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.

"If in the past I have always said that this coalition has not achieved anything, there is nothing to write down, then today there is one achievement – namely, that one new institution has been created, and that is the municipal circus," Center Party leader Mihhail Kõlvart said.

According to Kõlvart, it is not only the Reform Party that have performed a U-turn, but the Social Democratic Party (SDE) too.

"It was sad to see how the honorable mayor came out with a statement that the Reform Party's participation in the coalition and in the city administration was always problematic, and now we see that it was perhaps even criminal but then after a few hours he says that he expects the Reform Party representatives back in the city administration. This is the kind of politics we have seen in Tallinn for the last year and a half," Kõlvart said.

Asked whether Reform has also been trying to build cooperation with the Center Party to contest the elections in coalition, Kõlvart said he had met the Reform Party chair a few months ago, but had also met the leaders of other parties.

"I don't see that the Reform Party is interested in any conceptual cooperation with the Center Party. Whether they were prepared to actually be in opposition for the next 3 months, or to introduce free kindergartens with the votes of EKRE and the Center Party, is difficult for me to comment on. It was probably a contingency plan. But it seems that they were able to negotiate for their own needs within the coalition in this way," Kõlvart said.

Whether the Reform Party has damaged its reputation as a result of the power struggle is ultimately up to the voters to decide, Kõlvart said. "When we proposed free kindergarten places on behalf of the Center Party, we didn't think that our proposal would become such a political show. That was the usual behavior of the opposition, a proposal we made last year."

The Center Party has not ruled out cooperation with other parties in Tallinn after the  local elections this October.

"What kind of coalition will emerge after the elections will probably depend a lot on the mathematics. Unfortunately, we cannot rule out a scenario whereby 3 or 4 parties once again form a similar coalition and we will see more disorder and incompetence in the future," he said.

Asked whether they would be ready to govern Tallinn alongside EKRE if the two parties were to win a majority in the city after the elections, Kõlvart said he could not rule out cooperation with any party.

"I think that coming to power today is not only the wish of the Center Party, but an obligation," he said, reiterating that the capital is now in a state of disarray.

Kõlvart did say it would be difficult to cooperate with the SDE but that there is always space for negotiations to take place. "That would probably mean that there is either no Ossinovski or no Kõlvart at the table," he said.

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