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Estonia opposition party opts to start coalition talks
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Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas speaks to media before the second day's session of an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders to discuss Ukraine, energy and food security at the Europa building in Brussels, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. - photo by AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert
HELSINKI (AP) — A small conservative opposition party whose support is seen crucial in attempts to form a majority government in Estonia following the breakup of the governing center-right coalition earlier this month said Saturday that it will start power-sharing talks with two other parties. After several days of speculation, the Isamaa — or “Fatherland” — party said it is would start talks to form a government coalition in the Baltic country with the opposition Social Democratic Party and governing center-right Reform Party led by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. On June 3, Estonian President Alar Karis dismissed — at the request of Kallas — the ministers of the Center Party from the two-party Cabinet following a dispute over welfare policy amid Estonia’s rampant inflation that is currently one of the highest in the eurozone.