It is the responsibility of the Estonian Center Party to lead local governments — and subsequently the Estonian state — out of the deadlock, party chair Mihhail Kõlvart said in a speech delivered Sunday at the party council meeting in Jõgeva.

"We are seeing that both the Estonian state and the city of Tallinn have reached a dead end in their governance. The national and local levels of leadership are closely connected, and as we see in the cases of the national government and the city of Tallinn, incompetent and out-of-touch political forces have taken up key leadership positions," Kõlvart said.

According to him, Prime Minister [Kristen Michal] talks about economic growth by interpreting various figures, but the reality people experience is something entirely different. Kõlvart pointed to a recent news story about the rise in shoplifting as a vivid example of current trends and public sentiment in Estonian society.

"Stores are being forced to tag even coffee beans and energy drinks. Estonia has the highest inflation in the eurozone, and something as basic as food has become a luxury item," he said. "The situation with the vehicle fleet is also critical. Due to the car tax, vehicle sales have dropped to a minimum, and the existing fleet is deteriorating because people can't afford repairs. This is made worse by chronic underfunding of road maintenance," he continued.

For these reasons, the Center Party leader argued that Estonia needs a new national narrative to rally around.

"We've had the drive to join NATO and the European Union — clubs of free nations. We've had the Tiger Leap. But what now?" he asked. "Today, we can't say what Estonia's new narrative is, because that narrative can't be created in party back rooms or government offices. There have been attempts to sell these kinds of top-down stories to the Estonian public, but people don't want narratives that are forced on them. For example, over the years, the government has proposed that we become a green transition test lab — impoverishing ourselves in the name of climate goals while enriching wind energy companies. Now they want to turn us into Europe's central prison instead. Neither makes for a particularly good narrative."

Kõlvart said the local elections this fall will be a dress rehearsal for the parliamentary elections taking place in a year and a half.

"In the run-up to local elections, parties and electoral alliances are quick to make promises, but the truth is that governments led by the Reform Party have slashed local governments' revenue base while saddling them with new obligations they lack the resources to meet," the Center Party chair said.

"It's honest to admit that if we truly want to improve the condition of local governments, the key lies in the 2027 Riigikogu elections. Only then can decisions be made that help sustain life in different regions of the country. But to make that possible, we need to support the Center Party in this fall's local elections, because we have a concrete and workable plan. We will get Estonia's cities, municipalities and villages out of this deadlock — and two years from now, the entire country," Kõlvart promised.

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