Kallas: Reform prepared to take over government
Reform Party chairwoman Kaja Kallas said on Monday that her party is prepared to take over the Estonian government, which remains in crisis since last Friday in connection with the decision over whether to join the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
"Making a decision regarding the UN Global Compact on Migration is the government's job, but recent days' developments unequivocally demonstrate that they cannot handle it," Kallas told BNS on Monday. "When one coalition partner takes the decision to the Riigikogu, they have essentially distrusted Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Centre). If the government wants the Reform Party to carry out their work, they must also handover government responsibility, which the Reform Party is prepared to assume."
The Social Democratic Party (SDE) announced on Monday that it wants to let the Riigikogu decide whether or not Estonia should join the UN migration pact, which was not supported by the government due to the opposition of fellow junior coalition party Pro Patria.
Reform Party parliamentary group chairman Jürgen Ligi also announced his party's preparedness to head the Estonian government. "My main message was that if the government is incapable, we can take over its operation," he wrote on social media after a meeting of Reform's parliamentary group on Monday.
"It seems tempting to give an Estonian view to this issue," he wrote. "When developing the idea further, we have learned of new risks that would accompany bringing [the migration pact] to the Riigikogu, such as the greater binding of the entire agreement. International cooperation is better than non-cooperation, but in our choices, the agreement can only be made in the government. And the prime minister is the one who must assume responsibility for the agreement, and substantively protect his stance for once in his life."
Pevkur: If they don't decide, there is no government
"If the government does not decide and the prime minister does not assume responsibility regarding an issue that is clearly their responsibility, there essentially is no government anymore," former Reform chairman Hanno Pevkur wrote on social media. "A state cannot be led by burying one's head in the sand like an ostrich and thinking that someone else should make these decisions."
The SDE parliamentary group has drawn up a draft statement according to which the Riigikogu would support joining the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. It is to submit the draft on Monday.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla
