Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas has been forced to distance himself from Interior Minister Mart Helme’s attack on the prime minister of his country’s closest trading partner Finland, as the coalition with Helme’s far-right EKRE party comes under further strain. 

EKRE leader Helme launched an outspoken attack on Finland’s new Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who at the age of just 34 is Finland’s youngest prime minister and the youngest serving prime minister in the world. 

Speaking on the Räägime asjast (Let’s Talk About It) show on TRE Raadio, owned by EKRE MP Siim Pohlak, Helme called Marin a “Red” and a “cashier” who was working to “try to liquidate” Finland. 

“I would recall [Soviet leader] Vladimir Ulyanov Lenin saying that every kitchen maid could become a minister — or how he said. So now we see how a cashier has become a prime minister and how some other street activists and uneducated people have also become members of the government,” Helme said, according to reports in the Estonian media.

Marin holds a master’s degree from the University of Tampere, and supported herself while studying by working as a cashier and in a bakery.

The Estonian minister went on to refer back to the Finnish civil war of 1918, accusing the “Reds” of taking revenge on “Whites”. 

The ‘Reds’ … have now come to power and are now desperately trying to liquidate the Finnish state; turn Finland into some sort of ‘europrovince’,” he said. 

Helme added that he expected the next Finnish prime minister would be Jussi Halla-aho, the leader of the populist Finns Party. 

Marin responded to Helme’s insults in a Twitter post though without mentioning the Estonian minister directly. 

“I am extremely proud of Finland. Here, a child from a poor family can get educated and achieve many things in their life. A cashier of a shop can become a prime minister,” she tweeted.

In Tallinn, Ratas also responded with a statement in which he appeared to distance himself from Helme’s words, commenting positively on the relationship between Estonia and Finland.

“Finland is our close friend and ally, with whom all the governments of the Republic of Estonia have worked in good and close cooperation. This has not been influenced by which democratic parties currently belong to the coalitions or run each country. I personally had very good cooperation with the previous two prime ministers of Finland as well as already had very positive first contacts with their new government leader,” Ratas said in a statement on his Facebook page.

“I am looking forward to meaningful and honest cooperation with our Finnish counterparts from all members of the Estonian government,” Ratas continued. 

EKRE became a surprise coalition partner to Ratas’s Centre Party in April despite the prime minister previously ruling out cooperation because of EKRE’s anti-immigrant views.

Running a strongly anti-immigrant campaign, EKRE more than doubled its support in Estonia in the March election. That made Ratas change his mind as he sought a majority in the parliament after he turned down a coalition offer from Estonia’s largest party, the Reform Party.

However, the coalition has been plagued by scandals concerning several EKRE members ever since its foundation; IT and foreign trade minister Marti Kuusik resigned from office the day after he was sworn in, after allegations surfaced linking him to domestic violence. Ratas noticeably did not stand by Kuusik, saying at the time: “I unequivocally condemn all types of family and close relationship violence.”

Kuusik’s successor Kert Kingo was also forced to resign in October 23 over accusations of lying to the parliament on the issue of hiring a controversial advisor. A month later, Ratas dismissed yet another EKRE minister, Mart Jarvik who headed the agriculture ministry, following controversy over a conflict of interest involving one of his advisers.

However, the coalition has so far endured, despite EKRE’s earlier warnings that sacking Jarvik would lead to its collapse. 

Opposition leaders have strongly criticised Helme. “It is so embarrassing for the Estonian government to behave this way towards the Finnish people, the Finnish prime minister and women. Helme seems to think we have too many friends. This is Estonia 2019,” wrote Reform Party leader Kaja Kallas on Twitter. 

Finland is highly important to Estonia economically, being the top destination for Estonia’s exports, followed by Sweden and Latvia; the three countries together absorb 37% of Estonia’s total exports. Finland is also one of the main sources of Estonia’s imports, along with Lithuania and Germany. 

On top of their economic relationship, there are strong cultural links between the two states, whose languages are closely related. 

While they don’t share a land border, the Tallinn is just two hours away from Helsinki by ferry, and passenger numbers grew steadily for almost a decade before falling slightly in the last couple of a years, a decline attributed to the growth in prices in Estonia that made it a somewhat less attractive destination for Finnish tourists and day trippers. 

Meanwhile, there are plans to build a €15bn undersea tunnel connecting the two capitals that would cut the journey time from two hours to just to 40 minutes by train, and is expected to create a unified metropolitan area.