Estonia’s co-ruling party, the far-right Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), dismissed the Foreign Trade and IT Minister Kaimar Karu over his stance on migration on April 17.

Karu is the fourth EKRE minister to leave the government – a coalition of the Centre Party, EKRE, and conservative Pro Patria – in just over one year. EKRE nominated Raul Siem, an adviser in the ministry, to replace Karu.

Karu’s standing with EKRE and its chairman Mart Helme – who is not in the government – started going sour after he voiced doubts on the party’s priority legislation to regulate migration. The so-called Aliens Act was written in the interior ministry, which is headed by Martin Helme, the son of the party’s chairman. 

The Aliens Act would limit foreign students’ option to come to Estonia, which would be a setback for the Estonian economy, Karu argued in a letter written with Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Minister Taavi Aas from the Centre Party.

Karu and Aas demanded from Helme “relevant studies or references that would help contribute to a better understanding of why and to what extent foreigners from third countries specifically who have earned a higher education in the same country are a potential threat to the state's security,” ERR reported.

Limiting migration to Estonia in order to retain its ethnic composition is one of the principal points in EKRE’s programme. The party’s anti-immigration and EU-sceptical stance managed to give it 19 seats in the parliament in last year’s election, a gain of 12 versus the 2015 vote.