Estonia, Eesti 200, and the Russian Minority

Talk Eastern Europe is the new podcast series by New Eastern Europe Magazine, a bimonthly publication focused on Central and Eastern Europe. The podcast is hosted by NEE editor in chief Adam Reichardt and Maciej Makulski.

This episode focuses on politics in Estonia as the country approaches parliamentary elections in March 2019. It opens with an interview between Polish journalist Filip Rudnik and Kristina Kallas, leader of a new Estonian party called Eesti 200, which aims to challenge entrenched parties by promoting technocrats capable of dealing with Estonia's problems, including its strong demographic decline and its difficulties balancing a limited budget with expensive social welfare programs that may not be sustainable.

The other discussions are interesting as well: the first focuses on EKRE, Estonia's leading populist party that is gaining support, but unlike most populist parties elsewhere in Europe they hold strongly anti-Russian views. The issue of Russian-language education for Estonia's ethnic Russian minority (about 25% of the population) is also interesting as Kallas describes how the current situation results in the creation of essentially a segregated part of Estonian society.

This was an interesting look at Estonia and one of its new players in the next elections. I think a bit more discussion would have helped: most of the podcast was an interview with a politician, but it would have been helpful to balance her views with an independent Estonian political analyst or other such commentator. Nevertheless, I liked the themes they presented and am planning to listen to their Latvia episode now even though I don't particularly follow Baltic politics. Talk Eastern Europe is definitely worth your time.