The Estonian Reform Party (Estonian: Eesti Reformierakond) is a liberalpolitical party in Estonia.[2][3] The party has been led by Kaja Kallas since 2018. It is colloquially known as the "Squirrel Party" (Estonian: Oravapartei), referencing its logo.[4][5]
Siim Kallas was leader of the Reform Party from 1994 to 2004. He was Prime Minister of Estonia from 2002 to 2003. In the party's first parliamentary election in March 1995, it won 19 seats, catapulting it into second place, behind the Coalition Party. Tiit Vähi tried to negotiate a coalition with the Reform Party, but the talks broke down over economic policy,[8] with the Reform Party opposing agricultural subsidies and supporting the maintenance of Estonia's flat-rate income tax.[7] While the Coalition Party formed a new government with the Centre Party at first, a taping scandal involving Centre Party leader Edgar Savisaar led to the Reform Party replacing the Centre Party in the coalition in November 1995.[9] 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.[9]
At the 1999 election, the Reform Party dropped one seat to 18, finishing third behind the Centre Party and the conservative Pro Patria Union.[10] 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.[10] Although the coalition was focused on EU and NATO accession, the Reform Party successfully delivered its manifesto pledge to abolish corporate tax,[10] one of its most notable achievements.[11] After the October 1999 municipal elections, the three parties replicated their alliance in Tallinn.[12]
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 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.
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).[13]
In the 2014 European elections held on 25 May 2014, the Reform Party won 24.3% of the national vote, returning two MEPs.[14]
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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] Rõivas subsequently stepped down as the chairman of the party.[18]
On 7 January 2017, Hanno Pevkur was elected the new chairman of the Reform Party.[19] 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.[20]
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.[22] However, on 3 June 2022, Kallas dismissed the seven ministers affiliated with the Centre Party,[23] governing as a minority government until a new coalition government with Isamaa and SDE as minority partners was formed on 8 July.[24]
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.[25] A coalition agreement between the three parties was reached by 7 April,[26] allocating seven ministerial seats for the Reform Party,[27] and was officially signed on 10 April.[28] On 17 April, the third Kallas government was sworn into office.[29]
The party supports Estonian 0% corporate tax on re-invested income and wants to eliminate the dividend tax.
The party wanted to cut flat income tax rate from 22% (in 2007) to 18% by 2011. Because of the economic crisis, the campaign for cutting income tax rate was put on hold with the tax rate at 21% in 2008 and 2009.
The party used to oppose VAT general rate increases until late spring 2009, when it changed its position in the light of the dire economic crisis and the need to find more money for the budget. VAT was increased from 18% to 20% on 1 July 2009.[44]
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2021)
The Estonian Reform Party is the strongest party in the area surrounding Tallinn, in north-western Estonia and across Tartu County in the east as illustrated in yellow by this map of the 2007 parliamentary election results
The party is supported predominantly by young, well-educated, urban professionals. The Reform Party's vote base is heavily focused in the cities; although it receives only one-fifth of its support from Tallinn, it receives three times as many votes from other cities, despite them being home to fewer than 40% more voters overall.[45]
Its voter profile is significantly younger than average,[46] while its voters are well-educated, with the fewest high school drop-outs of any party.[45] Its membership is the most male-dominated of all the parties,[47] yet it receives the support of more female voters than average.[46] Reform Party voters also tend to have higher incomes, with 43% of Reform Party voters coming from the top 30% of all voters by income.[45]
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2016)
The Reform Party has been a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (formerly the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, ELDR) since December 1998.[48] In the European Parliament, the party's MEPS Andrus Ansip and Urmas Paetsits in the ALDE group in the Assembly. The Reform Party has been a full member of the Liberal International since 1996, having been an observer member from 1994 to 1996.
The party's youth wing is the Estonian Reform Party Youth, which includes members aged 15 to 35. The organisation claims to have 4,500 members, and its chairman is Doris Lisett Rudnevs.[50]
^Garlick, Stuart; Sibierski, Mary (1 March 2015). "Estonia's pro-NATO Reform party wins vote overshadowed by Russia". AFP via Yahoo! News. Retrieved 13 October 2021. "The Reform Party is the 2015 winner of the parliamentary elections," Roivas announced on Estonia's ERR public television late Sunday as official results showed his centrist Reform party won despite losing three seats.
^Piret Ehin; Tonis Saarts; Mari-Liis Jakobson (2020). "Estonia". In Vít Hloušek; Petr Kaniok (eds.). The European Parliament Election of 2019 in East-Central Europe: Second-Order Euroscepticism. Springer Nature. p. 89. ISBN978-3-030-40858-9.
11,262[1]
1
0
(in Estonian)
