Jüri Ratas' second cabinet is the incumbent cabinet of Estonia, in office since 29 April 2019. It is a centre-right coalition cabinet of the Centre Party, right-wing populistConservative People's Party and conservative Isamaa. Following the defeat for the sitting Ratas' first cabinet at the 2019 elections and the loss of majority in the parliament Centre Party initiated coalition talks with the third largest Conservative People's Party and fourth largest Isamaa. Although the election-winning Reform party offered to form a coalition with Jüri Ratas' Centre Party, Ratas turned down the offer. This left the winners of the elections, Reform Party, with no chance to form a majority cabinet. Leader of the Reform Party, Kaja Kallas, however went on to propose a minority cabinet formed by the Reform and Social Democrats, but it did not gain the necessary number of votes in the parliament. Coalition partners nonetheless faced three rebel MPs with Centre MPRaimond Kaljulaid quitting the Centre Party in protest against the inclusion of EKRE in the coalition. On 17 April 2019 the new cabinet got approval of Riigikogu with the support of 55 out of 101 MPs with one Isamaa rebel MP and former Centre MP Kaljulaid voting against with the opposition.
Incidents and controversies
Coalition formation
Ratas had previously ruled out forming a coalition with EKRE during the election campaign because of differences between their views. The subsequent reversal of his stance and the inclusion of EKRE by Ratas in coalition talks after the elections was met with local and international criticism. In a poll conducted after the start of the coalition talks, the party of Jüri Ratas further lost support.
Gender equality
The cabinet faced criticism for having only two women, Centre Mailis Reps and Isamaa Riina Solman, with Conservative People's Party fielding a full male line-up for their portfolios. Conservative People's later also named a female minister, Kert Kingo, after the resignation of Marti Kuusik. The Chairman of Conservative People's Party and Minister of the InteriorMart Helme faced criticism for calling presidentKersti Kaljulaid an "emotionally heated woman".
Freedom of speech
A public debate on freedom of speech started after controversial actions by the new cabinet parties. On 28 March 2019 Conservative People's proposed new Minister of Finance, Martin Helme, demanded that Estonian Public Broadcasting would ban and punish journalists who had criticised his party. On 22 April journalist Vilja Kiisler left Postimees, one of the biggest newspapers in Estonia, due to differences with the paper’s newly appointed editor-in-chief on her op-ed about the policies of the Conservative People’s Party. The editor-in-chief Peeter Helme is the nephew of the leader of the Conservative People’s Party Mart Helme and the newspaper is owned by a member and financier of the third government party Pro Partia. On 26 April journalist Ahto Lobjakas announced quitting the ERR where, he said, he was given a choice between self-censorship and leaving. On the swearing-in of the new cabinet president Kersti Kaljulaid wore a sweatshirt emblazoned with the slogan Sõna on vaba as a statement of the importance of the freedom of speech. On 14 May 2019 Minister of the Interior Mart Helme accused ERR's United States correspondent Maria-Ann Rohemäe of deceiving and lying. ERR responded with public statement in support of their journalist and condemning attacks against journalists.
Conservative People's Party of Estonia Mart Helme Minister of the Interior and his son Minister of Finance Martin Helme Coursed some controversy by publicly flashed the "OK" hand gesture which is a hand signal that has been misidentified as a white supremacist symbol. MP Jaak Madison commented afterwards, that the symbols were used as “pure trolling” in order to rile the media and the party’s opponents. In May 2019, when Marine Le Pen was visiting Estonia for discussions with EKRE, MP Ruuben Kaalep and Le Pen took a selfie together with both flashing the same gesture.
Resignation of Marti Kuusik
In the next morning after the elections Conservative People's proposed new Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology Marti Kuusik was caught by the police speeding and driving under the influence. Both prime minister Jüri Ratas and Conservative People's Party stated that they do not see this as a reason to replace Kuusik. On 29 April 2019 reports emerged of alleged history of Kuusik's domestic violence including breaking his wife's arm bone twice. Kuusik denied the accusations. Following the emergency meeting with Kuusik and Conservative People's delegation Ratas decided that there is no need to replace Kuusik and that he can take the oath of office. Before Kuusik took the oath president Kaljulaid left the room, leaving Kuusik to bow for the empty seat. Kaljulaid promised to be the first to apologize to Kuusik should the accusations not be true. On the same day a criminal investigation was launched to determine whether the accusations were true. On 30 April 2019 the Director General of the Police and the Prosecutor General gave Ratas an overview of the collected evidence after which Ratas handed over Kuusk's letter of resignation to the President. Kuusk denied all the accusations reasoning that he resigns to ensure the stability of the government and to protect his family while focusing on disproving the accusations. Chairman of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia Mart Helme heavily criticized the ousting of Kuusik, calling it a witch hunt. The Conservative Party struggled to find a nominee with a number of people declining the offer. Finally two weeks after Kuusik's resignation Kert Kingo was appointed as a replacement for Kuusik.
Resignation of Kert Kingo
On 25 October 2019 Minister of Foreign Trade and IT Kert Kingo resigned after being caught lying in front of the Riigikogu about the appointment of her new adviser who had posted sexually offensive remarks in Facebook. On 2 November 2019 Kaimar Karu was appointed as a replacement for Kingo.
On 25 November 2019 Prime Minister Jüri Ratas proposed the dismissal of the Minister of Rural Affairs Mart Järvik after a commission of inquiry led by the Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop had found that Järvik had exceeded his authority and made inconsistent statements regarding findings of Listeria bacteria at a fish packing plant. After Järvik's dismissal by the President, he was followed in the position by Arvo Aller.
Recalling of Kaimar Karu
On the morning of 17 April 2020, Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology Kaimar Karu announced on social media that the chairman of the Conservative People's Party Mart Helme has recalled him from the government. Helme accused Karu for not respecting party values, including their anti immigration views. Karu had been under strain for not supporting changes made to the Aliens Act. Raul Siem was appointed as a replacement for Karu.
Ministers
The coalition agreed to continue with fifteen portfolios equally allocated between the parties with each party holding five.
