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Estonia Political Briefing: President As an Opposition E-MAP Foundation MTÜ

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Estonia Political Briefing: President As an Opposition E-MAP Foundation MTÜ ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 26, No. 1 (EE) Febr 2020 Estonia political briefing: President as an opposition E-MAP Foundation MTÜ 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu 2017/01 President as an opposition As it has already been discussed on a high number of occasions, one can hardly find a more challenging year for a country’s internal politics as it was 2019 for Estonia. In principle, there are two direct consequences of the last year’s turbulences, and they are as follows. Firstly, the current governmental coalition deserves to be much more cohesive as well as effective (let us leave this particular segment aside for now). Secondly, it could be evidently argued, the country’s political opposition to the Government is experiencing an informal change of leadership (let us concentrate on discussing such an interesting development in this briefing). Not at all that any of the Estonian oppositional parties decided to vote their leaders out of their offices – both Kaja Kallas (Reform Party) and Indrek Saar (Social Democratic Party) are still proud and fairly capable holders of the two corresponding chairmanships. Especially, the world ‘capable’ can be attributed to the leader of the Estonian ‘social democrats’. After all, the party’s capacity to perform well during the next Riigikogu elections in 2023 was dramatically enhanced by successful negotiations with Marina Kaljurand and Raimond Kaljulaid, after which the aforementioned two political celebrities decided to join the ‘social democrats’. The story, however, is not about the parliamentary opposition per se. As argued by Andrew Whyte, these days, since “the two opposition parties seem to have been relatively quiet in recent months”, it could be suggested that President Kersti Kaljulaid “is effectively the country’s political opposition, as her recent returning of the pensions reform bill to the Riigikogu demonstrates”1. Within a liberal democracy, which the Republic of Estonia definitely is, there should be some sort of political opposition in place, and here we are. Certainly, the most recent poof of the Estonian President’s ‘oppositional’ mood can be found in her veto given to the mandatory pension reform that was proposed by the Government. As suggested, Kersti Kaljulaid “pointed to both legal and ideological arguments, while the latter allowed her opponents to claim the [P]resident used a political veto”2. Arguably, the parliamentary opposition did not make enough of democratically effective ‘noise’ on this and many other proposals and ideas expressed by the current governmental coalition, therefore the 1 Andrew Whyte, ‘Opinion: President Kersti Kaljulaid as the new opposition’ in ERR, 17 February 2020. Available from [https://news.err.ee/1036083/opinion-president-kersti-kaljulaid-as-the-new-opposition]. 2 Toomas Sildam, ‘Toomas Sildam: We do not want political courts and judges’ in ERR, 16 February 2020. Available from [https://news.err.ee/1035903/toomas-sildam-we-do-not-want-political-courts-and-judges]. 1 President decided to step in. In a way, as it was noted by Andrew Whyte, the Reform Party “may find an era of silence work[ing] better in this case than continually harrying”, and it can easily be their political choice since such a strategy proves to be “extremely effective”3 in the context of Estonian politics. However, in order to outline the topic of this briefing more precisely, it is worthwhile quoting the analyst’s opinion a bit further: President Kaljulaid also provides the role as a surrogate opposition on other topics which are natural, international battlegrounds but which Reform and the Social Democrats might not have a united line on; climate change – she talks a lot about it, recently visited Antarctica, ostensibly to celebrate the 200th anniversary of that continent's first sighting (by an Estonian Baltic-German) but in any case using the opportunity to keep things current within the Greta Thunberg zeitgeist. […] She can also turn her hand just as adroitly to foreign policy, and took a lead role in the weekend's Munich Security Conference, though as a head of state, this is to be expected, and with a strong precedent set by the last incumbent, former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.4 At the same time, there is nobody in the country who can be capable enough in outlining the theme of ‘the President vs. the Government’ then the Estonian President herself. In an emphatic speech on the occasion of the country’s Independence Day, Kersti Kaljulaid made it very clear for the Riigikogu that she is far from being satisfied with the Estonian parliament’s political performance. The significance of the moment was underscored by the fact that the Presidential message was delivered at Ugala Theatre, the main theatrical stage in Viljandi, which was founded few weeks before the famous 1920 Treaty of Tartu had been signed. President Kaljulaid made a number of socio-anthropological references to Truth and Justice5, both the novel and the novel-based movie, while doing her best to make the point: On January 13, the Estonian newspaper Õhtuleht wrote: ‘Surprise in Riigikogu: Prime Minister Ratas and opposition manage to hold constructive talks amidst barb-trading’. How did we get to this point? When did constructive debate become a newsworthy ‘man-bites-dog’ type of event? What are you doing, dear Riigikogu? After all, we have a parliamentary state – no one except you can lead Estonia’s development forward! You have many freedoms and many rights, one of which is the opportunity to form Estonia’s government, and every government you form is, without the shadow of a doubt, legitimate. But that is not enough. Please, do your job! Protect 3 Whyte. 4 Whyte. 5 Truth and Justice is the national novel of Estonia as well as a pentalogy written by Anton Hansen Tammsaare in the period from 1926 to 1933. 2 your dignity, realize Estonia’s opportunities, lean upon the good that has been done, and be ready for the future!6 Objectively, the quality of delivery was top-notch, showing that, since 10 October 2016 when Kersti Kaljulaid assumed her current office in the most unexpected way, she has really ‘grown up’ into her presidential status and become a high-level politician in her own country, not only by the virtue of holding a particular post. Most probably, on 24 February 2020, she managed to deliver her main speech so far, clearly underlining a range of issues, on which the Estonian Government is required to be concentrating. As a former EU bureaucrat who spent twelve years representing Estonia in the European Court of Auditors, Kersti Kaljulaid, speculatively, knew more about the EU-bound perspectives then her own nation’s intra-politics, before her candidature was mentioned to represent a broad political compromise during the 2016 Presidential elections in Estonia. However, back then is not the same what is now – undeniably, President Kaljulaid is the President, with her own political stance on all issues, which Estonia can ever be linked to. Considering the fact that Estonia is a stable parliamentary republic where the role of the country’s Prime Minister in the decision-making process is very high and can hardly be underestimated, there could be a legitimate question asked on whether or not President Kaljulaid is “overstepping her constitutional role”7. Indeed, there could be plenty of arguments on pro and contra, but, in general, while she maybe “walks the line”8, the society’s general sentiments are positive towards her. Even though her approval rate is not something that is getting checked by different pollsters very often, her rating has been confirmed as high during the previous years9, and not much has significantly changed on that matter. What has definitely changed is the political tone that the President has adopted by now to make a difference. Interestingly enough, President Kaljulaid “has been without a fixed legal team for at least a couple of years, seeking to get counsel from the private sector instead”, but it has not prevented her to be on the political ball in regards of any topic. “Why shouldn’t Europe, as the world’s 6 Kersti Kaljulaid in ‘Kaljulaid: It has been a year of hurting. May this next year be brighter!’, ERR, 25 February 2020. Available from [https://news.err.ee/1056426/kaljulaid-it-has-been-a-year-of-hurting-may-this-next-year- be-brighter]. 7 Whyte. 8 Whyte. 9 ‘New Estonian president's approval rating at 73%’ in ERR, 21 October 2016. Available from [https://news.err.ee/119454/new-estonian-president-s-approval-rating-at-73]; ‘Survey: Majority of Estonians happy with President Kersti Kaljulaid’ in ERR, 20 October 2017. Available from [https://news.err.ee/637650/survey-majority-of-estonians-happy-with-president-kersti-kaljulaid]; Helen Mihelson, ‘Who is our best-loved president?’ in Postimees, 23 February 2018. Available from [https://news.postimees.ee/4419957/who-is-our-best-loved-president]. 3 largest and wealthiest market, take full regional responsibility at least?”10, – these were the words spoken by Kersti Kaljulaid during her interview, in the framework of the 2020 Munich Security Conference. Arguably, these were the words of a European top-politician with a vision – even if it is a single argument towards the claim, it is very positive for Estonia as a well- functioning liberal democracy to have its intra-political opposition being represented by such a capable personality as Kersti Kaljulaid. 10 Kersti Kaljulaid in Evelyn Kaldoja, ‘Kaljulaid: Europe should be able to rely on itself more’, Postimees, 17 February 2020. Available from [https://news.postimees.ee/6901825/kaljulaid-europe-should-be-able-to-rely-on- itself-more].
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