Appearing on ETV politics show "Esimene stuudio" Thursday, Helme said that Estonia's high level of support for Ukraine has rendered the country poorer and has necessitated tax hikes.

"It is not our responsibility to maintain a country six times bigger than our own. This is simply not conceivable," Helme said.

Helme went on to apportion cause and effect in almost Old Testament terms, arguing that the current government had made the country an ill-starred one in transforming it into a "gay state." (Estonian: Homoriik).

"This means that a pestilence will come upon us. This plague could take the form of famine, or of economic decline, or of war," he continued.

As for more mundane affairs, the EKRE leader said that he was not in favor of the progressive income tax some coalition members have said is on its way, replacing the current flat tax rate, as this would spell yet another tax hike.

Helme was finance minister in the "EKRE-I-KE" (EKRE-Isamaa-Center) coalition that was in office April 2019 to January 2021, but says he has no culpability in Estonia not meeting the Maastricht convergence criteria (mainly referring to the requirement that a state budget deficit does not exceed 3 percent of GDP in a given year – ed.).

Since his party was in office for 20 months, compared with the roughly 20 years Reform has been in office all told, blaming the current state of the economy on EKRE is "ludicrous," he added.

Equally ridiculous according to Helme is the assertion that when Jüri Ratas became prime minister, from late 2016, reserves were annihilated as fixed costs were increased.

Once EKRE were in office with Center, which they were when the Covid crisis arrived, "we stimulated the economy via special measures of around €700-800 million. Part of that was from actual reserves. I am highly satisfied that we managed to spend €270 million from the unemployment fund's reserves, to stabilize the labor market," Helme said.

In any case, it is Reform who have "turned Estonia's economy upside down. It's crazy how they have boosted Estonia's debt," he went on.

"They have brought the economy to a crisis. We have the longest recession in Europe, the deepest recession, the highest inflation rate."

Reform's actions during the energy price crisis starting from 2020 are the main reason the Estonian economy is not currently growing, Helme said, adding that it was at that time "clear" that without the right actions, inflation would follow, harming exports, employment, wage growth and investments, all concurrent with dwindling state budget receipts. "This was all so predictable," Helme added.

The planned sugary drinks tax will, brining in around €20 million, neither improve the state budget situation nor attain its desired goal in terms of consumer behavior, Helme continued.

Talk should not be about the Maastricht criteria, but about how to restart Estonia's economy, Helme continued, adding the short-term solution was to reduce energy prices, but the current government is moving in the exact opposite direction, he said.

"The national defense tax is a blatant lie to the people," Helme added.

More focus needs to be placed on cuts, but the government's austerity plan is a "replacement activity."

Same-sex marriage was made fully legal in Estonia in summer last year by the Reform-SDE-Eesti 200 coalition, while the legislation entered into force on January 1 this year.

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