Mart Helme

Mart Helme
MP
Leader of the Conservative People's Party
Assumed office
13 April 2013
Preceded by Margo Miljand
Estonian Ambassador to Russia
In office
1995–1999
President Lennart Meri
Preceded by Jüri Kahn
Succeeded by Tiit Matsulevitš
Personal details
Born (1949-10-31) 31 October 1949
Pärnu, Estonia
Political party People's Union (2003-2005)
Conservative People's Party (2012-present)
Alma mater University of Tartu

Mart Helme (born 31 October 1949 in Pärnu) is an Estonian politician and 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 and a singer.

He owns Suure-Lähtru manor.

Early life

Mart Helme was born on October 31, 1949 in Pärnu. His father was a veteran of the Estonian Legion. He later said that listening to his father's stories about fighting on the Eastern Front made him an Estonian patriot despite being raised in the Soviet Union.[2]

After graduating from 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 in 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 that "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 a United States of Europe."[3]

In 2015 parliamentary election, Helme was elected to parliament with 6,714 individual votes.[4]

Personal life

Politician and journalist Martin Helme is his son.

References

  1. ↑ "Mart Helme on olnud muusik, ajakirjanik, farmer, diplomaat ja mõisnik". Pärnu Postimees.
  2. ↑ EKRE: Esimees Archived January 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "EKRE general assembly elects Mart Helme chairman". Postimees.
  4. ↑ "Riigikogu valimised 2015: Detailne hääletamistulemus". Vabariigi Valimiskomisjon. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
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