Across the past decade, Estonia has acquired an international status as both an economic tech hub and a liberal bastion of human rights.
As well as opening its doors to digital nomads with initiatives such as e-residency, Estonia was the first state in the Baltics to pass a law on same-sex partnerships.
But now its liberal reputation could be in trouble.
The country’s alliance government, which holds the Centre Party, the Fatherland Party, known as Isamaa, and the far-right EKRE party has declared a vote next spring on the legal meaning of marriage.
It is set to ask a question about whether marriage should be defined in the constitution as being between a man and women
“The referendum is part of the far-right’s request to roll back following policies that have brought greater balance and tolerance to our societies. And it also a sarcastic way to divide people,” Raimond Kaljulaid, an Estonian parliamentarian representing the Social Democrats in Riigikogu, the Estonian Parliament.
A divided nation
Last March, Kaljulaid left the Centre Party in denial at its decision to begin alliance talks with the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia, EKRE.
Kaljulaid is the half-brother of the necessary Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid.
Estonia’s referendum will not be binding, and the administration will not have to resign if it loses it. EKRE, which has tried to revoke the law on registering same-sex partnerships since its adoption in 2015, has been the driving force of the initiative.
Tonis Saarts, associate professor of similar politics at Tallinn University, says the far-right fears the law on the enrollment of same-sex marriages could pace the way for same-sex marriage.
“The conservative wing of the Estonian political spectrum, and EKRE in particular, is concerned that the liberals might want to approve same-sex marriage in the future. It chose to launch a pre-emptive strike and to reduce that possibility forever,” he said.
The Centre Party’s objection to make grants to the Reform Party in forming a new government put EKRE in the form of kingmaker – now it has become a key decision-maker in the new government, with a programme that conflicts with European values.
“The election has been certainly enabled by a weak prime minister who values his position in power over all other concerns, threatening unity in our society, our foreign policy and security concerns, etc,” Kaljulaid said.
Andrei Korobeinik, an MP of the ruling Estonian Centre Party, disagreed. He said that the referendum was “how democracy works”.
Liberals in Estonia were stunned when Juri Ratas, chairman of Estonia’s Centre Party, agreed to a coalition with the EKRE nationalists, who are notorious for statements such as “If you’re black, go back” and with leaders who have – since the coalition came into force – spewed supremacist gestures and fierce attacks on minorities.
Last week he figured that the referendum on same-sex partnerships would “clean up the air”, another critical remark about Estonia’s LGBTQ population.
It isn’t taking the party any harm with its base, however, which feeds on homophobia and hard-core traditionalism, both of which are still rife in bucolic Estonia.
“Their first idea, which was initially agreed upon in the alliance agreement between EKRE, The Centre Party and Isamaa, said that the national poll (on the constitutional meaning of marriage) will take home at the same time during the local city elections set for the autumn of the next year.