Two Reform Party MPs’ refusal on Monday to support the 2026 supplementary budget marks the start of the Reform Party–Eesti 200 coalition’s unraveling, according to Social Democratic MP Raimond Kaljulaid.
“The decision by two very well-known Reform Party politicians [Aivar Sõerd and Mart Võrklaev] not to support the supplementary budget is a demarche against the government led by Kristen Michal,” Kaljulaid wrote on social media. “It can be said that the final collapse of the Reform Party–Eesti 200 coalition majority in parliament has begun, regardless of whether party switching happens now or in the fall,”
“Today, every MP from the governing parties must reckon with an ever-narrowing window of opportunity. Everyone understands this,” he added.
Kaljulaid noted that efforts to keep the government together are further complicated by the fact that the first round of the presidential election will take place on September 3. “I don’t know whether they themselves realize it, but the leaders of the governing parties made a miscalculation by expressing no confidence in the incumbent head of state and by initiating intrigues against him. The simplest course would have been to support the sitting president and not start yet another conflict and source of confusion,” Kaljulaid argued.
“We have reached a point where the country may be left without strategic political leadership for almost a year. Elections are scheduled for March 2027, and after that it will take another month or two to form a new government and work out its program and plan of action,” Kaljulaid said.
Two former ministers dissented
Former finance ministers Aivar Sõerd and Mart Võrklaev, both members of the Reform Party, did not support this year’s supplementary budget on Monday in the Riigikogu Finance Committee.
“Do we even need this supplementary budget in its current form? The state of public finances is such that spending is growing very rapidly, and those costs will have to be covered with borrowed money,” Sõerd said.
Võrklaev said the problem with the supplementary budget is that it postpones several expenditures by a couple of years while at the same time adding new ones, thereby increasing the budget deficit.
“They are distancing themselves from what has been agreed upon within the Reform Party. They are drawing attention to themselves personally,” said Annely Akkermann (Reform), chair of the Finance Committee.
Speaking about the need for spending cuts, Akkermann said that in politics one must constantly assess society’s expectations and tolerance for austerity.
“You have to understand how much cutting society can endure,” Akkermann said.
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