Estonian president confirms new govt composition
TALLINN. April 17 (Interfax) - Estonian President Alar Karis confirmed the country's new government on Monday.
The presidential office reported that the government will include representatives of the Reform Party, the Estonia 200 party, and the Social Democratic Party, the three of which garnered the most votes in the parliamentary election held on March 5.
Reform Party leader Kaja Kallas has been confirmed as prime minister for the third time. She also served in this capacity in the previous cabinet.
Now that the president has confirmed the government's composition, the ministers will be sworn in at the country's parliament later in the day, after which they will formally begin performing their duties.
The number of ministers in the new government has been reduced to 13, from the previous 15. The Reform Party will have seven ministerial portfolios, and Estonia 200 and the Social Democratic Party will have three each.
The coalition will hold 60 of the 101 seats in the Estonian parliament.
Presenting a report on the coalition's program in parliament on April 12, Kallas said her government planned to increase defense expenditures to 3% of GDP, plus the costs of accommodating NATO troops stationed in the country. The coalition will remain committed to the policy of European Union and NATO enlargement, and declares that the United States is the country's strategic ally, she said.
To tackle the challenging economic situation in the country, the new government plans to raise sales tax and income tax by two percentage points to 22%, introduce a tax on cars, abolish preferential tax rates on dividends, and other similar measures. At the same time, the government will cut infrastructure investments, Kallas said.
As part of its Ukraine policy, the coalition has pledged to pursue a policy of tightening anti-Russian sanctions, supporting Ukraine economically, politically and militarily, backing its ambitions for NATO membership, and using confiscated Russian assets for Ukraine's reconstruction.
The coalition parties will continue the course towards abolishing Russian schools and transferring compulsory, general and vocational education to the Estonian language, she said.
The future government is expected, without changing the constitution, "to elaborate a legal basis for suspending the voting rights of Russian and Belarusian citizens in municipal elections, in collaboration with experts in constitutional law," Kallas said.