TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – Estonia’s two largest political parties say they have reached an agreement to form a new government to be led for the first time in the history of the Baltic country, replacing the previous cabinet that collapsed into a corruption scandal earlier this year. month.
The councils of the opposition party, the center-right Reform Party and the government. The Left Center Party was expected to vote on Sunday in favor of joining a Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister appointed by the Reformation and President Kaja Kallas.
Both parties are expected to have seven ministerial portfolios in the 14-member government, which will bring the majority together in the Riigikogu Parliament with 101 seats.
A joint statement said that the Reform Party and the Center Party “will form a government that will continue to effectively resolve the COVID-19 crisis, keep Estonia forward-looking and develop all areas and regions of our country.”
Earlier this month, President Kersti Kaljulaid, who is expected to nominate Kallas’s cabinet in the coming days, said that dealing with the worsening of the coronavirus situation in Estonia and the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic should be an immediate priority for the new government.
Kaljulaid commissioned Kallas to form the government when his pro-business and pro-entrepreneurship Reform Party emerged as the winner of the March 2019 general elections in Estonia.
Pending the approval of legislators, Kallas, 43, will become the first female head of government in the history of the small Baltic nation of 1.3 million people who regained their independence in the midst of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Lawyer and ex-legislator of the European Parliament, she is the daughter of Siim Kallas, one of the creators of the Reform Party, ex-prime minister and ex-commissioner of the European Union. Kaja Kallas took over the reins of the Reform Party in 2018 as her first female chair.
The formation of the government marks Kallas’ second attempt in less than two years, as she failed to create a government led by the Reform Party after the 2019 election. This paved the way for the arch-rival Centro Party and its leader, Juri Ratas , formed a coalition of three parties without the Reform Party.
Ratas and her cabinet resigned on January 13 because of a scandal involving a senior official from their Center Party, suspected of accepting a private donation to the party in exchange for a political favor for real estate development in the capital’s Tallinn port district. .
Prime Minister of Estonia since November 2016, Ratas will not be part of the new Cabinet. Local media previously reported that he could become president of parliament in March.
Estonia has been a member of the European Union and NATO since 2004.