Estonia’s three-party coalition of the Estonian Reform Party, Social Democratic Party (SDE), and Estonia 200 has published its new coalition agreement, ERR reports. Under the agreement, the coalition pledges to cut the budget deficit to 3% of GDP in 2025 and 2026, and to reduce it further in 2027. The new government will raise most…
The Estonian Reform Party will appoint MP Jürgen Ligi as the new finance minister in the incoming three-party coalition government, outgoing Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev announced, ERR reports. Ligi served as defence minister in 2005-2007 and finance minister in 2009-2014. He has also served as foreign minister and education minister. Moreover, Võrklaev said that Reform…
Estonia’s ruling parties have agreed that the Social Democratic Party (SDE) will gain an additional ministerial portfolio in the new three-party coalition, Health Minister Riina Sikkut of SDE announced, ERR reports. At the moment, the Estonian Reform Party has five ministers and the post of prime minister, while SDE and Estonia 200 (E200) have three…
Estonia’s three ruling parties are likely to draw up a new coalition agreement by 19 July 2024, the Estonian Reform Party’s candidate for prime minister, Kristen Michal, stated, ERR reports. He said that the three parties had already agreed on the majority of the text in the most important policy areas: competitiveness, growth, public finances,…
Estonia has implemented an EU-wide ban on the entry of vehicles registered in Belarus, ERR reports. The new restriction does not apply in humanitarian cases and to cars with diplomatic licence plates. Latvia and Lithuania are implementing similar bans. Estonia’s Foreign Minister, Margus Tsahkna, noted that the Belarusian regime was directly contributing to Russia’s war…
A potential cholera case has been recorded in Estonia for the first time in over 30 years, according to the Estonian Health Board (Terviseamet), ERR reports. A child who was hospitalised in Tallinn after returning from overseas tested positive for cholera. Another child from the same family who developed similar symptoms was hospitalised as well….
The number of babies born in Estonia totalled 4,922 in the first half of 2024, which was 7% fewer than in the same period of 2023, according to preliminary data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Statistics Estonia expects monthly births to continue declining in the second half of 2024 as well. At this pace, the…
The Baltic power transmission system operators (TSOs) have notified Russia and Belarus of their intention to decouple from the Russian-controlled IPS/UPS electricity system in February 2025, ERR reports. Estonia’s Elering, Latvia’s Augstsprieguma Tikls (AST), and Lithuania’s Litgrid informed the Russian and Belarusian TSOs that they would not extend the BRELL parallel energy system operation agreement….
Estonian President Alar Karis has tasked Kristen Michal of the Estonian Reform Party with forming a new coalition government, ERR reports. Michal now has 14 days to form a government. He expects a new coalition agreement to be ready by the end of this week. The coalition will consist of the same three parties as…