In cooperation with BNS
TALLINN - Pressure is building on Estonia ’s Economics Minister Juhan Parts, with some politicians calling for him to be replaced, according to press reports.
Parts looks like he may be caught in the crossfire as tensions rise between coalition partners from his own Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) and the Reform Party.
Parts and prime minister Andrus Ansip have a long-standing rivalry but in recent months they have been able to work together for the sake of economic and political stability. Both have occupied the positions of prime minister and economics minister in coalition governments. However, their relationship now appears to be crumbling.
In remarks made to the AFP news agency on Nov. 21, Parts broke ranks with Ansip, blaming Ansip's previous government for failing to pave the way for euro adoption.
"Estonia had a chance to speed up joining the eurozone under the last government, which led the country when inflation was much lower than now," Parts said.
Ansip's coalition had been "too worried about its reputation and instead of making accession to the eurozone its priority, took misplaced steps such as too rapid an increase in state sector salaries," he claimed.
"Now, when inflation has racked up, accession to the eurozone is postponed for years," Parts said.
"With the current decrease of GDP and increase of inflation it is impossible to predict when Estonia will be ready again to join the eurozone," Parts said, adding he was nonetheless an "optimist" regarding eventual accession.
Estonia initially hoped to make the switch from its national currency, the kroon, to the euro, at the start of 2007. But in April 2006 the government shifted the target to 2008 and has now put the move on ice until 2011 at the earliest.
The delays were mainly caused by Estonia ’s failure to control rising inflation, which needs to be strictly regulated in order to meet the EU’s convergence criteria.
Parts’ thinly-veiled attack on his boss seems to have been the last straw for some Reform Party politicians who are calling for him to be replaced, according to reports in the Eesti Paevaleht newspaper.
The reasons cited by the unnamed politicians are Parts’ 2.56m euro plan to increase state subsidies for public transport and his proposal that the renovation of the Tallinn-Tartu road be financed with money from the state's treasury reserve.
Both ideas are viewed by the Reform Party as unacceptable uses of the state budget and according to Eesti Paevaleht, PM Ansip is among those willing to block Parts' proposals.
The rift has become so serious that another former prime minister and current leader of IRL, Mart Laar, has reportedly sent a letter to Ansip in which he attempts to defuse tensions by warning of overeating to internal bickering.
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