Van der Linden lies.
Yesterday I got mail from one Dutch friend, what I publish here. remember that last year you had some “problems” with the chairman of the Assemblee of the Council of Europe Mr Rene van der Linden. Van der Linden had some strange and incorrect ideas about the situation and rights of the Russian-speaking population in Estonia. Today, will be the last day Van der Linden is chairman of this Assemblee. Therefore the day before yesterday (19 January) there was an interview with Van der Linden on the Dutch stateradio. In this interview he said that 28% of the Estonian population is stateless. This is not true. He also said that a few times per year Estonian people are marching the streets in nazi-uniforms. This also is not true. For me as a Dutchman, it is painfull to see that a Dutch top diplomat on such an important position can spread around so much nonsense and lies about your country. It seems that he let himself be used as a puppet in the Russian propaganda against Estonia. But as chairman of such an important international organisation this is not acceptable off course. Maybe you can do something with this false information or maybe your collegue Tunne Kelam could ask some questions in Brussels about the spreading of desinformation of Van der Linden. Best I can do, is really to publish this letter here in my homepage and hope, that more people will stand up against the lies. It is one thing, when You make mistakes, when You do not know. As a former President of ENPA Linden knows situation in Estonia very well.
I am Dutch and I find Mr van der Linden to be utterly incompetent. He once lost his sub-ministerial post due to incompetence in the so-called “Paspoortaffaire”. It’s a shame that such a failed politician was promoted to the post of President of PACE in the first place. With his false accusations, lies and possible conflicts of interest as president of PACE he has shown yet again how incompetent he is.