Reform's mayoral candidate wants technocratic city government
On Tuesday, Urmas Sõõrumaa, the Reform Party's candidate for the role of mayor of Tallinn, said he wants to form a technocratic city government with no executive politicians. Sõõrumaa also envisions the city government's approach being based on the guidelines of Reform and the Center Party in the council.
"Yesterday I was given the mandate to talk to everyone about what the city's governance could be. I spoke yesterday with the leader of the Center Party Mihhail Kõlvart, and today with Aleksei Jašin from Eesti 200," Sõõrumaa said.
"I understood from Kõlvart that he doesn't want any kind of formal coalition, but he supports peace in the city's governance and a 3 to 4 month work plan. He also supports the abolition of kindergarten fees and the transition to Estonian-language and -friendly education," Sõõrumaa said.
Sõõrumaa also said he was given a mandate on Tuesday to continue talks with a slightly broader team as well as to clarify what their interests and positions are.
"There was also a suggestion to formalize the views of the council or the future mayor," Sõõrumaa said.
"We agreed that it would be apolitical or technocratic. The current mudslinging for the people's money would end. I hope we can reach a good agreement and do a good job of demonstrating it that it might provide a good example for the future," said Sõõrumaa.
"Technocratic governance has been experienced in several European cities, such as Helsinki, where city life is organized according to the wishes of the city council rather than political grandstanding," the mayoral candidate added.
According to Sõõrumaa, there are currently too many deputy mayors, and he hopes to fill all the roles with 2–4 people.
Sõõrumaa added that he also intends to propose that all potential partners support a technocratic city government, with no executive politicians and based on the guidelines of the Reform Party and the Centre Party in the council.
According to Sõõrumaa, cooperation with the Social Democratic Party has not progressed and nor has he had talks with EKRE.
Toomas Kruusimägi (Reform), chair of the Tallinn City Council, added that the impeachment of the current mayor, Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE), will take place after the Song and Dance Festival, with the first opportunity to convene an extraordinary meeting of the council being next Monday (July 7).
"It depends on how Sõõrumaa gets on with finding people," Kruusimägi said.
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