Reinsalu considers Estonia's UN vote against US wrong
Minister of Justice Urmas Reinsalu (IRL) finds Estonia's decision to vote at Thursday's extraordinary UN General Assembly for the decree condemning U.S. President Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision to be short-sighted, writes Delfi. MEP Urmas Paet (Reform/ALDE) is likewise critical of the decision.
"In my opinion, Estonia should have done like six other EU member states and abstained from this vote," Reinsalu said in an interview with online news portal Delfi (link in Estonian). "We should not participate in diplomatic actions in the UN if our biggest military ally has explicity asked for support of this specific resolution."
The Estonian minister noted that it would be different if the EU had voted unanimously — in that case, it wouldn't have been appropriate for Estonia to breach that solidarity, especially as the current presidency of the Council of the EU.
"We should not be quick to act as judge in an international forum on a difficult question regarding a country whose policy of values was based on the non-recognition of the occupation of Estonia 50 years ago," Reinsalu stressed, adding that he had strongly but unfortunately in vain recommended Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Mikser (SDE) abstain from Thursday's vote.
The UN General Council on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to reject US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Estonia joined most other EU member states in voting in favor of the resolution; only Latvia, Poland, Romania, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary opted to abstain from the vote.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
