The Social Democrats (SDE) invited potential Tallinn coalition partners for talks Monday morning, but one of those parties, Isamaa, declined the offer. The meeting was canceled around 9.30 a.m. Monday.

Isamaa also put the talks on pause over the weekend, while party chair Urmas Reinsalu was abroad. The party has faced criticism for this continued delay.

Speaking to "Terevisioon" Tuesday morning, Ossinovski said: "It is not my place to provide Isamaa advice, but the first city council meeting is to convene on November 15, where the council chair must be elected. After that, city leaders must be appointed and next year's city budget must be approved, within a few weeks, at the level of the city government. Plus, the budget of the city of Tallinn is not the budget of Ruhnu municipality, where you can look through ten lines in a couple of days. This is a somewhat more involved job. For this reason, coalition talks should get underway this week. Without that, it will start to affect the actual management and development of the city."

Though SDE and Isamaa representatives are set to meet Tuesday, Ossinovski said it is unlikely that either side will learn anything new.

"Bearing in mind that we've been in office together in Tallinn for a year and a half, if colleagues want to meet, then of course we can meet. However, I doubt whether these meetings will determine whether coalition talks will start. If you look at the questions that were sent by Isamaa to the various parties, they are a mish-mash of individual issues on various topics," he went on.

The mayor also cast doubt on how much of a deal breaker the "wrong" answer to those questions would be, for Isamaa.

This would be unlikely to "determine the very black-and-white value decision of whether to bring the Center Party back to power in Tallinn or to continue with the four-party coalition," Ossinovski said.

Cross-spectrum, left-right coalitions are common in Estonia's political culture nationally and locally, Ossinovski went on, adding "despite ideological differences, they manage to strike agreements and govern together." The necessary compromises "can only be done at a common table, not by writing letters to each other," he went on.

Ossinovski rejected claims that Isamaa is using the delay to push to get the Tallinn mayoral position, and suggested there are differing opinions within Isamaa on the issue of a potential bipartite coalition with the Center Party in Tallinn.

Ossinovski said the latter outcome was hard to swallow given Isamaa's pre-election campaigning focused hard on a vote for the party being a way of blocking Center from returning to office.

He called the continued wavering by Isamaa "incomprehensible," given its entering a four-party coalition with SDE, Parempoolsed, and Reform would do just that, i.e., keep Center out of office.

While a minority coalition has been in office in Tallinn since July, Ossinovski said a continued minority government was "unlikely."

Isamaa chair: Talks in Tallinn are underway, all parties involved

Isamaa leader Urmas Reinsalu told ERR Monday evening that the talks will continue this week despite the rejection of meeting with SDE, Reform, and Parempoolsed Monday morning.

Reinsalu said that "talks are being held in written form as well as through ongoing consultations," while there is no need to rush into a deal, as the new council does not convene until mid-November, and the current, minority coalition remains functional.

The Isamaa chair also asked "for some understanding" and that treating the mandate given to them by the votes "arrogantly" would lead to a deepening of a crisis.

Late last week, Isamaa sent a 15-point questionnaire to all parties elected to Tallinn city council on October 19.

The party has received "written responses of varying substance," he said.

Reinsalu also downplayed the role of a recent survey by the Institute for Societal Studies which found 70 percent of Isamaa voters in Tallinn would prefer a coalition with Center, noting that such polls are based only on the mood of the moment.

Isamaa Tallinn chief: Both coalition options have their pros and cons

Isamaa's Tallinn district chair Riina Solman told Aktuaalne kaamera that both coalition options, i.e., Isamaa-Center and SDE-Isamaa-Reform-Parempoolsed, the latter dubbed 'SIRP' ("Sickle") in the media, have their pros and cons.

In the case of the four-party coalition, the issues are mainly communal and utility issues, while with Center the main question marks concern the pace of transition to Estonian-language education and the presence of Soviet-era symbols in the urban space, according to Solman.

Solman said a third option, of Isamaa rejecting both coalition options and remaining in opposition, has no support within the party's leadership.

Isamaa, Center answer each other's questionnaires

As of Tuesday lunchtime Isamaa and Center had answered each other's questions in full.

Solman said her party was publishing its answers to the Center questions, which focused on infrastructure, housing, sports facilities, the place of the Estonian language in education and in the capital more broadly and the planned Tallinn hospital, in the interests of transparency.

Center Party deputy chair and MP Lauri Laats, meanwhile, said that the parties will likely meet in the middle of the week, adding that the party has its answers to Isamaa's 15 questions ready. Center has also issued its own questions to Isamaa.

SDE had spearheaded the call for four-party talks; Parempoolsed has said it wants clarification from Isamaa itself, while Reform's mayoral candidate, Maris Lauri "is also in a somewhat wait-and-see position," according to Solman.

Background:

The Center Party won 37 seats, SDE 17, and Isamaa 11, at the October 19 elections, with a majority requiring 40 seats.

Isamaa has become an apparent "kingmaker" thanks to its offers from both sides.

Ossinovski on Monday had already criticized the delay, urging Isamaa to make a "value-based decision" about whether to join the coalition or support Center Party, and called for clarity and face-to-face meetings.

Parempoolsed leader Lavly Perling labeled Isamaa's delay as "irresponsible."

A four-party coalition made up of Isamaa, SDE, Reform, and Eesti 200 entered office in Tallinn in spring 2024, ending nearly 20 years of Center Party rule in the capital, most of it in office alone.

The current coalition in summer became embroiled in a squabble about kindergarten fees, culminating in Reform leaving office in July. This apparent instability has led to caution in some quarters of a return of a four-party coalition, this time with Parempoolsed, even as there is resistance to Center returning to office.

Parempoolsed won its first Tallinn seats at the recent elections. Eesti 200 and EKRE, the latter seen as a potential coalition partner for Center, won no seats.

Editor's note: This piece was updated to report that Isamaa and Center had answered the questions the two parties had for each other.

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