Estonian parliament confirms PM Kallas to lead new government

The new Estonian coalition has voted to reappoint Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, in a move likely to ensure stability in the European Union state until a March 2023 election.

The three-party coalition of Kallas’ liberal Reform Party, the conservative Isamaa Party and the centre-left Social Democratic Party combined have 55 members in the 101-seat parliament.

The new government will be sworn in on Monday. Each party will appoint five ministers to the cabinet, with Isamaa’s Urmas Reinsalu becoming the Foreign Minister.

Kallas has led a minority government since she removed the junior coalition partner, the Centre Party, on June 3 after it sided with a far-right group in parliament to vote down government reforms of primary education.

The coalition has agreed to seek a vote at a later date on switching to the Estonian language only for pre-school and primary education by 2024.

Almost a quarter of the population of the European Union and NATO member nation of 1.3 million people are ethnically Russian, according to government figures.

Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Hugh Lawson