Page 11 - bne IntelliNews 26th May

Central Europe
May 26, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
Estonian coalition starting to feel the stress attached to Russian- linked leader
bne IntelliNews
Estonia’s coalition leading Centre Party, and Prime Minister Juri Ratas, found themselves under fire from the opposition on May 25 after remarks by a minister reignited suspicion around the party’s links to Russia.
The opposition Reform Party – which was forced by junior coalition partners to hand over power to the Centre Party in late 2016 – is calling for Ratas to resign, following the forced resignation of Mih- hail Korb as administration minister after com- ments he made suggesting that Estonia should leave Nato.
Korb backtracked on his statement but resigned nonetheless as the outrage proved too much. The tiny Baltic state considers itself highly vulnerable to neighbouring Russia, having once been part of the Soviet Union.
Ratas has rushed to assure the country that Korb’s statement on membership in the alliance was “unfortunate and regrettable.”
“The government’s position on security policy is unanimous and has not changed,” Ratas said, ac- cording to ERR.
However, the opposition has been quick to encour- age Estonians to remember the Centre Party’s af- filiation to Russia. The party was kept out of govern- ment for over two decades prior to 2016, as it was ostracised by the rest of the political establishment despite regularly finishing second in elections.
Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas.
Fatigue with the liberal Reform Party, which had dominated Estonian politics since the country left the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, elevated the Centre Party to power late last year. The party’s key electorate is Estonia’s ethnic Russian minor- ity, but putting the 39-year old economist Ratas at the helm helped the party shed its pro-Russian image.
Old accusations are resurfacing again, however. “A message from a member of the government that Estonia should not be in Nato looks like a resurrection of the protocol between the Centre Party and [Vladimir Putin’s] United Russia,” Re- form Party MP Kristen Michal claimed.
The Centre Party’s previous leader Edgar Savisaar signed the agreement of cooperation with United Russia in 2004, although it has appeared largely dormant since.
The ruling party’s problems deepened further on May 25 after party member and deputy mayor of Tallinn Arvo Sarapuu was arrested in connection with a probe into the tendering of waste manage- ment services in the Estonian capital.
The Centre Party has been losing some ground
in the polls lately. The party currently leads the popularity ranking at 24.7%, however it is just 1pp ahead of Reform. The coalition-leading party’s rating has dropped from 26% in April and 30% in March.