Estonian “Sputnik” and “Georgia and World” Claim that Estonians No Longer Want to Stay in EU

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On April 22, Georgia and World, an online media outlet, published an article headlined “Estonians No Longer Want to Stay in the European Union.” According to the article, this Baltic state has already started collecting signatures for a petition and after collecting enough signatures, its initiator, the far-right Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) will apply to the Parliament of Estonia with a request to hold a referendum on leaving the European Union. The author claims that 1,500 people signed the petition within several days and what is most important, the 2003 referendum, when Estonian people voted for joining the European Union, is invalid because less than one half of the country’s adult population gave positive answers and therefore, the referendum should be held again. The article also offers the position of Mart Helme, the longtime chairman of the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia who is referred to as the former Estonian Foreign Minister. sputnik-meedia.ee’s articles released on April 10 and April 11 are referred to as the sources of information.

The claim as if Estonians no longer want to stay in the European Union is manipulative and groundless. According to the official data, 84% of Estonians support the EU membership, while the above-mentioned petition on referendum had only 1,656 signatories, as of May 6. Moreover, the argument that the referendum on EU membership should be held again, because less than one half of adult population gave positive answers in 2003, also is manipulative. According to the Estonian Referendum Act, the decision of the people shall be reached by a majority of those who participate in the voting. Mart Helme served as Estonian Interior Minister, not Foreign Minister.

Estonia held a referendum on joining the EU on September 14, 2003. Both voter turnout and number of citizens backing the EU membership exceeded 60% in a referendum. 63% of the 850,000 eligible voters went to polling stations and a decisive 67% of voters backed accession to the European Union.

Estonia’s support for the European Union has risen and the percentage of firm supporters has grown recently. According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, recent surveys show that 84 percent of Estonians supported the country’s membership in the EU and support for the single currency has jumped to an all-time high of 78 percent. These facts contradict the information that Estonians allegedly do not want to stay in the European Union.

Kenno Põltsam submitted a petition on holding another referendum regarding the EU membership to rahvaalgatus.ee platform on March 29, 2021. The website has been created for submitting petitions to the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) and local governments. All petitions with, at least, 1,000 signatures will automatically be submitted to the Estonian Parliament for consideration. Submitting the petition to the Parliament does not mean that the legislature will meet its requirements. As of May 6, 2021, Põltsam’s initiative has 1,656 signatories, while Estonian population is estimated at 1.3 million.

Kenno Põltsam notes in the petition that it is necessary to hold a new referendum citing the principles of democracy, because less than one half of citizens with the right to vote said their yes to Estonia’s accession to the European Union (voter turnout – 64%; positive answer – 67% and 67% of 64% of the population is about 43%). However, this demand lacks legal grounds, because according to the Estonian Referendum Act adopted in 2002, the decision of the people shall be reached by a majority of those who participate in the voting. The same principle works in other countries, including Georgia. Thus, the demand of the petition initiator to annul the 2003 referendum lacks any legal grounds.

The article published by Georgia and World provides quotes by Mart Helme, the longtime chairman of the far-right Conservative People’s Party of Estonia and former Estonian Interior Minister, who speaks about his negative attitude towards the European Union, as a confederation. In the article, Helme is referred to as the former Estonian Foreign Minister, though he had never served on this position. It is noteworthy that in 1995-1999, he served as Estonia’s Ambassador to Russia.

Helme’s identical remarks are also met in the articles published by Sputnik and Estonian ERR referred to by the Russian media outlet as a source. However, Helme, who announced his resignation in late 2020 after calling Joe Biden a corrupt character, speaks about the idea of setting up a parliamentary group, which, as he claims, will discuss whether Estonians want to be members of the confederative European Union. Simultaneously, Helme stresses that he supports the European Union as an economic community and a union of sovereign nations, but he does not like it has become “a highly ideologized and federalist organism.” In these two sources, Helme says nothing about the invalidity of the 2003 referendum.

About the source

Georgia and World refers to sputnik-meedia.ee as its source. According to Whois Lookup, the website was created on September 25, 2020 and its IP address is located in a German city of Hessen.

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The Russian news agency Sputnik owned by Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) said in January 2020 it was closing its operations in Estonia after nearly three dozen of its employees resigned following what they said was pressure from Estonian police. Elena Cherysheva, head of Russia Today’s Estonian office, said that the website would continue its work later. In response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Estonia imposed sanctions against Dmitry Kiselyov, head of Russia Today news agency, in late 2019 as part of the sanctions imposed by the EU countries. Economic sanctions also applied to Sputnik and its financial assets were frozen in Estonia.

“Dmitry Kiselyov, head of Russian media group Rossiya Segodnya, has been among the central propagandists in vindicating Russian aggression in Ukraine. And the Sputnik office in question is a branch of that media organization. That is the reason behind financial sanctions against Sputnik”, then Foreign Minister of Estonia, Urmas Reinsalu clarified.


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Topic: Politics
Violation: Disinformation
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