The view of most of the members of Eesti 200 who ERR spoke to this week agreed that Estonia needs a government that is capable of making decisions.

"The worldview tensions that have been baked into this coalition since the elections have now reached a point whereby we need to sit down and look at how to move forward," Tsahkna said.

"In quite a number of areas, including the economy for example, things have stalled. We are still talking about a process that will last months," said party deputy chair Aleksei Jašin.

"The government can't spend nine months discussing measures to ease the economy. The government has to be able to make decisions, and today it cannot," said Daniel Kõiv, a member of Eesti 200's leadership group.

"If decisions that have been agreed then stall inside the government, this inevitably creates discontent," said another party board member Ando Kiviberg.

At a press conference on Thursday, Eesti 200 Chair Kristina Kallas made no secret of where she believes the blame for the problems lies. Other Eesti 200 are also of the same view. "Unfortunately, at the moment, the blame lies with the Social Democratic Party," said Kõiv.

Kõiv: We have a huge labor shortage

Eesti 200's concerns can be roughly divided into three main issues. The first is cutting red tape. Members of the party keep reminding people of two draft regulations. The first is from the Ministry of social Affairs, is supposed to ensure that nail technicians, hairdressers and beauticians will all have to have specialist training.

The second, from the Ministry of Agriculture would regulate, among other things, the information that has to accompany donated food and the ways in which the origin of meat must be explained to restaurant-goers.

The third set of objections also relates to the economy. "Decisions concerning the creation of a skilled labor quota, the implementation of the energy plan, and the adoption of the Competition Act are all pending," Kõiv said.

The same three issues were mentioned by almost every member of Eesti 200 who spoke to ERR.

At the same time, the SDE point out that it was the Eesti 200 that put the brakes on earlier drafts of the competition laws. Since the change of government, Minister of Justice Liisa-Ly Pakosta has drafted her proposals in a way that means rule-breakers would not be subject to administrative fines but instead for misdemeanors. Some SDE members fear the fresh draft could leave the Competition Authority devoid of a suitable toolkit.

On the issue of foreign labor, Social Democratic Party leader Lauri Läänemets wrote on social media that the initiative proposed by Eesti 200 would bring 9,000 new workers to Estonia every year. "We have a huge shortage of jobs," said Daniel Kõiv.

On energy issues, Läänemets suggested looking to the Ministry of Climate

Voting rights

The third topic Eesti 200 are talking about is security. And under this the include voting rights of people with grey passports. Hendrik Terras, chair of the Riigikogu's Constitutional Affairs Committee, hopes to propose an amendment on Tuesday that would mean only Estonian and EU citizens have the right to vote in local elections.

"Four political parties are in favor of only Estonian citizens being able to vote, which means that Russian citizens, Belarusian citizens and people with grey passports will not be able to vote," Terras said. The Center Party opposes everything and the Social Democratic Party is fighting for these grey passports."

Like Terras, Daniel Kõiv believes that the bill, which has already passed two readings in the Riigikogu and means people with grey passports retain voting rights, would be blocked by the opposition.

"In other words, it is a purely pragmatic approach, as the current coalition agreement would not receive support in the Riigikogu, which is why a solution has to be sought in order to prevent citizens of aggressor states from participating in the elections," Kõiv said.

The Social Democratic Party, on the other hand, have reaffirmed that they will stand behind their worldview and the coalition agreement as they have done up to now.

SDE could make U-turn

The list of demands drawn up by Eesti 200 is long enough to ask if it is possible to proceed and how. Alexei Jašin confirmed that such discussions are ongoing between the coalition partners.

"We really need a more right-wing government, and the question is whether the SDE are ready to accept this and implement more right-wing policies, because this is what the situation demands at the moment, or whether, unfortunately, they are not able to do so," said Jašin.

Of course, it is possible for the SDE to reverse the situation. Minister of Health Riina Sikkut and Minister of Regional Affairs Piret Hartman could leave their regulation amendments unsigned. For the Competition Act too.

On the labor issue, Läänemets says he has a compromise offer to propose, and the energy issue will depend on the liability angle in any case. In the case of a change to the Constitution, it would be enough if the draft proposed by Terras is not blocked by the Social Democratic Party.

"In my opinion, it would be great if they support it or at least don't work against it or abstain," said Hendrik Terras. "There are several options and I think this agreement would be a good fit for us."

Numbers would enable two-party coalition

But what happens if a left-wing party does not want to pursue a more right-wing policy? Aleksei Jašin said if there are still obstacles in the way of a deal, they need to be removed. And in principle, a new, more right-wing government could be put together by Eesti 200 and the Reform Party.

"This foundations, in terms of the bigger picture, are in place, in my opinion. After that, there is the r practical question of how many votes there are in the Riigikogu. I think that's where the most thinking will have to be done," explained Jašin.

Eesti 200 has 13 votes in the Riigikogu and the Reform Party has 39. Jašin said that with that kind of math it would be difficult to make a new coalition. "But history shows that it is quite possible," he added.

All the members of Eesti 200 confirmed that they would like to try to make a deal with the Social Democratic Party, at least for the time being. However, talk of a plan B is growing stronger.

"History has shown that there have been many minority governments in times of crisis and war. This is precisely because of the need to take decisions in times of crisis and war," said Daniel Kõiv. "If this is possible with the SDE, then fine. If this is not possible, then we will have to look at how we can ensure we have a government that is capable of making decisions in Estonia."

Eesti 200 politicians are also saying that there is a possibility support for a new right-wing government could come from within the Riigikogu. No names are being discussed in public, but it is often said that in politics, people do talk to each other.

Tsahkna: Ratings show policies not meeting expectations

Toomas Uibo, chair of Eesti 200's Riigikogu group, said governments with narrow majorities have managed before. However, he did not want to speculate further on the issue. "I would rather say to the SDE: be good and get a grip," Uibo said.

Margus Tsahkna also said it is premature to talk about the end of the current coalition, as there was still room for negotiations-

"But it is important for all parties to admit that we have reached a point where we cannot continue in the same way," Tsahkna added. "Because this absolutely does not meet the expectations that entrepreneurs, business people or the Estonian people in general have of us. We can see this from these same opinion polls."

A Kantar Emor poll in February showed that support for the Reform Party had fallen to 14 percent, while the SDE had 13 percent and Eesti 200 just three percent.

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