Martin Helme (born 24 April 1976) is an Estonian politician, leader of the Conservative People's Party (EKRE), and a far-right nationalist. From 2019 to 2021 he was the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Political views

Helme's views have been described as

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

and populist. As one of the key figures in EKRE, Martin Helme advocates for

national conservatism National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...

. He has been an opponent of Estonia's membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and the use of the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

as its currency. He has claimed that immigration is endangering the sovereignty of European states, including Estonia. Helme has been a vocal critic of the UN's Migration Pact. Helme, then a board member of EKRE, caused controversy in 2013 for his views on immigration. During a TV interview about riots in socially segregated suburbs in Sweden, he said that "Estonia shouldn't allow things to go as far as in England, France and Sweden. Our immigration policy should have one simple rule: if (they're) black, show the door. As simple as that. We shouldn't allow this problem to emerge in the first place". The Estonian translation of "if it's black, show the door" rhymed as "Kui on must, näita ust" (); it gained widespread notoriety and became one of the main slogans connected to EKRE. In March 2019, Helme defended himself by saying that he had made the comments in 2013 before he was a politician, but nonetheless refused to condemn or retract them, stating that he would always stand against mass immigration. In the area of civil rights, Helme has campaigned against the passing of the Cohabitation Act in Estonia, which entitled same-sex couples to register as civil partners. He later campaigned to repeal the act. In November 2020, while in the role of the Minister of Finance, Martin Helme claimed in a radio show he has no doubt that the 2020 US Elections were falsified and that "If Trump is taken down, the US Constitution will no longer be in effect". The comments resulted in a political crisis that ended with the resignation of the

Jüri Ratas' second cabinet Jüri Ratas' second cabinet was the 50th cabinet of Estonia, in office from 29 April 2019 to 14 January 2021. It was a centre-right coalition cabinet of the Centre Party, right-wing populist Conservative People's Party (EKRE) and conservative ...

References

External links

Riigikogu profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helme, Martin Living people 1976 births Finance ministers of Estonia Anti-immigration politics in Europe Conservative People's Party of Estonia politicians European white nationalists Critics of multiculturalism Members of the Riigikogu, 2015–2019 Members of the Riigikogu, 2019–2023 Leaders of political parties in Estonia Critics of Islam Politicians from Tallinn Government ministers of Estonia University of Tartu alumni 21st-century Estonian politicians