Estonia's prime minister expels social democrats from coalition
The three-party ruling coalition in Estonia has collapsed, Prime Minister Kristen Michal announced at a press conference in Tallinn on Monday.
Michal, head of the pro-free market Reform Party, said he was expelling the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDE) from his coalition on grounds of differences of opinion.
Estonia, a member of both the European Union and NATO, is in future to be governed by Reform in coalition with the liberal Estonia 200 party.
Together the two parties hold a bare majority of 52 seats in the 101-seat parliament.
Michal said the new coalition would aim to improve Estonia's economic environment and security by measures including the abolition of tax on company profits and the lowering of income taxes.
Estonia, which shares a border with Russia, sees Moscow as a direct threat to its national security. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has directly impacted its economy. The country is also home to a large Russian minority.
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