Kaja Kallas

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Kaja Kallas

Kallas in 2016

19th Prime Minister of Estonia

Incumbent

Assumed office

26 January 2021

President Kersti Kaljulaid

Preceded by Jüri Ratas

Leader of the Reform Party

Incumbent

Assumed office

14 April 2018
 Preceded by Hanno Pevkur

Member of the European Parliament

for Estonia

In office

1 July 2014 – 5 September 2018

Member of the Riigikogu
for Harju- and Raplamaa

In office

6 March 2011 – 1 July 2014

In office

3 March 2019 – present

Personal details

Born 18 June 1977 (age 43)

Tallinn, Estonian SSR, Soviet Union

Political party Reform Party

Children 3

Mother Kristi Kallas

Father Siim Kallas

Education University of Tartu (BA)

Estonian Business School (MBA)

Website Official website

Kaja Kallas (born 18 June 1977) is an Estonian politician and the current Prime

Minister of Estonia. Sworn in on 26 January 2021, she is the first woman to serve in the
position. She has been the leader of the Reform Party since 2018, and a member
of Riigikogu since 2019, and previously from 2011 to 2014. Kallas served as Member of
the European Parliament from 2014 to 2018, representing the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe. Before her election to parliament, she was an attorney
specialising in European and Estonian competition law.

Contents

 1Education and personal life

 2Professional career
 3Political career
o 3.1Member of the Estonian Parliament (2011–2014)
o 3.2Member of the European Parliament (2014–2018)
o 3.3Return to national politics
 4Other activities
 5References
 6External links

Education and personal life[edit]

Born in Tallinn on 18 June 1977,[1] Kaja Kallas is the daughter of Siim Kallas, who
served as the 14th Prime Minister of Estonia and was later a European Commissioner.
[2]
 During the Soviet deportations from Estonia, her mother Kristi, six months old at the
time, was deported to Siberia with her mother and grandmother in a cattle car and lived
there until she was ten years old.[3] Kallas's grandfather was Eduard Alver [et], one of the
founders of the Republic of Estonia on 24 February 1918, and the first chief of
the Estonian Police from 1918 to 24 May 1919.[3]
Kallas graduated from the University of Tartu in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in law.
From 2007, she attended the Estonian Business School, earning an EMBA
(Executive Master of Business Administration) in economics in 2010.[4][5]
She is married and has three children.[6]

Professional career[edit]
Kallas became a member of the Estonian Bar Association in 1999 and an attorney-at-
law in 2002. She became a partner in law firm Luiga Mody Hääl Borenius and Tark &
Co and worked as an executive coach in the Estonian Business School. She is also a
member of the European Antitrust Alliance. In 2011, she was placed on inactive status
as a member of the Estonian Bar Association.[7] In November 2018, Kallas published her
memoir MEP: 4 aastat Euroopa Parlamendis (MEP: Four Years in the European
Parliament), in which she describes her life and work in Brussels from 2014 to 2018.[8]

Political career[edit]
Member of the Estonian Parliament (2011–2014)[edit]
In 2010, Kallas decided to join the Estonian Reform Party. She ran for the Parliament of
Estonia (Riigikogu) in 2011 for the Harju County and Rapla County constituency,
receiving 7,157 votes. She was a member of the 12th Parliament of Estonia and chaired
the Economic Affairs Committee from 2011 to 2014.[7]
Member of the European Parliament (2014–2018)[edit]
Kaja Kallas at the 177th meeting of the Bureau of the European Committee, 2017.

In the 2014 elections, Kallas ran for the European Parliament and received 21,498

votes.[7] In the European Parliament, Kallas served on the Committee on Industry,
Research and Energy and was a substitute for the Committee on the Internal Market
and Consumer Protection. She was a vice-chair of the Delegation to the EU–Ukraine
Parliamentary Cooperation Committee as well as a member of the Delegation to the
Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and Delegation for relations with the United States. [1]
In addition to her committee assignments, Kallas was a member of the European
Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda [9] and a Vice-Chair of the Youth Intergroup.
[10]

During her period in the Parliament, Kallas worked on the Digital Single Market strategy,
energy and consumer policies, as well as on relations with Ukraine. In particular, she
defended the rights of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), maintaining that
borders in the digital world prevent innovative companies from emerging. She is a
proponent of innovation and frequently emphasises that regulations cannot and must
not hinder the technological revolution.[1]
Kallas served as rapporteur for six reports: opinion on the so-called e-Privacy
regulation,[11] Civil law rules on robotics [12] and on the Annual report on EU Competition
Policy,[13] and on Delivering a New Deal for Energy Consumers, [14] legislation on Custom
infringements and sanctions[15] and the own-initiative report on the Digital Single Market.
[16]

During her time in the Parliament, she was also nominated as a European Young
Leader (EYL40).[17]
Return to national politics[edit]
On 13 December 2017, the leader of the Reform Party Hanno Pevkur announced that
he would no longer run for party leadership in January 2018 and suggested that Kallas
should run instead.[18] After considering the offer, Kallas announced on 15 December
2017 that she would accept the invitation to run in the leadership election. [19]
On 3 March 2019, the Reform Party, led by Kallas, won the general election with about
29% of the vote, with the ruling Estonian Centre Party taking 23%.[20]
On 25 January 2021, after the resignation of Jüri Ratas as Prime Minister, Kallas
formed a Reform-led coalition government with the Centre Party,[21] making her the first
female Prime Minister in Estonia's history.[22]

Other activities[edit]
  Friends of Europe, member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020) [23]
 European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), member [24]
 Women Economic Forum, advisory board member [25]
 Model European Union Tallinn, patron [26]
 European Liberal Youth (LYMEC), mentor
 European Young Leaders, member
 Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, MEP ambassador
 MEP Library Lovers Group, member
 European Internet Forum, political member
 European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES), member of
the Extended Board
 Global Young Leaders, member
 Women Political Leaders, member
 European Entrepreneurship Education Network (EE-HUB), MEP ambassador
Source:[27]