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The EU does not know what to do with Estonia


Most European politicians prefer not to comment on the current situation in Tallinn. It seems that no one anticipated the newly admitted country to suddenly start acting in such an undemocratic manner.

The Estonian authorities� actions have shocked respectable Europe, for whom the memory of the Second World War is untouchable. Up until now, Poland had been the main troublemaker in this regard, with its president Lech Kaczynski declaring a crusade on �communist heritage� and managing to offend Spain by stripping the 25 remaining Polish participants in the Spanish international brigades of their pensions. In the wake of the recent events, Kaczynski declared that he sees �Moscow�s hand� in the Tallinn disorder.

However, politicians from Western Europe adhere to a slightly different viewpoint. The prominent Belgian political figure Francois-Xavier de Donnea, government minister, former burgomaster of Brussels and former minister for national defense, declared that he was �shocked by the irresponsibility of the Estonian authorities� actions�.

The chairman of the committee for external affairs of the Senate of Belgium, Francois Roelants du Vivier, agreed with him. �Regardless of the relationship between Estonia and the Soviet Union, it cannot change the fact that Soviet troops liberated Estonia from fascists. This fact demands respect. To try to act in any other way is just to turn one�s back to historical truth�, says the Belgian senator.

The European parliament deputy Tatyana Zhdanok went to Tallinn on Sunday in the hope that her presence at the demonstrations will prevent an escalation of violence.

After a telephone conversation with the Russian president, Germany�s chancellor Angela Merkel made a declaration where she declined to take a position and called upon all involved parties to calm down. �I will not stop repeating that, first and foremost, both sides need to put a stop to any form of violence. As long as the disorders continue in Tallinn, there can be no dialogue.�

That is exactly the European Union�s position: Europeans are calling for the violence to end and for a peaceful settlement. It is worth noting that on the eve of the Tallinn disorders, the leaders of the European Union came to an agreement on the establishment of minimum standards in the fight against racism and intolerance. Since Estonia�s representative also signed the document, Europeans simply do not know what to think of the Estonian government�s recent actions. Ultimately, even if the events are considered to be a provocation from the Kremlin, Estonians did not need to give in to that provocation. After all, it is not Moscow that dismantled the �Bronze Soldier� on Tynismyagi hill.

Every year on May 9th, thousands of flowers are placed at the Soviet memorial in Berlin�s Treptower Park. Those flowers are placed there by Germans who remember the war and who know to whom they owe their freedom from Nazism. To dismantle that statue or to disturb the graves of Soviet soldiers in the memorial cemetery would never cross anyone�s mind in Germany. Apparently, Estonians have a shorter memory.

Source: Rosbalt.RU



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