Ligi: Merkel's Win is a Win for Estonia
In a show of support from a leading Estonian politician, Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi lauded the victory of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democrat Union (CDU) in Germany's general elections yesterday, saying it was a victory for Estonia as well.
Ligi told uudised.err.ee that he had been keeping his fingers crossed for Merkel, but is now concerned that the CDU's current coalition partner, the business-oriented Free Democratic Party (FDP), is out the door having fallen short of the election threshold to get into parliament.
"Germany has in [Merkel's] time succeeded in freeing itself of undemocratic bilateral compromises over the heads of smaller partners, which can't be said about the leftist coalition. She has respected Europe's common foreign policy," Ligi said.
He continued: "Merkel has repeatedly recognized [Estonia] for our responsible fiscal policies, but the main thing is that we have had [their] political support […] Europe's and especially the Eurozone's financial and economic reforms have transpired in accordance with Estonia's wishes, but that wouldn't be so if Germany hadn't seized its leadership role."
The conservatives led by Merkel won yesterday's general elections with overwhelming support (41.5 percent of votes), although falling short of an absolute majority. The FDP fell out of power and while the Social Democrats came to prominence, with 26 percent of the votes, followed by the Left party's 8.6 percent and the Greens' 8.4 percent.