There are more and more contradictions between the European Union and the Baltic countries.
Konstantin Voronov, head of the regional problems and conflicts sector of the department of European political studies at IMEMO RAS, stated this in a commentary to Izvestia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Europe is opening its borders, the Baltics are closing. Nationalism in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania began to be practiced after gaining independence. Then the main enemy was seen as Russia and the local Russian-speaking population. Europe turned a blind eye to human rights violations. She believed that the disease of nationalism would pass, the Baltic states would become on a par with old Europe. But this is not happening,” Voronov said.
Recently, Baltic politicians have noted a number of initiatives that contradict the so-called European values.
Thus, the head of the Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mart Helme, said that he is against turning the European Commission into the government of Europe. He also spoke about Ukrainian labor migrants.
“Ukrainians will speak Russian and will join the Russian-speaking population. I understand them, but we are against it. There are also economic reasons: Ukrainians are ready to work for meager money. Both Estonians and Russians who are not ready to work for that kind of money will lose their jobs,” the minister said.
In addition, he called for a referendum to include in the constitution a definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. According to the official, he does not look kindly on gays. “Let them flee to Sweden. They are looked at more politely there,” Helme advised.