ABSTRACT
In the 2007 Estonian parliamentary election a new Green Party succeeded in winning 7.1% of the vote and returned six members to the 101-strong Riigikogu. The party had been registered just three months earlier, but its history goes back to the late 1980s, when the Green movement played an important role in Estonia regaining her independence. The ‘Phosphate War’ (sometimes called ‘the Phosphate Spring’) which the Green movement ‘fought’ against the Soviet authorities’ plans for large-scale phosphate mining in north-eastern Estonia has often been considered a crucial step on the path towards independence. The movement tested Gorbachev’s commitment to glasnost’ and increased the limits of what was tolerable under the then regime. However, the Green movement lost its momentum after Estonia became independent and its offshoots soon vanished from the political scene.
