Jonatan Vseviov, the longtime secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a security expert who has announced he is joining the Social Democrats, criticized the current government and Prime Minister Kristen Michal's leadership at a press conference Thursday, saying they lacked sharpness of mind, intellectual breadth and the courage to assert themselves.

Michal responded to Vseviov's criticism in broader terms.

"I think it's very good that Jonatan has entered politics. When I think about people who want to have a say and contribute, it's very good that they enter politics. It would be rather peculiar if people just wrote poetry and kept it in a drawer — not that there's anything wrong with that. Writing poetry and keeping it in a drawer is fine, too. But if you actually want to engage in politics, you have to do it in politics. So I certainly welcome Jonatan's arrival," Michal said at the government's press conference.

"And I'll add something on a personal note. I understand that he may have been given a few Social Democratic talking points. I think we'll certainly have better cooperation with the Social Democrats led by Jonatan Vseviov. I really do. So I'm genuinely pleased. I understand it might not seem logical for me to be happy about a political rival, but I actually am," Michal said.

SDE head Lauri Läänemets said at the Social Democratic Party's press conference that he would remain the party's leader. Michal's reference to the Social Democrats being led by Vseviov can therefore be interpreted as a jab at the party's current chairman.

"Second, I want to thank him for his work on foreign policy. We've done a great many things together. Some really impressive things. We've shared all the highs and lows of Estonian foreign policy and I want to thank him for that. We've carried that responsibility together," he added.

"And third, I understand that there's one recurring point in the Social Democrats' talking points, which I also noticed during Monday's confidence vote. They say Estonia's economy is on the wrong track. I heard something similar from that press conference, that Estonia's economy is supposedly heading for catastrophe or something along those lines. Well, it isn't. This year, Estonia's economy is growing twice as fast as the European Union average. I think that should be written in the corner at every press conference and we should say: Friends, let's start with that. I'm not just talking about the economy in general — Estonians' incomes have increased, precisely because of what we did with income tax reform: We eliminated the tax hump created by the progressive income tax system introduced by the Social Democrats, the Center Party and Isamaa," Michal said.

Michal added that the Reform Party and the Social Democrats would not find common ground on economic issues, but said cooperation was possible on foreign and security policy.

Both Lauri Läänemets and Vseviov said Estonia needs to do more to assert itself on the international stage and in various discussions concerning security. In their view, the country's current leadership has failed to achieve this.

"After all, we've all worked on foreign policy together. Jonatan, myself, Margus [Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna — ed.] and everyone else, including the presidents. If I look at the issues that matter to us, first of all, Russian assets have been permanently frozen since the end of last year. From our perspective, that's a very good result. Previously, we had to vote on extending the freeze every three or six months. Should our voice be heard? I think it has been. When it comes to the shadow fleet, we took the lead. I even remember criticism at home and I remember going to parliament where I think it was either EKRE or the Center Party trying to argue that we shouldn't be bothering these honest ships sailing to and from Russia. Why were we harassing them? They said the whole thing was suspicious and some even claimed we were about to trigger World War III. But then [French President] Emmanuel Macron came up to me and said they were doing the same thing and they also detained a ship that we had already detained. Then the Americans came along and said, 'Good, let's get to work.' I don't know, is that good or not? I think it is. I'm personally satisfied and I think it was the right thing to do," Michal said.

"Then there are Russian fighters. This is something we're all working on, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working on, Jonatan has worked hard on it, Margus has worked on it, I've worked on it and I think many others have as well. The result is that European countries are seriously discussing, at the European Council summit I'm attending, how to put an end to Russians vacationing in Europe — the very same people who are killing women and children. We want to stop issuing them visas. Finland has joined us, Petteri Orpo [the Finnish prime minister — ed.] has made such a proposal and many other countries have come on board. I think the countries where Russians go on vacation are clearly moving in that direction as well," Michal said.

"I'm not sure how you would measure that. I also read an article by Lauri Läänemets, again featuring Social Democratic talking points, in which he said Kaja Kallas used to exchange messages with Macron. But here's a candid admission: I exchange messages with Macron more often than I do with Lauri Läänemets. It's actually quite funny," Michal added.

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