Siim Kallas
Kallas in 2014
European Commissioner for Transport
In office
9 February 2010 – 1 November 2014
PresidentJosé Manuel Barroso
Preceded byAntonio Tajani
Succeeded byVioleta Bulc
European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud
In office
22 November 2004 – 9 February 2010
PresidentJosé Manuel Barroso
Preceded byNeil Kinnock (Administrative Reform)
Succeeded byMaroš Šefčovič (Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration)
Algirdas Šemeta (Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud)
European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs
In office
1 May 2004 – 22 November 2004
Served with Joaquín Almunia
PresidentRomano Prodi
Preceded byPedro Solbes
Succeeded byJoaquín Almunia
14th Prime Minister of Estonia
In office
28 January 2002 – 10 April 2003
PresidentArnold Rüütel
Preceded byMart Laar
Succeeded byJuhan Parts
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
9 November 1995 – 21 November 1996
Prime MinisterTiit Vähi
Preceded byRiivo Sinijärv
Succeeded byToomas Hendrik Ilves
Member of the Riigikogu
Assumed office
3 March 2019
Personal details
Born (1948-10-02) 2 October 1948
Tallinn, Estonia
Political partyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (before 1991)
Reform Party (since 1994)
SpouseKristi Kallas
Children2, including Kaja
Alma materUniversity of Tartu

Siim Kallas (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈsiːm ˈkɑlːɑs]; born 2 October 1948) is a Soviet and Estonian politician, former Prime Minister of Estonia, and former European Commissioner, as well as a former member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. [1] He served as the European Commissioner for Transport between 2010 and 2014. Before that he was the European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud between 2004 and 2009. In both Barroso Commissions he was also a Vice-President. He was twice appointed the Acting Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro in Olli Rehn's stead, from 19 April 2014 to 25 May 2014 while he was on electoral campaign leave for the 2014 elections to the European Parliament and from 1 July 2014 to 16 July 2014 after he took up his seat.[2][3]

Prior to his tenure as a European Commissioner, Kallas was the Prime Minister of Estonia, Estonian Minister of Finance, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, a member of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union and a member of the Riigikogu. Kallas is a member and former leader of the free-market liberal Estonian Reform Party and a former vice-president of Liberal International.

After leaving the European Commission, Kallas ran in the Estonian presidential election in 2016, but was not elected. In October 2017, he started as the municipal mayor of Viimsi Parish.[4] His daughter, Kaja Kallas, is the current prime minister of Estonia.

Education

  • 1966–1969, 1972–1974 Budget and Finance, University of Tartu, specialist
  • (1969–1972 Junior Sergeant, Soviet Armed Forces Corps of Signals)
  • 1974–1977 Economics of environmental protection, University of Tartu, Candidate of Sciences

Career

Personal life

Siim Kallas at the electromobility summit 2013 in Berlin

Kallas' grandfather was Eduard Alver, one of the founders of the Republic of Estonia on 24 February 1918, and the Commander of the Estonian Defence League during the Estonian War of Independence, and the first chief of the Estonian Police from 1918 to 24 May 1919.[5] He speaks Estonian, English, Russian, Finnish, and German. Kallas is of Estonian and distant Baltic German ancestry. Kallas is married to doctor Kristi Kallas. He has one son and one daughter; his daughter Kaja Kallas is the current leader of the Reform party and Prime Minister of Estonia since 2021.[6] During the Soviet deportations from Estonia his wife Kristi Kallas, 6 months old at the time, was deported to Siberia with her mother and grandmother in a cattle car and lived there until she was 10 years old.[7]

Controversy

Kallas' inability to address some politically controversial issues such as corruption caused him to renounce his candidacy for the office of Prime Minister of Estonia in 2014.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ "The liberal communist". Politico. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "Six commissioners head for EU election campaign trail". EUobserver. 3 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "KUNA : Barroso announces caretaker replacements following resignation of 4 EU Commissioners – Politics – 01/07/2014". kuna.net.kw.
  4. ↑ "Interview: Siim Kallas on ambitions, Estonian politics, and EU presidency". ERR. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  5. ↑ Even further from Russia: what is known about the new head of the Estonian government, Europeeska Pravda, 26 January 2021
  6. ↑ "Estonia to get first female prime minister | DW | 24.01.2021". Deutsche Welle.
  7. ↑ (in Ukrainian) Even further from Russia: what is known about the new head of the Estonian government, Europeeska Pravda (26 January 2021)
  8. ↑ ERR. "UUDISED. Siim Kallas loobus kandideerimast peaministriks. - ERR - Digihoidla". arhiiv.err.ee.
  9. ↑ "Kallas loobus peaministriks pürgimast". Delfi.
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