Pärnu, Estonia’s seaside capital of summer leisure, is facing a defining political scandal – just days after the 19 October 2025 local elections, the town that once symbolised openness and European modernity now teeters on the brink of being governed by a man wearing the emblems of Europe’s far-right fringe.
That man is Valmar Veste, a regional activist of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party, known as EKRE, who is now poised to become Pärnu’s next mayor. His coalition partners – the Centre Party, Südamega Pärnu (“With Heart for Pärnu”), Pärnu Ühendab (“Pärnu Unites”), and the Parempoolsed (Rightwingers) – together hold a razor-thin majority in the 39-seat city council.
And yet, what makes this moment particularly shameful is not just EKRE’s predictable hunger for power, but the willingness of two Social Democratic councillors to join this coalition of convenience – effectively handing the far-right control of one of Estonia’s most visible towns.
The red line that shouldn’t be crossed
The Social Democrats have long presented themselves as the moral compass of Estonia’s centre-left – defenders of equality, rule of law and European values. Across the continent, their sister parties in the Party of European Socialists have stood firm against alliances with populists and extremists.
To see members of that same movement lend support, even tacitly, to a government led by EKRE – a party with a history of xenophobia, conspiracy rhetoric, and open hostility toward the European Union – is a betrayal of everything social democracy claims to represent.
There are no “technical” coalitions with extremists. There are only coalitions that normalise them.
Veste’s personal record reads like a warning label. His companies have failed to submit financial reports and one carries a tax debt. More troublingly, he has appeared in public wearing Thor Steinar clothing – a brand banned in parts of Germany for its neo-Nazi associations – and once operated a business importing and selling that very brand in Estonia.
Veste’s online record is no less troubling. On his public Facebook profile, he has shared images with clear racist undertones – including memes mocking Black Europeans and implying that non-white citizens cannot be truly German or French. Combined with his choice to wear Thor Steinar apparel, these posts reveal not an innocent fascination with “Nordic mythology,” but a pattern of coded far-right signalling.
He dismisses the criticism as “Nordic mythology,” but no serious observer in Europe is fooled. Thor Steinar has long been a cultural marker of far-right identity, a way to signal allegiance without wearing a swastika.
To imagine such a figure representing Estonia’s fourth-largest town – and doing so with the silent backing of Social Democrats – is not just politically reckless. It is morally indefensible.
The cost of moral amnesia
For decades, Pärnu has drawn tourists, artists, and entrepreneurs precisely because it embodied something distinct in Estonia: openness and optimism.
Now, that same town risks being defined by resentment and regression. EKRE has already made clear its opposition to Rail Baltica, the infrastructure project linking Estonia to the rest of Europe, and its leadership routinely portrays Brussels as an enemy rather than a partner. Pärnu’s international reputation – its cultural partnerships, investment potential, and civic spirit – would all be imperilled under such leadership.
And the Social Democrats? By participating in this arrangement, even through local representatives, they signal that power outweighs principle. They grant EKRE legitimacy it could never have achieved on its own.
Estonia is not just another small country on the Baltic coast; it is a European success story built on democratic conviction. When its mainstream parties begin to treat alliances with the far-right as “local pragmatism,” the consequences echo far beyond Pärnu’s beaches.
If the Social Democratic Party does not publicly reject this coalition and instruct its members in Pärnu to withdraw, it will carry full moral responsibility for ushering EKRE into power.
The question is not who governs Pärnu. It is what kind of Estonia will emerge from it – one that stands proudly among Europe’s democracies, or one that shrugs as extremism slips through the back door of city hall.
Read also: Editorial: Pärnu’s coalition of convenience risks the town’s reputation
