Estonian prime minister Kristen Michal has laid out how to build up Europe’s defences. He also urges the use of Russian assets frozen in Belgium, and discusses Baltic expertise in fighting Putin. The liberal leader spoke with Ondřej Kundra in early November.
Has anything brought you satisfaction recently as a politician?
Kristen Michal: I recently attended the opening of Estonia’s largest timber building in northern Estonia. It may sound amusing this would bring joy to a prime minister, but in my previous role as environment minister, I launched this project in 2023.
It is a truly beautiful area, both in nature and culture – I recommend visiting. It has a maritime museum in a former seaplane harbour, as well as Estonia’s only submarine. And beside it stands the largest wooden building of its kind: our new natural history museum, under whose roof we want to bring together institutions focused on ecology and climate.
It is not merely a wooden structure; it is also probably one of most cost-effective buildings, amounting to about €2,100 to €2,200 per square metre.
One of our state agencies began its construction, and I was genuinely emotional at the opening ceremony – it is rewarding for a politician to see that something they started was actually completed.
Estonia is one of the foresighted Baltic member states which has warned for years about the Russian threat. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has recognised that Baltic warnings about Russian expansionism unfortunately came true…
I would probably have been happier if Baltic states had not been right. We spoke about Russia in the past, warning that Putin had imperial dreams of restoring the Soviet Union, that he was not concerned solely with Ukrainian territory, but also with stripping Ukraine of its sovereignty, or that he had further territorial ambitions. It would of course have been preferable if our warnings had not been proven wrong. But they were proven right.
Even before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, you warned the West about energy dependence on Russia and about unpreparedness for cyber threats. Now, Europe has learned its lesson. Are you satisfied that EU member states have woken up to reality, or do you think they remain blind to such threats?
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