EKRE

The Conservative People's Party of Estonia ( et, Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond, EKRE) is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Estonia. It is currently led by Martin Helme. It was founded in March 2012, with the merger of People's Union of Estonia and Estonian Patriotic Movement. Its first leader, Margo Miljand, served as the chairman until 2013, when he was succeeded by Mart Helme. Its popularity remained low until late 2014, when they managed to draw supporters from the right; further, in the 2015 Estonian parliamentary election, they managed to cross the threshold. Over the years, it managed to position itself as one of the largest parties in Estonia. In the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election, they placed third, winning 19 seats in total. Mart was succeeded by his son, Martin Helme, in July 2020.

Since its inception, it has been a part of the ethno-nationalist camp of parties in Estonia. Ideologically, it has been described as a right-wing, radical right; or far-right party, the party leadership rejects the left–right political spectrum. Widely described as an Estonian nationalism, ultranationalist, and national-conservative party, it opposes immigration, supports the transition of public schools of Estonia's Russian-speaking minority from the current Russian language to Estonian language education, and wishes to implement Swiss-style direct democracy, e.g. popular initiatives.Tom Lansford (2017) ''Political Handbook of the World 2016–2017'', CQ Press On social issues, it is traditionalist and promotes preservation of Estonian nation and its culture, while their foreign views are orientated towards Euroscepticism. Due to its right-wing populist rhetoric, it has been described by critics as xenophobic and racist.

History

The party is a descendant of the Estonian ethno-nationalism camp. The Estonian Patriotic Movement was founded in 2006. From 2008, the movement was led by Martin Helme, son of Mart Helme. Mart Helme had formerly been a member of the People's Union of Estonia but was forced to leave the party in 2004 because of his opposition to the relocation of Monument of Lihula and the suppression of protests.

The party was founded in March 2012 when the agrarian centrist party People's Union of Estonia and the nationalist pressure group Estonian Patriotic Movement merged. In 2010, the People's Union of Estonia started to look for a possible merging partner. Talks with the Social Democratic Party were concluded and a special congress was convened to approve the merger agreement. However, at the party congress, only 172 delegates out of 412 supported the deal. Following the failed merger attempt, many leading members (MPs) left the party and joined the Social Democrats. In the 2011 parliamentary election, the People's Union did not pass the 5% threshold.

Mart Helme and several members of his nationalist circle ran at the election as independent candidates, none of whom passed the threshold necessary for an independent to enter the parliament. After the election, the leader of the People's Union, Margo Miljand, met with Helme. To save the party, Helme advised him to change the party name and alter the program. With links to the nationalist Estonian Patriotic Movement, Helme advised a deal between the two. The movement promised it would help redo the party program and elect new leaders.

In March 2012, the Estonian Patriotic Movement merged into the People's Union and the latter changed its name to the Conservative People's Party of Estonia. At the assembly in Põltsamaa, where the party was founded, EKRE made its first political statement: "No political party in the Riigikogu represents the Estonian people, our national interest or traditional values. The government acts on right- and left liberal, also socialist ideas that our countrymen are simply statistical units or taxpayers, consumers at best. It is not far right or far left, just ultra-liberalism. The Conservative People's Party gives a solution to the voters who are sick of forced choice between Ansip and Savisaar, East and West, left and right." For the first three months, EKRE's support according to the polls was zero, then it began to gradually rise.

EKRE takes part of yearly gatherings of the veterans of the Estonian Legion at the Sinimäed Hills. In 2013, the attendance of Mart Helme was praised in Estonian media while the abstention of other parties' leaders was frown upon and seen as a result of Russian anti-fascist propaganda.

During the local elections in October 2013, the party gained representation in several smaller municipalities, such as the parishes of Tudulinna and Häädemeeste. A member of the party also became mayor of the town of Saue, however he was set up independently of EKRE in a local party's list.

The first party since the 1990s to politically organize Estonian diaspora, EKRE founded its Finland branch in October 2014.

In the run-up to the 2015 parliamentary election, EKRE managed to draw supporters from the mainstream right, including defectors mainly from the IRL, but also from the liberal Reform Party and the Free Party's initiative group. In the election, EKRE won 8.1% of the vote and 7 seats in the Riigikogu. Soon after, the winning Reform Party excluded EKRE from the coalition talks, citing as a reason a blog post by EKRE's MP Jaak Madison, written in January 2012. In the post, Madison commended the economic policies of the Nazi Party and wrote: "There is unfortunately no perfect form of government (not even democracy) but I see fascism as being an ideology that consists of many positive nuances necessary for preserving the nation-state."

The former president of Estonia Arnold Rüütel voiced his support for Mart Helme in the 2016 Estonian presidential election.

As of 2018, EKRE was the only political party in Estonia with growing membership numbers. While all other parties were losing members, EKRE was gaining a few hundred members on a yearly basis.

In March 2019 Mart Helme said to the press that he wishes that one day his party would be the sole ruling party of Estonia.

After gaining 17.8% of the votes in the 2019 parliamentary election, EKRE joined Jüri Ratas' second cabinet with five out of fifteen cabinet positions. In 2021, Jüri Ratas resigned and the new government was formed without EKRE.

In 2021, pundits noticed that since 2019 EKRE support grew in the Russian community (notably in Ida-Viru County) This might be attributed to party's social conservative stance on social policy matters (e. g. opposition to the same-sex marriage).

Ideology and political positions

EKRE describes itself as "a principled and bravely patriotic Estonian party with an unshakable mission to protect Estonian national values and interests".

The Estonian Conservative People's Party program states that it is founded on the continuity of the Republic of Estonia and its Constitution, and it unites people who fight for the nation state, social cohesion and democratic principles.

EKRE states that the activities of the party are based on three fundamental values:
* Endurance of the Estonian values, based on support for the language, culture, education, family, traditions and national economy
* Participation society of equal opportunities, where open, honest and democratic governance allows all citizens to reach fulfillment and get involved in politics
* Socially and regionally balanced development and well-being that are guaranteed by a fair and strong state by implementing caring and knowledge-based policies and by developing an ecologically sustainable living environment.

It has also been labelled "far-right" by Kari Käsper, the Executive Director of Estonian Human Rights Centre, and in foreign media by BBC News and the Christian Science Monitor. According to Fox News Channel, EKRE is a far-right party, "considered by some to have Fascist-Neo-Nazi sympathies similar to many other flourishing nationalist parties in the Baltics and Eastern Europe". The Simon Wiesenthal Center has called EKRE youth organization's annual torchlight procession an "extreme right march".

Martin Helme, the party leader, has said that the accusations of extremism simply reflect the unfamiliarity and discomfort of the ruling class and media with the new political rhetoric of EKRE: "The mainstream has become so orthodox, so narrow, that whatever is not immaculately, diligently, fervently more-catholic-than-pope mainstream is immediately labelled extremism."

The programme of EKRE states that the citizens must actively guard against the external as well as the internal enemy in order to secure the Estonian nation, the survival of its independence and its status as an ethno-state. It also states as its objectives the creation of the environment needed for the survival of the Estonian language and culture. The party calls for implementation of direct democracy, balanced state budget,EKRE programme
and strict control over immigration to Estonia. Mart Helme has also expressed wishes for EKRE to gain the parliamentary majority and become the sole governing party (in contrast with Estonia's usual coalition governments).

Social policies

Education and health care

The EKRE claims to strongly oppose the widespread closure of schools in the countryside. Its program requires the teachers to speak high-level Estonian and be loyal to the Estonian state. To raise the quality of education, EKRE desires to raise the wages of teachers.

According to the program of the party, the importance of health care is linked to the preservation of the Estonian nation. The party stands for free dental treatment, wants to limit the availability of tobacco, alcohol and narcotics, and opposes abortion.

Demography and immigration

According to EKRE, demography is one of the most crucial aspects in the survival of the Estonian state. According to Mart Helme, Estonia is in a "demographic crisis", characterized by low birth rate and emigration of more than 100,000 Estonians in recent years. To counter the falling birth rate, the party has proposed family welfare programs such as paying back a quarter of a married couple's mortgage loan with every child's birth and lowering a parent's income tax by 5% rate for every child being raised in the family.

EKRE has actively stood against immigration from the Middle East and Africa, especially regarding the quota system proposed by EU Commission in 2015 to resettle the immigrants to all EU member states. Citing a large number of Russians already imported during the Soviet occupation, the party has repeatedly ruled out supporting any further mass immigration into Estonia. The party upholds that the Estonian migration policies must advance the aim of "expanding the amount and percentage of Estonians in Estonia" and if the liberal government allows immigration to "alter the ethnic makeup of Estonia", it is "scandalous and undemocratic".

Commenting on riots in socially segregated suburbs in Sweden, Martin Helme, then board member and the party leader's son said in a TV talk show in May 2013: "Estonia shouldn't allow things to go as far as in England, France and Sweden. Our immigration policy should have one simple rule: if you're black, go back. As simple as that. We shouldn't allow this problem to emerge in the first place."

According to the political scientist Tõnis Saarts, the will to show the Russian minority "their proper place" by making the language and citizenship laws more strict seems to be the "ancient urge of this party".

In response to the arrest of Estonian Defence Forces Major Deniss Metsavas, who has ethnic Russian background, for giving classified information to the GRU, Blue Awakening has proposed ethnic profiling when giving non-ethnic Estonian officers access to government secrets. EKRE representative Ruuben Kaalep reasoned: "The only logical explanation for his actions is that blood is thicker than water. Loyalty is not guaranteed by Estonian citizenship or even a soldier's oath given to the Estonian state. Loyalty is based on a feeling of ethnic belonging and a bond with one's ancestors."

Prior to the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election, the party attempted to appeal to Russian minority voters, with Mart Helme describing an "overlap" between the party's "very conservative" attitudes towards immigration and "homosexual propaganda" and those of Russians in Estonia. Mart Helme has criticized Ukrainian immigration to Estonia, on the basis that both Estonian and Russian residents would "lose their jobs" to lower-wage Ukrainian migrants.

Same-sex unions

The party strictly opposed the civil partnership law on registered partnership for same-sex couples that was adopted by Riigikogu in October 2014. Arguing the law grants adoption rights to homosexual couples, the party claimed it essentially establishes same-sex marriage. Instead, the party proposes laws that would help to raise the birth rate and strengthen the societal attitudes towards having children, including the need to strengthen the traditional family model.

EKRE also claims that pushing through the law while opinion polls showed that the majority of Estonian people opposed it was undemocratic. The party platform proposes a referendum on the civil partnership law.

The party's chairman Mart Helme has characterized the Baltic Pride as "some kind of a parade of perverts".

Direct democracy

EKRE views Estonia's form of government as heavily biased towards representative democracy, without means for the people to have an influence on politics other than elections. To change that, the party wants to return to more traditional ways of direct democracy, such as provided by the earlier Estonian constitutions of 1920 and 1934.Aeg on küps otsedemokraatiaks

The party program includes support of the right of citizens to create initiatives if at least 25,000 registered voters sign a petition to put a bill on referendum. EKRE supports public presidential elections, recall elections and public elections of judges, prosecutors and local police prefects. The party wants to abolish D'Hondt method from the parliamentary elections.

Economic policies

The party program states that the development of the market must serve the national interest. The party calls for creation of a national public bank. It has also supported cooperative banking in Tartu, including in its program the establishment of an alternative interest-free currency.

EKRE has voiced criticism over the execution of the Rail Baltica project. According to the party, Rail Baltica could potentially bring great benefit to the economy of Estonia, but the current project has a questionable impact on the environment and local communities, as well as a doubtful economic viability. In 2016, both Mart Helme and Henn Põlluaas proposed that the current project should be replaced with a vactrain or Hyperloop connecting Estonia to Central Europe. The party has supported limiting the sale of land to foreigners.

Environment

According to EKRE, the "untouched natural beauty" of Estonia must be preserved more effectively. Therefore, the party supports alternative and environment-friendly sources of energy. EKRE wants to intensify the fight against littering and says the offenders must be punished at least with a sum necessary to compensate for the harm created to nature. The party's program includes a ban on all genetically modified foods and their import. EKRE has been described as being skeptical of climate change.

Foreign and defence policies

The Conservative People's Party of Estonia often calls to protect Estonia's independence and sovereignty from supranational unions. They claim that the European Union is moving towards a federal state and Estonia should veto any legislation that centralises more power to the hands of EU. On 30 August 2012, EKRE organised a protest at Toompea against the ratification of European Stability Mechanism treaty.

While the party does not advocate Estonia's exit from the EU, it believes that the union has to overgo a drastic change. According to EKRE, the EU has to become a military alliance that would defend all European ethnicities based on the concept of ethnopluralism. EKRE wants to strongly limit the amount of bureaucracy in the EU.

EKRE strongly opposes a proposed border treaty between Estonia and Russia, which, according to the party, would cede 5.2% of Estonia's territory to the occupier once and for all without any compromise or compensation on its side. The party has called the possible signing of the treaty "treason" and the Estonian politicians who would sign it "traitors to the state". However, EKRE more recently has expressed support for the eventual normalisation of relations with Russia, urging a similar policy towards Russia as that of Finland, and to "not parlay up every minor incident into a drama". Although Mart Helme supports existing sanctions imposed against Russia, he has criticized American and EU sanctions policies towards Russia, warning that tougher sanctions would not "make Russia become a democracy", and believes "diplomatic negotiations" are the only way to resolve Estonia's disputes with Russia. He has also rejected suggestions that Russian President Vladimir Putin is an enemy of Estonia, describing Putin as a "pragmatist" who is "pretty neutral" towards Estonia. These mildly pro-Russian positions were abruptly reversed after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: after the invasion started, the EKRE proposed a ban on the ownership of weapons by Russians in Estonia and supported the proposal of stopping gas importations from Russia in the country;

The party opposes the accession of Turkey to the European Union and has called for reconsidering Turkey's membership in NATO. After the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, EKRE expressed regret over its defeat and called Turkey "no more democratic country than Russia".

The EKRE proposes a national defence policy based on self-reliance of Estonia. The security of the country would be safeguarded by the existence of initial defence, compulsory military service, total defence, international cooperation and the membership of NATO. The platform of the party includes formation of two tank battalions and acquisition of medium-range anti-aircraft systems.Riigikogu valimiste platvorm 2015. On aeg!

Martin Helme has expressed sympathy for American presidential candidate Donald Trump. According to Helme, Trump is right to point out that the Baltic countries need to make a financial contribution in exchange for the military alliance with the United States. "He can see no reason why the United States should make the national defense of other countries its duty. And I believe this question is completely justified. It's namely our party that has been saying for a long time that making initial independent defense capability strong is the most important thing, allies being the next component," said Helme.

One of the party's members, Georg Kirsberg, running for election in 2017, supported "a correct teaching of the history of the Third Reich." However, party leader Martin Helme stated that was not the policy of the party, and only "the thought of one person."

The party is supportive of Israel and was the first party to support Estonian recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Martin Helme proposed a weapon deal between Estonia and Israel to defend the country from Russia.

International relations

EKRE has close links with similar right-wing nationalist parties in Latvia and Lithuania.
On 23 August 2013, EKRE signed the Declaration of Bauska together with political parties National Alliance and Lithuanian Nationalist Union. The declaration calls for a new national awakening of the Baltic states and warns about threats posed by international globalism, multiculturalism and Russian imperial ambitions.

In 2014, the party's congress in Tallinn was visited by a delegation from the UK Independence Party. The delegation was led by Roger Helmer who gave a speech in support of Euroscepticism in Estonia.

Organizations with whom EKRE cooperates take regularly part of the annual torchlight march in Tallinn. They include all signatories of the Declaration of Bauska and the Scandinavian nationalist youth movement Nordisk Ungdom.

The party also has contacts among Ukrainian nationalists. During Euromaidan, Mart Helme sent an address to the protestors in Kiev, urging the Ukrainian patriots not to succumb to Russian demands.

In July 2019, Mart Helme met with Hungarian Prime Minister and Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán, and stressed that "Fidesz and EKRE are political parties based on Christian traditions and a desire to create a political Christian alliance-based alignment, in order to resist the liberal worldview throughout Europe".

In December 2021, the party participated in the Warsaw summit with Fidesz, Law and Justice, the Finns Party, the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party, Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance, Vox, National Rally, JA21 and Vlaams Belang.

Blue Awakening

The party's affiliated nationalist youth movement is named Blue Awakening. With links to the pan-European Identitarian movement and the alt-right in North America, Blue Awakening states "a new national awakening of the Estonians" as its principal aim.Telegram: Sinine Äratus tahab Eestit uueks rahvuslikuks ärkamiseks ette valmistada
This would come as a continuation to the 19th century Estonian national awakening and the Singing Revolution, leading the way to the establishment of "an eternal Estonian ethno-state".Uued Uudised: Sinine Äratus tähistas liikumise sünnipäeva
, 1 December 2015

Blue Awakening was founded on 30 November 2012 by Ruuben Kaalep and other youth from the Estonian Patriotic Movement. The young activists have been behind many of the party's protest marches. In addition to politics, the youth of Blue Awakening focus on art, music and right-wing philosophy such as the Traditionalist School of Julius Evola and René Guénon.Eesti Ekspress. "Sinised Äratajad".
The movement is disciplined and its activists have formed several squads. Kaalep also organizes firearms training with pistols and assault rifles to youths from the Blue Awakening. Their activities include rituals shaped after Finno-Ugric shamanism, including celebrations of sunrise on ancient tumuli.

Blue Awakening is the main organizer of the annual torchlight march through Tallinn on 24 February, Independence Day of Estonia. The first Independence Day torchlight march was held in 2014. According to Blue Awakening, the torchlight march is meant to honor those who have fallen for the nation of Estonia and to signify that Estonian youth have not abandoned the nationalist principles. The event has been harshly criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that described it as "Nuremberg-esque" and likened the ideology of the participants to that of the Estonian nazi collaborators.

Independence Day of Estonia">
File:Sinise Äratuse tõrvikurongkäik.jpg, 2014
File:Tõrvikurongkäik 2015.jpg, 2015
File:Tõrvikurongkäik 2016.jpg, 2016
File:Tõrvikurongkäik 2017.jpg, 2017
File:Tõrvikurongkäik 2018.jpg, 2018

Electoral results

Parliamentary elections

Municipal elections

European Parliament elections

See also

* List of political parties in Estonia

References

Further reading

* Hartleb, Florian (2021)
''Estland: Rechtsradikale im Mainstream''
''Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik''. 66 (3): 33–36.

External links

Official website

{{Authority control

Political parties in Estonia
Conservative parties in Estonia
Political parties established in 2012
2012 establishments in Estonia
Anti-immigration politics in Europe
Eurosceptic parties in Estonia
Nationalist parties in Estonia
National conservative parties
Right-wing populist parties
Member parties of the Identity and Democracy Party
Social conservative parties
Right-wing parties in Europe