Pevkur: Ratas should step down as prime minister
Opposition Reform Party chairman Hanno Pevkur believes that Prime Minister Jüri Ratas, who is chairman of the Center Party, should resign due to a stream of ongoing and new scandals involving members of his party.
"There seems to be no end to the scandals of the Center Party," said Pevkur. "Savisaar's corruption scandal, the lying scandal that led to the resignation of [Minister of Rural Affairs] Martin Repinski, [Minister of Education and Research] Mailis Reps' Sputnik scandal, [Tallinn acting mayor] Taavi Aas' Linnahall corruption scandal, Oudekki Loone and Olga Ivanova's May 9th scandal, the NATO scandal that led to [Minister of Public Administration] Mihhail Korb's resignation, [Tallinn deputy mayor] Arvo Sarapuu's waste corruption scandal and [MEP] Yana Toom's repeated visits with war criminal [Syrian President] Assad demonstrate vividly that Jüri Ratas is not in control of what is happening in the government or in his party."
Pevkur also criticized the Center Party for its differing messages to Estonian and Russian media, which continue to move in opposite directions. "They need to decide which direction they represent," he said. "It is not possible to be in the Estonian government with pro-Kremlin and pro-European messages simultaneously."
Editor: Aili Vahtla
