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News Desk: Pro-business europhile Kaja Kallas is to be Estonia\u2019s first female prime minister after parliament on Monday voted in her new coalition.<\/p>\nNews Desk: Pro-business europhile Kaja Kallas is to be Estonia\u2019s first female prime minister after parliament on Monday voted in her new coalition.<\/p>\n
Kallas, a 43-year-old former MEP and leader of the Reform Party, is the daughter of the Baltic state\u2019s former Prime Minister Siim Kallas.<\/p>\n
She will govern in a coalition with the Centre Party of outgoing Prime Minister Juri Ratas.<\/p>\n
Her government will command 59 seats in Estonia\u2019s 101-member parliament and won the backing of 70 MPs in Monday\u2019s confidence vote after garnering support from the Social Democrats.<\/p>\n
Speaking to parliament as the small Baltic eurozone state struggles with the Covid-19 pandemic, Kallas vowed \u201cto keep Estonia as open as possible, so that people could go to work, and children to school, and the economic activity could continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that her \u201cgovernment will be like a tightrope walker over an abyss, always watching their balance\u201d between controlling the pandemic and allowing economic activity.<\/p>\n
The new government will be sworn in on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Ratas resigned earlier this month after his party came under investigation for corruption.<\/p>\n
The far-right EKRE party which had been in coalition with Ratas is now out of government.<\/p>\n
Kallas\u2019s party came first in parliamentary elections in 2019 but did not win an outright majority and then failed to build a coalition.<\/p>\n
During her time at the European Parliament between 2014 and 2018, she was regularly included on lists of the most influential MEPs.<\/p>\n
She is a passionate proponent of innovation who argues that regulations must not hinder the digital technological revolution.<\/p>\n
Focused on the rights of small and medium-sized businesses, Kallas believes that borders in the digital world prevent innovative companies from emerging.<\/p>\n
The Reform and Centre parties have alternated in government over the nearly three decades since Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
Both strongly support Estonia\u2019s EU and NATO membership, which they see as a buffer against Soviet-era master Russia.<\/p>\n
They have favoured austerity to keep spending in check, giving the country of 1.3 million people one of the eurozone\u2019s lowest debt-to-GDP ratios.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News Desk: Pro-business europhile Kaja Kallas is to be Estonia\u2019s first female prime minister after parliament on Monday voted in her new coalition. Kallas, a 43-year-old former MEP and leader of the Reform Party, is the daughter of the Baltic state\u2019s former Prime Minister Siim Kallas. She will govern in a coalition with the Centre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n