Lukas: New Estonian Emigrants Leaving Out of Convenience
Those leaving Estonia for greener pastures or are planning to migrate are convenience immigrants, said Tõnis Lukas, former IRL politician and Minister of Education, and current head of the National Museum.
Speaking in Tartu on Wednesday, on the anniversary of Estonia's 1991 re-independence, Lukas said young Estonians currently leaving the country to work and live abroad are not comparable to the groups who left in 1944, and the current wave are convenience immigrants and are even leaving out of laziness.
“If our families accept this, and the places of the leavers will be filled by immigrants, then we must acknowledge that in the future, in difficult situations – in the police force, rescue, military – if those units have no sense of identity, no reason to stand together, then others will not come to our aid,” he said.