Estonia's new prime minister hopes coronavirus-related travel restrictions between Finland and Estonia will be eased, saying that they are forcing thousands of Estonians working in Finland to remain apart from their families.
In an interview with Yle, Reform Party leader Kaja Kallas, who took office last week after the collapse of the previous government, says that while it is Finland's right to restrict entry, she hopes that a working group of the two countries will find a safe solution.
"One option could be to only allow passengers with a negative coronavirus test result to board ferries. The same company is carrying out testing on both sides of the gulf, so it's possible Finland would also accept the results," Kallas says.
The most recent available data suggests that Estonia's coronavirus infection rate is around 520 cases per 100,000 people. Finland's is 72 per 100,000. Kallas says that Estonia is working to bring the numbers down.
"Tallinn and the surrounding Harju county have managed the situation through regional restrictions. Elsewhere in Estonia, however, there were no similar restrictions, so people in other regions were still visiting spas, for example," Kallas told Yle.
According to Kallas, new measures to control the virus will apply across Estonia from Wednesday.
These include the compulsory wearing of masks in indoor public spaces, a 9pm curfew for restaurants, implementing a two-metre social distancing gap and limiting the sale of tickets in cinemas, theatres and music venues to 50 percent of capacity.
Kallas came to power after former Prime Minister Jüri Ratas resigned amid a political scandal in mid-January. In 2019, Ratas kept Kallas' Reform Party out of his governing coalition, even though it had won that year's parliamentary elections. Despite this, Reform and Ratas' Centre Party are now working together in the new government.
"I don't tend to hold grudges, " Kallas says. "I struggle to maintain resentments even if I want to. We're working very well together."
One other potential reason is that Ratas is in the running to become the Estonian parliament's next speaker, meaning that the two will have to cooperate in future.
"A government of convenience"
By contrast, Kallas does not seem to be extending an olive branch to the right-wing populist EKRE party, part of the previous governing coalition.
"I'm prepared for a turbulent time. The whole of Estonia had the chance to witness the activities of the current opposition when they were in government. It gave us a pretty good idea of what they think of democracy and the rule of law," Kallas says.
The opposition has already criticised Kallas' government programme, calling it "superficial" and referring to her cabinet as a "government of convenience."
"A government of convenience is better than a government of inconvenience," says Kallas, who points to the previous government's frequent ministerial hirings and firings.
She rejects outright, however, accusations of superficiality.
"We have set a clear deadline for carbon neutrality (the year 2050) and aim to phase out the use of coal by 2035," Kallas says.
While the use of coal is to be phased out, Kallas says that Estonia's northeastern regions, home to a sizeable minority of Russian speakers, will not be left behind, giving Russia an opportunity to expand its influence.
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Change in this year's presidential election
Estonia's next presidential election is scheduled to take place this summer. Unlike in Finland, Estonian presidents are elected not by regular voters, but by the country's members of parliament.
According to Kallas, the mood in parliament suggests that current President Kersti Kaljulaid is unlikely to see a second term.
"I don't know who the next president will be," Kallas says. "However, according to political convention, the prime minister and the president must come from different parties, so I think it makes sense that the Reform Party does not nominate its own candidate in the elections this time," she says.