Political Briefs: Coming and Going
Kristiina Ojuland, who was thrown out of the Reform Party last year, is 45 people short of registering a new political party.
A total of 500 are needed and her Party of People's Unity currently has 445 members. The party said in a press release they are preparing for next year's parliamentary elections.
Ojuland has now left the European Parliament after collecting 3,000 votes, about 40,000 less than needed for re-election.
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New Social Democrat MEP Marju Lauristin has been named as a vice-president of the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. She is one of nine to hold the title in the 191-strong 751 seat assembly.
Lauristin, 74, is the only Balt and Scandinavian on the party's board. She will receive a specific task at the next board meeting.
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Alexander Stubb, well-known to Estonians, has been elected the new prime minister of Finland.
ERR's opinion editor Rain Kooli said Stubb is no revelation and only a caretaker, with elections only 10 months away.
The topic of Finnish NATO membership will remain stagnant, Kooli said. Although Stubb has voiced his support for membership, Finland will remain a partner, he wrote.