Tallinn's reunited coalition to abolish kindergarten fees from September

According to Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski, during its meeting on Monday, Tallinn City Government decided to send a draft decree to the city council for approval, which would abolish attendance fees at Tallinn's municipal kindergartens from September 1.
The session was held on the same day the Reform Party had announced it would accept Ossinovski's offer to re-join to ruling coalition in Tallinn, on condition that kindergarten fees are abolished.
The decision was not unanimous, with neither Eesti 200 nor Isamaa voting in favor.
Aleksei Jašin, deputy mayor for education and head of the Eesti 200's Tallinn branch, previously told ERR that Eesti 200 could not support the abolition of kindergarten fees because representatives of both municipal and private kindergartens were against it.
Jašin added that his coalition partners would know where to find the missing votes to get the decision passed through. It is well-known that the proposal to abolish the nursery school fee has been put forward not only by the Reform Party but also by the Center Party.
Deputy Mayor Kristjan Järvan (Isamaa) said that as long as it was unclear where the full financial backing for the abolition of the fees would come from, Isamaa could not support it.
"On Tuesday, we will pick up where we left off a few weeks ago. /.../ Isamaa's clear condition is that there must be a budget strategy for the city, where we can see, over the long term, what the sources are to cover kindergarten places," Järvan said.
Ossinovski also said that abolishing kindergarten fees would require the city's budget strategy to include sources of funding. Up to now, around half the money needed has been found, and the work will continue, he added. "I am convinced that we can do it. If the will is there, the decision will not be delayed," Ossinovski said.
The city council is expected to vote on the abolition of the nursery fees at its meeting on July 21.
Four coalition parties will not participate in no-confidence vote against Ossinovski
An extraordinary session of Tallinn City Council will be held on Tuesday, with two items on the agenda: a vote of no confidence against Mayor Ossinovski and the appointment of his replacement. With the Reform Party returning to the ruling coalition, the four parties in power – Reform, Isamaa, Eesti 200 and the SDE – will not take part in the vote.
Ossinovski said that this was currently the comon understanding of the four parties in power, and that after tomorrow's council meeting the plan is to restore the mandate Reform's two deputy mayors (Pärtel-Peeter Pere and Viljar Jaamu) and two district mayors (Sander Andla and Doris Raudsepp).
Pärtel-Peeter Pere (Reform) said on Monday that it would not be easy to restore confidence but it can be done step by step.
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Editor: Michael Cole, Marko Tooming