Mart Helme
Mart Helme (born 31 October 1949 in Pärnu) is an Estonian politician and the chairman of the national conservative Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) since April 13, 2013. A historian by profession, he also served as Estonia's ambassador to Russia from 1995 to 1999.
He has worked as a journalist, publisher and diplomat.[1] He has also been a farmer.
He owns Suure-Lähtru manor.
Early life
Mart Helme was born on 31 October 1949 in Pärnu. His father was a veteran of the Estonian Legion, while his grandfather had fought in the Estonian War of Independence and earned a Cross of Liberty. He has later said that listening to his father's stories about fighting on the Eastern Front made him an Estonian patriot despite of being born during Soviet occupation.[2]
After graduating a high school in Pärnu in 1968, he studied history at the University of Tartu and graduated in 1973.
In his youth, Helme played in several bands.
Career
Helme joined the Estonian diplomatic service in 1994. In 1995, he was appointed as the Estonian ambassador to Russia by President Lennart Meri. His tenure lasted until 1999. While in Moscow, he took part of the border negotiations with Russia.
From 2003 to 2005, Helme was a member of the agrarian-centrist People's Union of Estonia. In 2012, when the party merged with the Estonian Patriotic Movement, Helme became a member of the new Conservative People's Party of Estonia. A year later, he was elected its leader.
He has said, "Estonian politicians should honestly admit that our choice is between staying with those who are creating a United States of Europe and joining those who desire a Europe of nation states. The Conservative People's Party doesn't see a place for Estonia in United States of Europe."[3]
In 2015 parliamentary election, Helme was chosen to the parliament with 6,714 individual votes.[4]
Personal life
Politician and journalist Martin Helme is his son.
References
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- ↑ EKRE: Esimees
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