Mart Helme, Estonian Minister of the Interior and Chairman of the Ekre Party, says that the Estonian government has begun drafting a security plan.
The Estonian government is drawing up a contingency plan because, in Helm's view, it can no longer rely on the Western Alliance guaranteeing the territorial integrity and independence of Estonia under all circumstances.
- I don't want to say that Macron is 100% true when he talks about the brain-dead NATO, but obviously there are problems with NATO. As we lean on our own security to NATO, we take a close look at what is happening in NATO, and Helme begins to answer the question put by Iltalehti.
French President Emmanuel Macron described NATO as brain-dead in an interview with The Economist in Britain last week.
- NATO holds its summit in London. Yesterday, [Monday], we prepared the positions of the Estonian assembly in the Government. We are also working on Plan B, which is what Estonia - and not only Estonia but also the other Baltic countries - will do if Macron has actually spoken, Helme goes on to say.
Information is extremely important in foreign and security policy. It is also important and significant for Finland.
- What worries us is what is happening in the Middle East: the friendship and partnership between Russia and Turkey or why we ever want to call it.
Helme says that the Estonian government is preparing Plan B together with Latvia and Lithuania. Together, the Baltic States are preparing for the fact that NATO's common defense will no longer be fully certain in all circumstances.
- We don't know exactly what the Americans plan to do. Several of our ministers have recently visited the United States. There everyone talks about China. Very few talk about Russia. There is a China, China, China atmosphere, Far East, Far East, Far East, Helme tells about the Estonian government's assessment of the situation.
- We are concerned about Russia. At a board meeting on Monday, I stated that we now need to do more in our diplomacy to find out how the so-called big boys are. I mean not just the United States, but also the British, Helme emphasizes.
According to Helm, Estonia is interested in Britain's attitude to the security of the Baltic states after a possible Brexit, or EU divorce.
- What is Britain's attitude towards Russia and what is the country's policy towards the Baltic? It is very important to us. In Germany, the era of Chancellor Angela Merkel is over. That's clear. What happens next in Germany? Nobody knows how much the end of Merkel's time will change German foreign policy, Helme points out.
Britain is the leader of NATO's combat troops stationed in Estonia.
According to Helm, the Estonian government is following very closely the political developments of the major NATO countries in Europe.
- I think we can rely on many NATO member states, but we certainly cannot know what NATO's future will be. Maybe everything is going well. NATO has had its own crises in the past, but now NATO is in crisis, and no one knows how NATO will cope with its crisis. That's why we have to work very hard to build Estonia's own partnerships with certain countries, Helme says.
Never before has a leading politician in the Estonian government said publicly that the Estonian government is preparing a Plan B in case NATO's Article 5 security guarantees might not protect Estonia in the event of an attack.
Helme emphasizes that he hopes that NATO will resolve the crisis and remain a strong defense alliance and security against the threat from Russia.
- We want NATO to be strong.
"People still think that NATO will protect Estonia, but ordinary people are not politicians," Helme points out.
According to Helmen, Ekre's chairman, the Estonian government has a great responsibility in ensuring that a credible plan B is successfully drawn up by Estonia and the other Baltic countries.
- Is NATO capable of fulfilling its mission? Helme says aloud what the Estonian government has been silent so far for diplomatic reasons.
Mart Helme met Finnish journalists on Tuesday at an event organized by the Estonian Political Editors Association at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior in Tallinn.
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