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{{Short description|Estonian politician (born 1948)}}{{multiple issues|{{more footnotes needed|date=August 2018}}{{BLP sources|date=August 2018}}}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}

factoids

| birth_place = Tallinn, Estonia| spouse = Kristi KallasKaja Kallas>Kaja| death_date = | death_place = Communist Party of the Soviet Union (before 1991)Estonian Reform Party>Reform Party (since 1994)| alma_mater = University of Tartu| office5 = Member of the Riigikogu| term_start5 = 3 March 2019}}Siim Kallas ({{IPA-et|ˈsiːm ˈkɑlːɑs}}; born 2 October 1948) is an 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. WEB, The liberal communist,weblink Politico, 25 August 2023, 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.WEB,weblink Six commissioners head for EU election campaign trail, EUobserver, 3 April 2014, WEB,weblink KUNA : Barroso announces caretaker replacements following resignation of 4 EU Commissioners – Politics – 01/07/2014, kuna.net.kw, 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.WEB,weblink Interview: Siim Kallas on ambitions, Estonian politics, and EU presidency, ERR, 9 December 2017, 10 December 2017, 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

• 1969–1972 : Signals officer in Soviet Army
• 1975–1979: Specialist at the Finance Ministry Planning Committee of the Estonian SSR
• 1979–1986: Joint Secretary of the Central Authority of the Savings Banks of the Estonian SSR.
• 1986–1989: Deputy chief editor of the Communist Party of Estonia newspaper Rahva Hääl
• 1989–1991: Chairman of the Central Union of the Estonian Trade Unions
• 1989–1991: Member of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union
• 1991–1995: President of the Bank of Estonia
• 1995–2004: Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia
• 1995–1996: Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1996: Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
• 1999–2002: Minister of Finance
• 2002–2003: Prime minister
• 2004–2004: EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, serving with Joaquín Almunia
• 2004–2010: EU Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud and Vice-president of the Commission
• 2010–2014: EU Commissioner for Transport and Vice-president of the Commission
• 2017–2019: Municipal mayor of Viimsi.
• 2019-today: Member of the Riigikogu.

Personal life

(File:Siim Kallas 8.JPG|thumbnail|left|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.Even further from Russia: what is known about the new head of the Estonian government, Europeeska Pravda, 26 January 2021 He speaks Estonian, English, Russian, Finnish, and German. Kallas is of Estonian and distant Baltic German ancestry.Kallas is married to doctor Kristi Kallas, who, during the Soviet deportations from Estonia, at age six months, was deported to Siberia with her mother and grandmother in a cattle car and lived there until she was 10 years old.{{in lang|uk}} Even further from Russia: what is known about the new head of the Estonian government, Europeeska Pravda (26 January 2021)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.WEB,weblink Estonia to get first female prime minister | DW | 24.01.2021, Deutsche Welle,

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.WEB,weblink UUDISED. Siim Kallas loobus kandideerimast peaministriks. - ERR - Digihoidla, ERR, arhiiv.err.ee, WEB,weblink Kallas loobus peaministriks pürgimast, Delfi,

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{commons category}}

• Siim Kallas, Official Media Gallery
• Official website
• KALLAS Siim International Who's Who
• European Parliament Answers to Commissioner Designate M. Kallas

{{EstonianPMs}}{{European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs}}{{European Commissioner for Transport}}{{First Barroso Commission}}{{Second Barroso Commission}}{{EU Finance Commissioners}}{{European Commissioners from Estonia}}{{Members of the 15th Riigikogu}}{{Authority control}}