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Thursday, 28.03.2024, 13:26
French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen arrives in Estonia
Marine Le Pen, leader of the French right-wing populist and
nationalist National Rally, arrived in Estonia on the night between Monday and
Tuesday and was welcomed at Tallinn Airport by several Estonians, including
Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE) deputy chair Jaak Madison, according the
daily Postimees reported LETA/BNS.
Le Pen gave a quick interview at the airport in which she
enthusiastically said that she is waiting for tomorrow [Tuesday]. "I will
meet with EKRE leaders with whom we want to establish a joint parliamentary
group in the European Parliament -- jointly with Matteo Salvini, the Freedom
Party of Austria, our Flemish, Danish and Finnish friends," the president
of the National Rally said.
When asked about her expectations regarding Estonia and
Europe, Le Pen said that her hope is a Europe of nations.
The French politician is scheduled to meet with EKRE leaders
on Tuesday.
Le Pen's visit to Estonia was announced last Monday by
EKRE's candidate for the European Parliament, Jaak Madison, in a social media
post.
It was established on Friday that EKRE is to host several
other European politicians in Tallinn, some of whom have also been to
Russian-annexed Crimea and thus justified Russia's activity there.
Le Pen also considers Crimea to be part of Russia.
A meeting is to be held at the House of the Blackheads
in Tallinn's Old Town on Tuesday that will be attended by EKRE's Jaak Madison,
Marine Le Pen, Finns Party's representative Olli Kotro, Danis People's Party's
representative Anders Vistisen as well as Manuel Vescovi from Italy's Lega
Nord.
In 2015, Le Pen voted against a resolution in the European
Parliament that demanded the release of Eston Kohver, an officer of the
Internal Security Service abducted from Estonia, from a Russian prison.
EKRE deputy chair Jaak Madison said that why Le Pen voted
specifically against the resolution demanding Kohver's release can be asked at
a bilateral meeting.
Madison added that many of EKRE's views differ from those of
Le Pen. "In foreign policy, the direction is foremost set by geographic
location, sense of history and personal experience. We emphasize a strong need
for cooperation with the United States and NATO in foreign policy, France has
not had such concerns as we have historically had, thus we definitely have
different approaches," Madison said.
He added that such meetings namely enable to discuss these issues directly. According to Madison, security issues and Russia will definitely be touched upon during Le Pen's visit to Estonia.
"I think that
Estonian politicians, too, have often been pro-Kremlin. Even if we look at the
behavior of President Kersti Kaljulaid when she invites Russian president, the
president of an aggressive country that is currently occupying Ukrainian and
Georgia areas as well as post Treaty of Tartu areas behind the Estonian border,
to visit Estonia, we can ask whether that, too, is not also a pro-Kremlin
mindset. So we can find this pro-Kremlin mindset in many cases. Le Pen's
statements undoubtedly overlap with those of most German and French
politicians, regardless of party or worldview, as there, this kind of
friendliness toward Russia is very noticeable in all parties," Madison
said.