TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – Estonia’s two largest political parties say they have reached an agreement to form a new government that will be led for the first time in the Baltic country’s history by a female prime minister, who replaced previous cabinet that collapsed into corruption. scandal earlier this month.
The party councils of the opposition, the center-right Reform Party and the ruling. left Center Party would on Sunday be expected to vote for joining a cabinet led by the designated prime minister and chairman of the government, Kaja Kallas.
Both parties are expected to have seven ministerial portfolios in the 14-member government, which will get a 101-seat majority in the Riigikogu parliament.
A joint statement said the Reform Party and the Center Party would form a government that would continue to resolve the COVID-19 crisis effectively, keep Estonia forward-looking and develop all areas and regions of our country. ‘
Earlier this month, President Kersti Kaljulaid, who is expected to appoint Kallas’ cabinet in the next few days, said that tackling Estonia’s deteriorating coronavirus situation and the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic should be an immediate priority for the new government. be.
Kaljulaid instructed Kallas to form the government as her Enterprise and Enterprise Reform Party emerged as the winner of the March 2019 general election in Estonia.
Pending legislative approval, Kallas (43) becomes the first female prime minister in the history of the small country of 1.3 million, who regained his independence amid the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
A lawyer and former legislator of the European Parliament, she is the daughter of Siim Kallas, one of the creators of the Reform Party, a former Prime Minister and a former Commissioner of the European Union. Kaja Kallas will take the reins at the Reform Party as the first female chair in 2018.
The formation of the government is the second attempt for Kallas in less than two years, as she did not form a government led by the Reform Party after the 2019 election. This paved the way for the arch-rival Center Party and its leader, Juri Ratas, to form a tripartite coalition without the Reform Party.
Ratas and his cabinet resigned on January 13 due to a scandal involving a key official at his Center Party, which is suspected of accepting a private donation for the party in exchange for a political favor for a real estate development in the port district of the capital, Tallinn.
Since November 2016, Estonia’s Prime Minister, Ratas will not be part of the new cabinet. Local media reported earlier that he could become the parliamentary speaker in March.
Estonia has been a member of the European Union and NATO since 2004.