The Estonian Reform Party was founded on 18 November 1994, joining together the Reform Party – a splinter from the
Pro Patria National Coalition (RKEI) – and the
Estonian Liberal Democratic Party (ELDP). The new party, which had 710 members at its foundation, The party formed ties with the
Free Democratic Party of Germany, the
Liberal People's Party of Sweden, the
Swedish People's Party of Finland, and
Latvian Way. with the Reform Party opposing
agricultural subsidies and supporting the maintenance of Estonia's
flat-rate income tax. Kallas was appointed as
Minister of Foreign Affairs, with five other Reform Party members serving in the cabinet. The Reform Party left the government in November 1996 after the Coalition Party signed a cooperation agreement with the Centre Party without consulting them. The ER formed a
centre-right coalition with the Pro Patria Union and the
Moderates, with
Mart Laar as Prime Minister and Siim Kallas as
Minister of Finance, and with
Toomas Savi returned as Speaker. After the
October 1999 municipal elections, the three parties replicated their alliance in
Tallinn. The party served in government again from March 1999 to December 2001 in a tripartite government with
Pro Patria Union and
People's Party Moderates, from January 2002 to March 2003 with the
Estonian Centre Party, from March 2003 to March 2005 with
Res Publica and People's Union, from March 2005 to March 2007 with the Centre Party and People's Union, from March 2007 to May 2009 with the
Pro Patria and Res Publica Union and the
Social Democratic Party. From May 2009, the Reform Party was in a coalition government with the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union.
Andrus Ansip , former prime minister of Estonia
Andrus Ansip was Prime Minister of Estonia from April 2005 to March 2014. After the
2007 parliamentary election the party held 31 out of 101 seats in the
Riigikogu, receiving 153,040 votes (28% of the total), an increase of +10%, resulting in a net gain of 12 seats.
Taavi Rõivas Following the resignation of Andrus Ansip, a new
cabinet was installed on 24 March 2014, with
Taavi Rõivas of the Reform Party serving as Prime Minister in coalition with the
Social Democratic Party (SDE). In the
2014 European elections held on 25 May 2014, the Reform Party won 24.3% of the national vote, returning two
MEPs. In the
2015 parliamentary election held on 1 March 2015, the Reform Party received 27.7% of the vote and 30 seats in the Riigikogu. It went on to form a coalition with Social Democratic Party and Pro Patria and Res Publica Union. In November 2016, the coalition split because of internal struggle. After coalition talks, a new coalition was formed between Center Party, SDE and IRL, while Reform Party was left in the opposition for the first time since 1999. Rõivas subsequently stepped down as the chairman of the party.
Hanno Pevkur On 7 January 2017,
Hanno Pevkur was elected the new chairman of the Reform Party. Pevkur's leadership was divided from the start and he faced increasing criticism till the end of the year. On 13 December 2017, Pevkur announced that he would not run for the chairmanship from January 2018.
Kaja Kallas Kaja Kallas was elected party leader on 14 April 2018. Under Kallas' leadership during the
2019 election, the Reform Party achieved its best electoral result to date with 28.8% of the vote and 34 seats, although it initially did not form a government and remained in opposition to the
second Ratas government. In January 2021, after the resignation of
Jüri Ratas as prime minister, Kallas formed a Reform Party-led
coalition government with the
Estonian Centre Party. However, on 3 June 2022, Kallas dismissed the seven ministers affiliated with the Centre Party, governing as a minority government until a
new coalition government with
Isamaa and SDE as minority partners was formed on 8 July. In the
2023 parliamentary election, the Reform Party improved on its 2019 electoral performance, with 31.2% of the vote 37 seats. On 7 March 2023, the party initiated coalition negotiations with the new
Estonia 200 party and the SDE. A coalition agreement between the three parties was reached by 7 April, allocating seven ministerial seats for the Reform Party, and was officially signed on 10 April. On 17 April, the
third Kallas government was sworn into office.
Kristen Michal In July 2024,
Kristen Michal became Estonia’s new prime minister to succeed Kaja Kallas, who resigned as prime minister on July 15 to become the European Union’s new
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. On 10 March 2025, Kristen Michal announced a "government repair" and expelled the Social Democrats from the coalition. Michal will ask the President to remove the party's ministers from office on 11 March. He stated that the remaining coalition intends to move toward the right and scrap several tax hikes and wage increases. == Ideology and platform ==