Estonia 200 is a liberal Estonian political party, which was founded on 3 November 2018. The political movement that preceded the party, first published its manifesto in Postimees on 2 May 2018. The authors of the manifesto were Priit Alamäe, Indrek Nuume, Küllike Saar, Kristina Kallas and Kristiina Tõnnisson. In authors' minds, the aim of Estonia 200 is to bring attention to Estonia's long lasting problems and put forward their solutions and reform ideas.
Political aim
In the movement's manifesto, the authors make a proposal to form a political movement to which people who want to contribute to the development of Estonia can join in. The purpose of Estonia 200 is to provide conceptional competition to current political parties in Estonia and bold ideas to build a better country. The initiators of the movement wish to look beyond one election cycle because in their minds it's the only way to build a 200 year old Estonia. The keywords of the party are personal freedoms, transparency, everyone's responsibility, innovation, ambition and Estonian-mindedness.
History
Estonia 200 was built up during 2017 when the initiators started to gather to discuss about the future of Estonia. The formal foundation of the movement can be considered to be 2 May 2018 when its manifesto was first published. According to an opinion poll conducted by Turu-uuringute AS in the middle of June 2018, 15% of voters were ready to vote for the movement in the next parliamentary elections. On 30 May 2018, the former governor of Põlva County Igor Taro was appointed as rural areas coordinator of the movement. On 7 June, the initiators confirmed that the leader of Estonia 200 is going to be Henrik Raave. On 8 June, the authors of the manifesto registered Estonia 200 as a nonprofit organization. The founders of the NPO are Kristina Kallas, Priit Alamäe, Kristiina Tõnisson, Indrek Nuume, Igor Taro and Henrik Raave. Kristina Kallas was elected as the NPO's head of the council. On 7 August it became public that Margus Tsahkna, the former leader of Pro Patria, was going to join Estonia 200. On 21 August 2018, the movement decided to form a party later in the autumn and participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections in March 2019. On 3 November 2018, the movement became a party and Kristina Kallas was elected as its first chairman. On 15 May 2019, Triin Saag told Europe Elects that E200 aims at joining what today is the liberal Renew Europe group in the EU Parliament.
