You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Estonian. (April 2019) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Estonian Wikipedia article at [[:et:Martin Helme]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|et|Martin Helme}} to the talk page.
Helme's views have been described as eurosceptic and populist.[7] As one of the key figures in EKRE, Martin Helme advocates for national conservatism. He has been an opponent of Estonia's membership of the European Union and the use of the Euro as the country's currency.[8] He has claimed that immigration is endangering the sovereignty of European states, including Estonia.[9] Helme has been a vocal critic of the UN's Migration Pact.
Helme, then a board member of EKRE,[10] caused controversy in 2013 for his views on immigration. During a TV interview about riots in socially segregated suburbs in Sweden, he said that "Estonia shouldn't allow things to go as far as in England, France and Sweden. Our immigration policy should have one simple rule: if (they're) black, show the door. As simple as that. We shouldn't allow this problem to emerge in the first place".[11] The Estonian translation of "if it's black, show the door" rhymed as "Kui on must, näita ust" ([kujɔnmustnæjtɑust]); it gained widespread notoriety and became one of the main slogans connected to EKRE.[12] In March 2019, Helme defended himself by saying that he had made the comments in 2013 before he was a politician, but nonetheless refused to condemn or retract them, stating that he would always stand against mass immigration.[13]
In the area of civil rights, Helme has campaigned against the passing of the Cohabitation Act in Estonia, which entitled same-sex couples to register as civil partners. He later campaigned to repeal the act.[14]
In November 2020, while in the role of the Minister of Finance, Martin Helme claimed in a radio show he has no doubt that the 2020 US elections were falsified and that "If Trump is taken down, the US Constitution will no longer be in effect." The comments resulted in a political crisis that ended with the resignation of the entire Jüri Ratas' second cabinet, including Helme himself.[15]
