If you receive a mandate in the EU elections, will you head to Brussels?

Yes, I'll say this very clearly: I am not a decoy. This time, I'm running in the European Parliament elections with the clear understanding that if the people support me, then I will take up my mandate in the European Parliament.

What do you think, will you get the most votes on your [party candidate] list?

Theoretically it's still the case that we are after two seats, and that is likewise the main reason why I finally decided to run myself. Of course, if a party chair is running at the top of their list, it would be very surprising if they didn't get a good number of votes.

And I can see that these things that are happening in Europe right now need the strongest and most professional possible political presence in Brussels too.

When I see how police are breaking up conservatives' meetings in Brussels or how all of our sister party's Facebook pages in Portugal are being shut down, then this fight for a free and democratic state and for member states' freedom has concentrated heavily in Brussels.

I want to be all in in this fight.

If you go off to Brussels, who's going to lead the party?

I don't see there being an issue at all with the leadership of the party somehow suffering as a result here.

People imagine that the work of the European Parliament is something like that of the Riigikogu, where you have sittings and committees every day. That isn't actually quite the case. Of course you have your own responsibilities and jobs in Brussels, but the work schedule is different there.

We've seen many cases in Europe of where a party chair has successfully served as MEP. This was the case at length for the Finns Party, for example, and at length for the French National Front, and for many other parties as well. For Italian parties too.

I see me rather as having more time and opportunity then to engage in party work than I do now.

But there are inevitably some things for which you have to be present in Brussels or Strasbourg. And an important meeting or significant redistribution of power may take place here in the meantime. How do you decide then?

Party meetings are held according to the party chair, and that schedule can be set by the party chair. And how many of these groundbreaking major events are there really in Estonia's domestic politics? You can always change your schedule for those. I see no conflict or issue here.

Which of you will get more votes, you or [incumbent EKRE MEP] Jaak Madison?

I think we'll both bring in a good number of votes, but I still expect that the party's leading candidate will also get the so-called "brand votes."

I'm surprised that, looking at the latest polls, Madison has a higher rating than you do.

I'm certainly not surprised. When people are asked about the European Parliament, then the first thing that comes to mind is who is there currently. And out of all the MEPs, our party's representative is only one that has been doing work there.

Would you make a better MEP than Jaak Madison?

I think I'd work under a slightly different profile there. I have very good relations with the leaders of other conservative-nationalist parties; these relations would be sure to grow stronger. That coordination would certainly intensify.

This big politics going on in the corridors of Brussels in some respects requires the attention of the party chair. And that is certainly an added quality that I could bring to that.

Whose campaign will party money be going toward?

We'll make sure that all candidates are also given party resources both for posters and for election ads. And each candidate naturally has their own motivation to run their own campaign according to how much personal resources they have.

Will the party's campaign be divided equally between all the candidates?

You a communist or something? Of course it won't be. The party is running a brand campaign, a lead candidate campaign and a regional campaign in people's home localities.

Meaning the lead candidate will still be getting a little more campaign funds?

It would be absurd to run the party chair as lead candidate and then not promote him as our greatest election asset.

If EKRE gets one mandate and if you make it to Brussels and Madison stays home, then what will become of him politically? He's important to the party. How do you keep him in the picture and ready for the local and Riigikogu elections?

We have great motivation to push for two seats.

You're a strategist. Surely this question has crossed your mind as well.

I'm sure we'll have opportunities for him to apply himself. This certainly isn't a concern for us.

But political application?

We're in power in around 20 local governments in Estonia and he's deputy chairman of the party. So there's no need for us to worry about that right now.

A question in its own right is if you go to Brussels, then who's your strong number two that will hold down the fort in Estonia?

I'll say it again – if I head to the European Parliament, I personally see no need for me to relinquish leadership of the party. On the contrary, I think it gives me some more opportunities.

Among other things, for example, an MEP's expense allowance is four times the size of an Estonian MP's. And the salary fund for hiring assistants is significantly larger than that of a Riigikogu parliamentary group. So these opportunities to do political work in Estonia actually substantially increase.

Besides, our party has deputy chairs. One of them is former party leader Mart Helme. Even now, our running affairs are delegated within the [party] board. There may be some tinkering to be done to that end, but I see no major need for restructuring.

What I got from that answer is that an MEP seat is financially significant to the party as well.

It absolutely is, of course. That's one reason why that seat is valued by parties.

An MEP has an annual salary fund of approximately €300,000 for hiring people. Plus expense allowances, plus group money for organizing events. This is an important resource that I'm sure all parties value.

I looked up EKRE's revenue streams this morning, and it sure doesn't look as though an MEP seat brings you much money.

But that's what needs to be improved in the next parliament.

Explain.

We definitely want to be able to better utilize this resource in the next parliament.

When [Isamaa chair] Urmas Reinsalu said that he intends to head to Europe after receiving a mandate, it raised some questions within Isamaa. How much discussion and thought has your plan provoked within EKRE?

We have been discussing and working on compiling the [candidate] list since last November. Not everyone whom I proposed join the list accepted the proposal. But at the same time, there were significantly more candidates for these nine spots than they could have accommodated.

I've also made it clear within the party that I'm not just here just for looks; rather, if I get the votes, then I'll accept the mandate too. I suppose it's needed some kind of explanations, but I think everyone in the party has figured it out by now, and the party is working to achieve results.

Won't you miss the Riigikogu?

Compared with the previous two, this [15th] Riigikogu has been an incredibly depressing experience. There's not much left of parliamentary democracy here, there are no real debates and arrogance and crudeness with which things are being done here by liberal powers is depressing. I don't see anything better coming out of this Riigikogu.

I still believe we need snap elections. I don't think it's impossible at all to achieve this within the next three years either. We haven't given up on that plan; we're just waiting for another opportunity.

And I've heard a lot of people say that they like me a lot in politics, and because they like me so much, they can't vote for me, because otherwise I'll leave Estonia. I want to say it's the other way around, that if you don't vote for me, then I could disappear from politics. But if you vote for me, then I feel the duty to remain in politics.

If you had to spend the next three years keeping the opposition bench warm, would things get dull?

Yeah, that's not very inspiring. But I don't mean to say with that that this work doesn't need to be done here, or that it's dull work.

On the contrary, we hold the line here in defense of Estonia's functioning democracy. And even if that should leave a bitter taste in your mouth, you absolutely cannot stop trying.

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