Editorial: government goes for Shrove Tuesday

Photo: Liis Treimann / Postimees

Today, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip handed resignation papers to President.

Andrus Ansip’s nine years as head of the government have come to an end. Two years ago, Mr Ansip said he’d not be forming the next Estonian government. The tiredness, in addition to his speech back then also reflected in Reform Party popularity, is mutual – tired is the Prime Minister, tired are the voters. Therefore, to bring in a new leader to freshen things up is logical, for surely the current Prime Minister would not want to enter the elections doomed to lose.

Despite the fallen ratings of the governing party, we have reasons to acknowledge Andrus Ansip for his nine years as Prime Minister. Mr Ansip, and the former Latvian premier Valdis Dombrovskis, are among the few heads of governments in Europe who, after the complicated economic crisis years and the unpleasant choices, have still been re-elected. This, of course, may also be taken as praise towards the voters; anyway, in numerous European countries the government parties, following the unavoidable cuts, have been sent to polish the opposition benches. Facing that perspective, some politicians tried to postpone the vital steps till the very last moment.

Mr Ansip’s re-election testified to the fact that it is possible to explain to public the background of painful decisions, reasonable causes also heard.  Though we often tend to compare our income with the situation in Finland, for instance, we do realise that a bubble cannot be inflated forever, and covering everyday expenses with loans is merely postponing the bad. The time passed isn’t enough to give a final judgement; even so, no doubt Estonia could have been led much more carelessly, during the economic crisis, than was done by Mr Ansip.

As the years of crisis granter Mr Ansip the chance to get re-elected, the increased confidence gained by relative success finally lead government fatigue. Maybe the Prime Minister felt he was not sufficiently acknowledged for the good work. But then we might ask: what greater acknowledgement can a politician in a democracy ask for, that being re-elected?

Therefore, the last third of the Ansip Era will not be remembered, first of all, by Silvergate or the stalling economic growth (Estonia being dependent on external environment anyway), but rather by the arrogant attitude of the government. Explanations, which they were able to provide in the bottom of the crisis, now proved too much.  Critics were blasted by the «all is OK» or «it’s worse elsewhere» statistics; not caring enough to notice that, for many people, the statistics sun never shined while trying to cope. 

After Russian parliament decision regarding sending troops to Ukraine, many asked if due to the troubling circumstances the Prime Minister shouldn’t postpone his resignation. Mr Ansip answered no. Starting today, for a while, Estonia will be governed by an abdicated government – while the new is being assembled.