The Reform Party announced that its Tallinn group will not join the vote of no confidence against Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE), which is due to happen in the Tallinn City Council meeting on Tuesday.

For Reform, the abolition of kindergarten fees and the approval of a supplementary budget at the council's July 21 session are considered non-negotiables in order for the party to continue in the coalition.

"Our goal was to make primary education in the capital tax-free. In other words, to abolish the kindergarten attendance fee from September 1, 2025. That goal is being achieved. I would like to stress that our preference all along was to do this with the current coalition partners," said Pärtel-Peeter Pere, leader of the Reform Party's Tallinn region.

Pere said that rebuilding trust in the coalition will take some time and a substantial amount of work. "We are determined to be accountable and move forward," he said.

On Monday morning, Tallinn Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) made a formal proposal to the Reform Party , under which they would return to the Tallinn city government alongside the three other coalition parties.

The power tussle in the Estonian capital came to a head on June 2, when the Reform Party put forward a proposal to include the abolition of kindergarten fees in the city's budget.

Pere: Trust can be rebuilt step by step

Pere stressed that for the Reform Party, the focus all along has been on achieving the goal of removing kindergarten fees, and the desire had always been to do so in the current coalition.

According to Pere, Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski is ready to send a draft bill to the city council on Monday to abolish the kindergarten fees from September 1.

If the decision is adopted in the city hall on Monday, Reform will not join in the vote of no confidence against Ossinovski the following day. "From then on, the mayor will restore our seats in the coalition, in the city administration, and reinstate the district mayors he himself threw out. And after that we will move forward along the agreed path with the coalition partners to adopt the supplementary budget and other bills that had been planned out previously," Pere said.

Through taking concrete steps, trust in the coalition can be restored step by step, he added.

When asked whether he felt he could continue in his post after the events of the past month, Pere said the agreement was that if the kindergarten fees were abolished and the Reform Party did not distrust the mayor, business as usual could continue in the running of the capital.

Our focus is on getting the fees abolished," said Pere.

Pere does not plan to leave his position as the leader of the Reform Party in Tallinn and there have been no calls from within the party for him to step down, he said.

"We have a very strong candidate for mayor – Urmas Sõõrumaa – with whom we will stand together in the fall local elections. As always in elections and politics, when election day has come and gone, we will take stock and analyze the results. And if there is a good result, it is a joint team effort, and if there is a bad result, of course the leaders will be held accountable. That is part of the job."

Ossinovski: Restoring trust will take time

Ossinovski said his call for the Reform Party to return to the coalition is the only way to ensure governance in the city remains stable until the local elections in October.

"It is no secret that trust has been seriously damaged over this month and it will take time to rebuild it. That is the work that the partners have to do from going forward," Ossinovski said.

Speaking on Vikerraadio's show "Uudis+" on Monday, Tallinn Deputy Mayor Aleksei Jašin (Eesti 200) said that he would not vote in favor of abolishing kindergarten fees.

Ossinovski is aware of Eesti 200's position, but believes that in the current situation, opposing the Reform Party's proposal is the best way to deal with the situation and avoid the Center Party coming back to power in the city.

The mayor said that in the days following the collapse of the Reform-Center agreement, he had not had time to think about party-political gains or how the power struggle might affect party support in the local elections.

"I have been working to ensure that the City of Tallinn still has some stability until the elections. I think this is the only way to ensure that and that is the basis on which I have taken these steps. How the people of Tallinn will rate the different parties in the local elections, only time will tell," Ossinovski said.

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