Estonia to get first female premier as rival parties clinch government deal

Estonia's two biggest political parties say they have clinched a deal to form a new government to be led by a female prime minister for the first time in the Baltic country's history, replacing the previous cabinet that collapsed in a corruption scandal earlier this month.

The party councils of the the opposition, centre-right Reform Party and the ruling, left-leaning Centre Party are expected to vote in favour of joining a cabinet headed by Reform's prime ministerdesignate and chairwoman Kaja Kallas.

Both parties are set to have seven ministerial portfolios in the 14-member government, which would muster a majority at the 101-seat Riigikogu Parliament.

A joint statement said the Reform Party and the Centre 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 appoint Ms Kallas's cabinet in the next few days, said tackling Estonia's worsening coronavirus situation and the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic should be an immediate priority for the new government.

Ms Kaljulaid tasked Ms Kallas to form the government as her pro-business and pro-entrepreneurship Reform Party emerged as the winner of Estonia's March 2019 general election.

Pending approval from legislators, Ms Kallas, 43, will become the first female head of government in the history of the Baltic nation of 1.3 million which regained its independence in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

A lawyer and former European Parliament legislator, she is the daughter of Siim Kallas, one of the Reform Party's creators, a former prime minister and ex-european Union commissioner. Ms Kallas took the reins at the Reform Party in 2018 as its first female chair.

The government formation marks the second such attempt for Ms Kallas in less than two years as she failed to bring about a Reform Party-led government after the 2019 election. That paved the way for the arch-rival Centre Party and its leader, Juri Ratas, to form a three-party coalition without the Reform Party.

Mr Ratas and his cabinet resigned on 13 January over a scandal involving a key official at his Centre Party suspected of accepting a private donation for the party in exchange for a political favour on a property development at the harbour district of the capital, Tallinn.

Mr Ratas' government, which took office in April 2019, was shaky from the start as the coalition included the populist EKRE, the nation’s third-largest party which runs on a nationalist, anti-immigration and antieu agenda.

Estonia's prime minister since 2016, Mr Ratas will not be part of the new cabinet. Media reported that he could become the parliamentary speaker in March.

Estonia has been a member of the European Union and Nato since 2004.