Estonian PM steps down in order to lead new government

TALLINN. July 8 (Interfax) - The Estonian Reform Party, Social Democratic Party (SDE) and Pro Patria on Friday reached agreement to form a ruling coalition.

To that end, Reform Party leader and Prime Minister Kaja Kallas wll tender her resignation as head of government, the Postimees newspaper said.

Kallas will make the announcement in parliament. After that, President Alar Karis will nominate her as a candidate for Prime Minister. Kallas will then speak in parliament with a report on the new ruling coalition and the parliament will be able to approve her as Prime Minister.

After that, Kallas will introduce the new government to the President.

On June 3, the Estonian President dismissed all seven Centre Party ministers at the request of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister had proposed that seven ministers out of the total 14 be dismissed due to an internal split within the two-party coalition. She said for her the final straw came when the parliament's ruling Centre Party and opposition Conservative People's Party rejected a bill on primary education in Estonian, which was already approved by government consensus.