President Lennart Meri received a delegation of VENSTRE, Denmark's Liberal Party, at Kadriorg tonight. The delegation is headed by Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, leader of the party, former minister of foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Denmark.

As he welcomed the Danish liberal politicians, the Estonian head of state said he was pleased with Denmark's support to Estonia, including to Estonia's pending membership in the European Union. ''Estonia needs Europe precisely as much as Europe needs Estonia, since you cannot halve a whole,'' Meri said at his meeting with Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, with members of the Danish parliament and Venstre representatives of Danish local authorities.

Thanking President Meri for making the meeting possible, Chairman Uffe Ellemann-Jensen of Venstre, the second biggest political party of Denmark, said Estonia had no reason to see a problem in Venstre having two sister parties in Estonia - the Reform Party and the Coalition Party, even though they currently stood in opposition to each other. Venstre, according to Ellemann-Jensen, has had continual problems with a minor party that once broke away from Venstre, and that is a story of 90 years of run already.

The visiting Danish politicians assert that Venstre is gaining ground among Danes: their supporters already make up 25%, which means 42 seats in the parliament. This is primarily due to the popularity of the former foreign minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen. President Meri has bestowed an Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana on Ellemann-Jensen.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, February 2, 1998

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