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A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 5 March 2019

Far right gains in Estonia eyed for clues to EU-wide vote

By JARI TANNER But the “biggest achieve-
Associated Press ment” the vote count re-
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Tiny flects is “We are dictating
Estonia has become the the Estonian political agen-
latest European country da,” he said. In recent years
with a political landscape and months, support for
reshaped by a populist par- populist parties with nation-
ty promising national surviv- alist agendas has grown in
al in an age of globalism, a Europe, from Poland and
development noted Mon- Hungary to France and
day in light of European Italy. The outcome in Esto-
Union parliament elections. nia bore similarities to what
Political observers watched happened in Sweden last
a parliamentary election year. The Sweden Demo-
held Sunday in the Baltic crats, a party with neo-Nazi
nation, an EU and NATO roots, won 62 seats in the
member that borders Rus- 349-member parliament on
sia, as a continental barom- Sept. 9, making it the third-
eter for whether far-right largest party.
nationalists would continue The other parties ruled out
making gains. And in Esto- forming a coalition gov-
nia, they did. ernment that included the
While the center-right Re- Sweden Democrats. It took
form Party, which ran on a Chairman of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) Mart Helme speaks at the four months before a two-
low-tax, small-government headquarters after parliamentary elections in Tallinn, Estonia, early Monday, March 4, 2019. party, center-left minority
platform, will be tasked with Associated Press government took office.
forming a government, the her party finished with 28.8 platform for its positions, said the party’s growing In some countries, including
anti-immigrant, euroskep- percent of the vote. The some of which critics see popularity was “no differ- Italy, nationalist surges fol-
tic Estonian Conservative party said before the elec- as homophobic and rac- ent than almost all other lowed large influxes of im-
People’s Party more than tion it would not consider ist. Martin Helme, who runs countries in Europe, where migrants. In others, like Po-
doubled its seat tally in par- the Estonian Conservative EKRE with his father and there’s a serious public de- land and Estonia, mass mi-
liament. People’s Party, or EKRE, as leads its parliament caucus, mand for political parties gration has been a source
Reform Party leader Kaja a potential governing co- has said publicly that only who will stand up against of anxiety even though
Kallas is expected to be- alition partner. white immigrants should be the globalist agenda” and the number of arriving mi-
come the country’s first The far-right party never- allowed into Estonia. European Union policy- grants has been extremely
female prime minister after theless captured a larger On election night, Helme makers. small.q

France’s Macron makes pro-European plea before EU elections

By SYLVIE CORBET departure from the EU at berattacks and other ma-
Associated Press the end of the month. nipulations. He also wants
PARIS (AP) — French Presi- He advised voters in the to ban the financing of EU
dent Emmanuel Macron May 23-26 EU parliament political parties by foreign
urged European Union elections to reject national- powers.
citizens on Monday to use ist parties that “offer noth- To better handle the mi-
their votes in the upcom- ing.” grant crisis, Macron calls for
ing European Parliament Macron decided to direct- stricter border controls and
elections to protect and ly address the bloc’s voters a common border force.
strengthen an “endan- to an effort to use the elec- He suggests introducing
gered” Europe. tions to give a new boost to common asylum rules.
In a column posted on the the EU, his office said. Macron also proposes a
website of French news- Macron suggests Europe defense treaty to define
paper Le Parisien, Macron should be more indepen- the bloc’s fundamental ob-
wrote: “Never, since the dent from other world pow- ligations in association with
World War II, has Europe French President Emmanuel Macron attends a press conference ers. NATO, including increasing
with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Elysee Palace in
been as essential. Yet nev- Paris, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. Associated Press He proposes the creation of defense spending. Macron
er has Europe been in so an agency that would pro- stresses that Britain should
much danger.” supporter of the European ing Europe, alleging that vide every member state be associated to decisions
The French leader, who Union, called Brexit a sym- “lie” and “irresponsibility” with experts to protect their in this field —even after
campaigned as a strong bol of the problems plagu- led to Britain’s scheduled voting process from cy- Brexit. q