Proposal of the child benefits bill On 12 May 2022, Karilaid put forward a bill to increase funding for child benefits with the support of MPs from all 3 opposition parties - EKRE, the Social Democrats and Isamaa - but without the support of the Centre Party's coalition partner, the Reform Party. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas of the Reform Party reacted on the same day by accusing the Centre Party of wanting to form a government with EKRE in response to a question about the coalition's health. Public Administration minister
Jaak Aab of the Centre Party responded that he'd warned the parliamentary faction that putting forward the bill could cause the government to collapse and mentioned that this should've been agreed on beforehand. Aab, Karilaid and Centre Party leader
Jüri Ratas all insisted that the goal was not to collapse the government. In response, Kaja Kallas stated that the Reform Party supports boosting child benefits spending but wants time to discuss the specific bill and ways to cover the budget expenses. Karilaid stated that he wanted the bill to be passed before 24 June,
St. John's Day around when the
Riigikogu, the national parliament of Estonia, goes on summer break. On the same day, the daily
Eesti Päevaleht reported that several members of the Centre Party had privately complained about Karilaid moving forward with the child benefits bill without communicating with people outside of the party board and parliamentary faction, leaving some ministers and other key people out of the loop on the matter. While all Centre Party MPs had signed onto the bill, some mentioned in private that it had simply been done in advance. Karilaid conceded that communication could have been done better but insisted that the parliamentary faction was united. He urged Kaja Kallas to convene all party leaders to discuss improving the bill before it came to a vote in less than a week on 30 May. On 26 May, Kaja Kallas compared the actions of the Centre Party to
Russia demanding de-escalation from the West over the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, stating that it's not the Reform Party's responsibility to ease the situation or meet halfway with their coalition partner on the issue of child benefits. She hinted that the party could attempt to stop the passage of the bill by parliamentary obstruction. Reform Party's parliamentary faction leader
Mart Võrklaev confirmed that the party would consider the option should the Centre Party not withdraw the bill from consideration until autumn, when the budget for 2023 would be prepared. Karilaid denied the accusation that the Centre Party was bypassing its coalition partner by moving forward with the bill, stating that "[We] will not pass them by, we want to go together. Don't fall behind". The leader of the Social Democrats,
Lauri Läänemets, stated in response to the plans of obstruction that the coalition had
de facto stopped existing.
Vote on the child benefits bill On 30 May, the Reform Party put forward a motion to withdraw the proposed child benefits bill which failed 32 to 56. Following the vote, Reform Party's parliamentary faction leader Võrklaev stated that as a result of the vote, there was effectively a Reform Party
Minority government in Estonia. Karilaid called on the Reform Party to join the rest of the parties to proceed with the child benefits bill and said that the Centre Party has never talked about a government crisis, stating that only the Reform Party has done so. Isamaa leader
Helir-Valdor Seeder stated that he was confused about what's happening in the government. On 31 May, Võrklaev expressed hope in the continuation of the government. On 1 June, the leader of the Social Democrats, Lauri Läänemets, announced that the party would be withdrawing its signatures from the child benefits bill, stating that "We have received confirmation in recent days that under the guise of the child benefits bill, the Centre Party, together with Isamaa and EKRE, is planning to overthrow the current government". Karilaid responded by accusing the Social Democrats of trying to form a coalition with the Reform Party. In response to the claim, Läänemets stated that such a proposal had not been made. Previously, Seeder had also said that no proposals for a coalition had been made to him or his party. On his
Facebook page, Reform Party MP
Jürgen Ligi said "EKREKE is born. Centre and EKRE voted against government bill calling for transition to only Estonian-language kindergartens. The Socialists did not vote. The
Kremlin says thanks". During the same day, Ratas claimed that Kaja Kallas had declared the coalition dead and in response to accusations of the Centre Party wanting to form a government with EKRE and Isamaa, accused the Reform Party of wanting to form a coalition with the Social Democrats and Isamaa. EKRE's vice chair
Henn Põlluaas said that the party prefers a coalition with the Centre Party and Isamaa but did not rule out forming a government with the Reform Party. On 2 June, Ratas called on forming a new coalition but did not rule out continuing a coalition with the Reform Party. On 3 June, Kallas proposed to president
Alar Karis to remove all Centre Party ministers from office. Foreign minister
Eva-Maria Liimets was on a visit in
Canada during her removal. She said that the decisive factor in the decision was the vote to withdraw the education reform bill. As a result, Estonia had its first one-party government after the restoration of independence as the government was only made up of the Reform Party and its ministers.
Polling during the crisis Opposition parties were assumed to hold back on a vote of no confidence in Kaja Kallas due to her power as prime minister to ask the president to call snap elections after a successful vote of no confidence. The Reform Party was leading comfortably in most polls at the time and a snap election could've expanded the party's position in parliament whilst weakening the opposition parties' seat count.
Formation of a new coalition The Reform Party proposed starting negotiations with the Social Democrats and Isamaa. On 4 June, the Social Democrats accepted the invitation. The Centre Party invited Isamaa and EKRE to coalition negotiations. EKRE leader
Martin Helme accepted the request but demanded to have the position of the prime minister. After long deliberations, Isamaa opted to start coalition negotiations with the Social Democrats and the Reform Party on 11 June. Isamaa abstained on the vote of no confidence in education minister
Liina Kersna during the negotiations. Kallas accepted Kersna's resignation on 1 July but did not deliver the resignation to the president due to lacking the votes in the parliament to inaugurate a replacement, instead opting to wait for the coalition negotiations to reach their conclusion.
Kaja Kallas's second cabinet of the
Triple Alliance parties of the Isamaa, the Reform Party and the Social Democrats took office on 18 July 2022. == Aftermath ==