The Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on 18 October 2023 in Paris. Photo by the Stenbock House.
The high representative for foreign affairs and security policy is the chief coordinator and representative of the common foreign and security policy within the European Union.
The HRVP chairs meetings of the EU’s foreign, defence and development ministers and represents the EU at G7 and G20 meetings.
Political dynasty
Kallas comes from a political family. Her father, Siim Kallas, was involved in Estonia’s independence movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He co-founded the liberal Reform Party and served as the country’s prime minister and first European Commissioner after Estonia joined the EU in 2004.
Kaja Kallas has a law degree from the University of Tartu and a master’s degree in business from the Estonian Business School. Before entering politics, she worked as a lawyer.
In 2011, Kallas joined the Reform Party and was elected to the Estonian parliament. In 2014, she was elected to the European Parliament. She worked on the EU’s digital single market strategy, energy and consumer policies, as well as relations with Ukraine. Before being elected, Kallas told Estonian World that the EU still had too many barriers in the internal market. In 2019, Politico magazine named her one of the 40 most influential members of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2019.
In 2018, Kallas left the European Parliament to lead the Reform Party, which won the 2019 election. She was expected to become prime minister, but the Jüri Ratas-led Centre Party was still able to form a government that lasted until January 2021. Now, it was her turn, and she became Estonia’s first female prime minister in January 2021.
Supporting Ukraine
Facing the pandemic and a struggling economy, her popularity at home fell. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Kallas helped the EU punish Russia with sanctions and send military support to Ukraine. She was also given a lot of airtime in the international media.
Her growing international stature made her more popular at home. In 2023, the Reform Party achieved its greatest election victory ever, taking 37 seats in Estonia’s 101-strong parliament. But her coalition government introduced unpopular tax rises and the Estonian economy went into recession.
In August 2023, it was revealed that a transport company partly owned by Kallas’s husband had continued to do business with Russia during the war in Ukraine. This was despite the prime minister’s criticism of companies doing business with Russia. Two thirds of Estonian citizens called for her to resign. In a poll from April 2024, only 19% of people wanted Kallas to be prime minister.
But even her critics agree that she is better suited to an international role than domestic politics. As the EU’s foreign affairs chief, she will have a chance to prove it.
Source link : https://estonianworld.com/security/estonian-pm-kaja-kallas-nominated-for-eu-foreign-affairs-chief/
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Publish date : 2024-06-28 07:00:00
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