Framing the EU and the Green Deal in Estonia: A reluctant balancing act

Abstract

As the new government incorporating the populist EKRE party took office in Estonia in spring 2019, concerns emerged about Estonia’s long-standing policy outlook of strong Euro-Atlantic integration. Other coalition members had to balance EKRE’s policy positions, which manifested in contradictory statements and vague decisions. Analysing the Estonian government’s rhetoric about the EU, this paper reveals how the government in its first year in office framed the European Union (EU). The Green Deal, or the EU’s target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, emerged as one of the cross-cutting topics in the discourse, but the pragmatic rhetoric employed by ministers and the conflict between values and actions raises questions about the motivations of the government, and therefore results in what is termed as ‘reluctant’ Europeanisation.