Eesti 200 to vote against Reform's 'pre-election populism' on kindergarten fees
Eesti 200 has said it will vote against its coalition partner Reform's policy of abolishing kindergarten fees in Tallinn, calling it "populism" ahead of this October's local elections.
Eesti 200's Tallinn branch says the move would deprive families in the capital of kindergarten spots and endanger the quality of early childhood education.
Eesti 200 deputy mayor and the party's chief in Tallinn, Aleksei Jašin, said: "Eesti 200 will not go along with the Reform Party's pre-election populism, which offers flashy promises but leaves the most important questions unanswered — how to ensure there are sufficient places in Tallinn's kindergartens, competent staff, and a high-quality learning environment."
The Reform-Eesti 200-SDE-Isamaa coalition has been in office in the capital since March 2024, while Eesti 200 and Reform are in office together at the national level as well.
Eesti 200 put the cost to the city budget of abolishing kindergarten fees in Tallinn at over ten million euros.
At the same time the party said it is prepared to return to discussions about scrapping the fee, currently at €50 per child per month, provided that kindergarten assistant teachers and support specialists in Tallinn get increased wages, that access to services for children with special educational needs are improved, and that new kindergarten places are quickly created in the capital.
The issue has been at the heart of a split in the Tallinn coalition since late last month, gaining pace when the Reform Party said it would add the fee abolition to the under-process supplementary budget, estimated at a cost of €3 million from September to December this year.
Since the Center Party proposed just an hour and a half later to scrap kindergarten fees in Tallinn, this prompted charges of collusion and even an effort to set up a Reform-Center coalition in Tallinn ahead of the October elections.
Last Thursday, coalition partners opted to postpone the issue to the second half of July, with a Tallinn City Council session needing to be called on an extraordinary basis to vote on the supplementary budget, and with it the abolition of kindergarten fees in Tallinn.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook, Bluesky and X and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mirjam Mäekivi
