Estonia’s conservative interior minister on Sunday ridiculed Finland’s new liberal prime minister as “salesgirl” — prompting an apology to the Nordic country from Estonia’s president.
Mart Helme, 70, the leader of Estonia’s far-right party Ekre, made the disparaging comments about Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, a 34-year-old Social Democrat who took office last Tuesday, on his party’s radio talk show.
“Now we see how one sales girl has become a prime minister and how some other street activists and non-educated people have also joined the cabinet,” Helme said.
Marin grew up poor and once held a job as a cashier before becoming the world’s youngest government leader.
On Sunday night, without mentioning Helme by name or his comments, Marin tweeted that she’s “extremely proud of Finland.”
“Here a poor family’s child can educate themselves and achieve their goals in life. A cashier can become even a prime minister,” she wrote.
Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid asked Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto to pass on her apologies for Helme’s comments to Marin and her government.
Meanwhile, the leader of Estonia’s opposition party called on Helme to resign.
“The interior minister has offended the Finnish government and personally attacked the newly-appointed Finnish prime minister,” Kaja Kallas, who heads the country’s Reform Party, said in a statement.
With Post Wires