The lack of willingness to eliminate kindergarten fees is preventing the coalition from moving forward in its current form. On Friday, we will meet with the Reform Party's parliamentary group and leadership to find a solution to this situation.

Tallinn is a wealthy municipality, but neither the state's nor families' budgets are unlimited. That's why we have to make choices and set priorities. Trust within this coalition has fluctuated significantly — we are facing a leadership crisis.

For the Reform Party, children and families are a top priority. We have expected the same or similar focus from our partners. The coalition agreement states that "Tallinn will become the most child- and family-friendly city in Europe."

In the view of the Reform Party's group on the Tallinn City Council, unfortunately, the mayor and our coalition partners are not supporting this goal. We can no longer continue with the current mayor, nor can the city's leadership crisis be resolved with him in office.

To ensure the elimination of kindergarten fees, the necessary €3 million could have been found this year. The budget strategy could have been further discussed in August and September. But the political will, sadly, is not there.

Eliminating kindergarten fees is a choice — and also an opportunity. We have raised this opportunity repeatedly, from the moment we took office to the most recent supplementary budget amendment proposals. We offered concrete solutions for how to reallocate the budget in favor of children's needs — such as cutting back on tree-planting this year or reducing bureaucracy and merging departments next year. You have rejected our proposals.

The broader governance of Tallinn has fallen into disarray. The city continues to position itself in opposition to the state, even though that era was supposed to be over. The transport sector is under Isamaa's leadership, yet we read in the papers that one of the most important traffic junctions in Harju County is being scrapped — along with €4 million in funding. Bus lanes are disappearing. There is confusion in traffic planning and the city failed to prepare for the arrival of mini-mopeds for an entire year.

There are problems elsewhere too. The Russian Cultural Center should have scrapped its propaganda-filled entertainment imported from the East already last year. Instead, the Social Democrats have dragged their feet and presented conditions — one moment involving St. Catherine's Church, the next involving the Salme Cultural Center.

This city government has failed to hit the mark. And that's unfortunate, because everyone hoped we could bring about real change in the way Tallinn is governed. Yes, we started strong — with the dismantling of the propaganda department and the transition to Estonian-language education, for instance. But at this point, the reality is that we will not eliminate kindergarten fees in Tallinn with this coalition. That is a fact. This has also been confirmed by Eesti 200's public statements in the media.

You've made your offer, but we cannot accept a half-measure. We have been working toward eliminating kindergarten fees since 2017, raised the issue during coalition talks last fall and brought it to the table in discussions about both the 2025 budget and the supplementary budget. Still, nothing. We see no way to support the supplementary budget if it does not include the elimination of kindergarten fees. This is about choices and this is our choice.

Now we must look for solutions to continue governing the city in a way that enables faster decisions and meaningful change. On Friday, we will meet with the Reform Party's Tallinn leadership and parliamentary group and present a proposal for how to resolve the leadership crisis.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook, Bluesky and X and never miss an update!