Comments by President Tarja Halonen last week on the mindset in the Baltic Countries last week have sparked controversy in Estonia. According to the website of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves expressed surprise at Halonen’s views.
Last week Halonen said on a YLE current affairs programme that the Estonians are suffering from “post-Soviet stress”. She analysed Finnish foreign policy in the interview, and said that it is good that there are countries in the EU that are not in a post-traumatic situation.
President Ilves reacted, saying that the statement was strange.
“Estonia has never criticised, and will not criticise the foreign policy decisions of another EU country. It will also not evaluate the psychological state of mind of other EU countries”, Ilves said in an interview with YLE TV News.
In his interview Ilves does not believe that the events in Georgia would have directly affected the security situation in the Baltic Sea area. However, he said that thought should be given to what might happen.
