa 13, the Reform Party 13, SDE 12, EKRE six mandates, and Parempoolsed four seats.

While Center on that basis would be set to win the local elections, meaning receiving the largest number of seats of any party they would need a coalition with Reform, Isamaa, or SDE to take power, in other words, they would not have an absolute majority, as they had had for many years up to the last local elections in 2021.

Speculation also points to the narrow majority the current Reform-Eesti 200 national government has at the Riigikogu, after expelling SDE from office in March, and uncertainty in relations with Eesti 200.

Several Reform Party representatives have dismissed these claims as political spin by their rivals.

The Reform-SDE-Isamaa-Eesti 200 Tallinn coalition entered office in April 2024, ending nearly 20 years of Center Party rule in the capital.

The local elections take place October 19.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook, Bluesky and X and never miss an update!