Lippus made her remarks in response to comments the prime minister made to ETV's "Esimene stuudio" earlier this week, amid a rift in the Tallinn coalition between the Reform Party and its coalition partners, SDE, Eesti 200, and Isamaa.

Writing on her social media account, Lippus argued: "It is definitely strange that the prime minister considers it important to criticize the management of Tallinn in such detail. Although Tallinn is highly important, our country's strength also depends just as much on national leaders' good relations with Washington and Brussels — where, unfortunately, the prime minister is reportedly not particularly well known."

The prime minister also seems more interested in poll ratings than in governing the country, she continued.

"And when those ratings aren't favorable, as is the case now, something has to be cobbled together. But those assembled strategies may not be in the wider public interest, including of Tallinn residents, and this appears to be the case now: Where Michal's (not factually correct) talking points about Tallinn's poor governance align with [Center Party chair Mihhail] Kõlvart's main messages."

Contrary to Michal's criticism, many important reforms have been launched and in some cases already completed in the capital over the year or so the coalition has been in office, Lippus continued.

"The most important has been the smoothest possible transition to Estonian-language education," she noted, calling "the first year of transition" in the capital "largely successful."

Closing down city-run and supporting media, a sports funding reform tainted by corruption, rationalization of sports and cultural institutions, and the rekindling of the Tallinn hospital project were among the other gains Lippus listed.

"This performance is not over yet. Let's see how the no-confidence motion against the mayor plays out and whether the Reform Party is even ready to call an extraordinary session anytime soon," Lippus continued, referring to a proposed July council session to process the scrapping of kindergarten fees – the Reform Party policy ostensibly at the heart of the current Tallinn coalition rift.

Lippus also visited the topic of Reform bringing the Center Party back into office in Tallinn, supposedly as a quid pro quo for Center support at the Riigikogu – where the Reform-Eesti 200 only has a slim majority of 52 at the 101-seat chamber, after ejecting SDE from office at the national level in March.

Early in the morning of Monday, June 2, the Reform Party issued a press release calling for scrapping kindergarten fees in the capital – already cut in spring from €71 to €50 per child, per month. When the Center Party presented an identical proposal less than an hour and a half after Reform's, this prompted claims of collusion between the two parties, at the expense of Reform's current coalition partners.

On Thursday evening the coalition jointly voted the supplementary budget which would have included the kindergarten fee abolition off the agenda for its second reading, punting the issue to late next month.

Center and the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) also submitted a motion of no confidence against Ossinovski on Thursday.

Michal, who is also Reform Party leader, appeared on "Esimene stuudio" earlier this week, saying Mayor of Tallinn Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) appeared unable to keep the ruling Tallinn coalition together. Up to then, Reform's deputy mayor in Tallinn, Pärtel-Peeter Pere, had done most of the heavy lifting in terms of proposing the kindergarten fee cut and presenting Reform's positions as against those of its coalition partners.

While Michal's predecessor as prime minister, Kaja Kallas, had a high international profile and went on to become the EU's foreign policy chief, the Estonian prime minister's defined role does not include specifically foreign-oriented communication. The head of government is primarily tasked with supervising the work of that government. In the case of foreign relations, this would be mostly the foreign minister's responsibility, while the head of state, President Alar Karis, constitutionally acts as the highest representative of state in international affairs.

The Reform-SDE-Eesti 200-Isamaa coalition entered office in April last year after a no-confidence motion ousted Mihhail Kõlvart as Tallinn mayor. This ended nearly 20 years of Center Party rule in the capital, mostly on its own, but from late 2021, after Center lost its absolute majority in partnership with SDE.

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