“There seem to be no major problems,” Mõis said, commenting on the work on a common platform for the upcoming local polls on Oct. 15.

Asked what advantages he sees for himself and Urmas Sõõrumaa, Mõis said that their coalition would be the one force on the Tallinn city council ready to cooperate with everyone. “The sooner this starts, the better,” he said.

Mõis had previously worked with businessman Urmas Sõõrumaa to get a list going they were calling “Active Tallinn”. On Friday last week they announced that they would meet with Savisaar, who himself was preparing to run on an independent list as well.

Mõis told Vikerraadio that their objective was to put an end to the status quo, where typically a ruling party was constantly fighting its opposition on the city council. “We think that if we’re bigger we’re more visible and more competitive. This will get us the best election result, and after that we’ll have a greater influence on city life,” Mõis said.

Commenting on the common platform of the new coalition, he added that there were likely no major issues to overcome. One matter where his and Savisaar’s opinions had greatly diverged at an earlier point was that of the city-controlled communal bank, which Mõis wasn’t enthusiastic about.

But as Mõis pointed out, Savisaar had already dropped the bank from his platform, and was now advocating cheaper loans offered to city residents by one of Tallinn’s existing banks instead.

What Mõis would do instead is to have the city buy stock of a local bank, e.g. LHV, and use the dividend income earned on that stock for the city’s activities in the field of social services.

Neither “Active Tallinn” nor Savisaar were expecting to submit to the other, but would write a new platform together instead, Mõis added.