Six weeks of chaos in Tallinn City Council ended this week after the coalition lost a vote to scrap kindergarten fees for all children in the capital. Rumors of a deal between Center, who led the council for two decades and were voted out last summer, and Reform were rife.

As a result, Reform's rating has dropped to 10 percent in Tallinn. Analysts place the blame almost solely on the party for its miscalculated gamble in the run-up to the local elections in October. Reform has now left the governing coalition.

On Thursday, Michal apologised to the party's supporters.

"I certainly apologize to the supporters of the Reform Party and to people across Estonia. We clearly did not handle this well. As party chair, this is certainly my responsibility, perhaps not as prime minister, but certainly as party leader," he said at the government's weekly press conference.

"The team in the Tallinn region definitely needs more support—I know this, I've done this work for 11 years. And I fully intend to step up my efforts now," he added.

Michal also defended Pärtel-Peeter Pere, Reform's Tallinn faction chair and former deputy mayor, who was at the center of recent events and widely criticized.

"I've consciously avoided looking over the shoulders of the regional leaders, and I think Pärtel was treated very unfairly. He took a stand for something he believed in, and he was definitely wronged," the party chair said.

"In my view, local power turbulence has turned into a crisis of values, and I believe that is a very bad thing. And that has also affected support for the Reform Party," Michal continued. "When you are facing a crisis of worldview within your party and you have to choose between concrete promises, actions, and values, then values must come first," he added.

Correction and change

Michal also said he agreed with party member Liina Kersna, who wrote on social media that correction and change are needed at the local level, especially in terms of values.

"In my opinion, what we have stated on a national level — and perhaps it deserves to be said more loudly — is that we will never form a government with the Center Party or EKRE. That probably needs to be said clearly in Tallinn as well. It seems to me that this has gone unspoken, and that has created a somewhat ambivalent situation where our supporters no longer recognize us," the Reform Party leader stressed.

Michal recalled his time on the Tallinn city council and his confrontations there with the current Center Party Chairman Mihhail Kõlvart.

"I would say that the Reform Party's position will improve if we make our decisions and actions clearly based on values. As for the people and decisions in Tallinn, those are made by the Tallinn regional board. They will make those decisions themselves; I will certainly offer my opinion. But as I've already said, our positions here must be strongly grounded in values. Otherwise, I do not see how people will feel they can trust us with their vote," Michal concluded.

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