The Tallinn City Council's attempt to abolish kindergarten fees failed on Monday, as the Center Party, EKRE, and Eesti 200 did not vote in favor. Thirty-seven council members voted in favor of the regulation, and thirty-seven voted against.

Both the Reform Party and the Social Democrats blame Eesti 200 for the failure, saying the party reneged on a coalition agreement.

Kallas told ERR on Tuedsday: "There was no such agreement. When the discussion arose that the Reform Party wanted to return to the coalition, I personally spoke with Jevgeni Ossinovski and told him, 'You understand that we do not support abolishing kindergarten fees and we will not vote in favor of it.' 'Yes, yes, I understand that, that makes perfect sense, I understand your position. Let it pass through the city government, let it go to the council, and it will be voted through there.' That is word-for-word my conversation with Jevgeni Ossinovski at the moment when the Reform Party wanted to return to the coalition."

She said the party was against the measure from the start. "This has been a matter of principle for us from the start—we have never changed our position," Kallas added.

Ossinovski told ERR that an agreement struck between coalition members Isamaa, SDE, Reform, and SDE was supposed to pass several proposals without opposition support. Eesti 200 was supposed to stay neutral over the fees issue, he said.

"There was no such agreement that we would be neutral, that we wouldn't vote—that kind of agreement didn't exist. It was known that they planned to push it through with opposition votes," Kallas added.

Kindergarten fees a 'scapegoat'

The chairman could not say why Reform leaders in Tallinn and Ossinovski are blaming Eesti 200 for the bill's failure.

"Yesterday Jevgeni Ossinovski blamed the Center Party; today he has decided to start blaming Eesti 200. Yesterday he didn't blame us. Yesterday he told Delfi that it was known that Eesti 200 would vote against. That was his statement. But that the Center Party was supposed to vote in favor. Today he has a different opinion. This is pure political game-playing. It's sad to watch," she said.

"This is not really about kindergarten fees. Kindergarten fees and early education are being used as a scapegoat. For us, playing politics with education is completely unacceptable. I don't know how we move forward from here," Kallas, who is also education minister, added.

"The mayor changes his position overnight, the Reform Party is just playing power games. We've never once had a discussion in Estonian society about what effect abolishing kindergarten fees would actually have on early education," said Kallas.

Kallas called on Tallinn coalition partners to start discussing what impact kindergarten fees actually have on early education in the city.

"We've never once publicly discussed what long-term effect a 'free' kindergarten has on the quality of early education. Of course, it's not free, as yesterday's council vote showed — opposition to the idea began the moment it became clear who the other party would be footing the bill: tenants in rental housing, IT staff in schools. We've never discussed whether a 'free' kindergarten actually improves families' situations given today's cost of living. We haven't discussed whether it even brings the desired reduction in child-rearing costs," the education minister said.

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