Siim Kallas
OfficeEuropean Commissioner for Transport
PresidentJosé Manuel Barroso
Term start9 February 2010
Term end1 November 2014
PredecessorAntonio Tajani
SuccessorVioleta Bulc
Office 1European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud
President 1José Manuel Barroso
Term start 122 November 2004
Term end 19 February 2010
Predecessor 1Neil Kinnock (Administrative Reform)
Successor 1Maroš Šefčovič (Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration)
Algirdas Šemeta (Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud)
Office 2European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs
President 2Romano Prodi
Term start 21 May 2004
Term end 222 November 2004
Served with Joaquín Almunia
Predecessor 2Pedro Solbes
Successor 2Joaquín Almunia
Office 3Prime Minister of Estonia
President 3Arnold Rüütel
Term start 328 January 2002
Term end 310 April 2003
Predecessor 3Mart Laar
Successor 3Juhan Parts
Office 4Minister of Foreign Affairs
Prime minister 4Tiit Vähi
Term start 49 November 1995
Term end 421 November 1996
Predecessor 4Riivo Sinijärv
Successor 4Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Birth date2 October 1948 (age 78)
Birth placeTallinn, then part of Estonian SSR, Soviet Union
SpouseKristi Kallas
PartyReform (since 1994)
Alma materUniversity of Tartu
Office 5Member of the Riigikogu
Term start 53 March 2019
Other partyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (until 1991)
RelativesEduard Alver (grandfather)
Term end 57 September 2024

Siim Kallas (ˈsiːːm ˈkɑlːɑs; born 2 October 1948) is an Estonian former politician who served as Prime Minister of Estonia from 2002 to 2003 and as a European Commissioner from 2004 to 2014.[1]

From 1972 to 1990 Kallas was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[2] He worked in the finance ministry of Estonian SSR and was the director of the Estonian branch of State Labor Savings Banks System in 1986–1989.[3] In 1987, Kallas was one of the authors of the IME plan for self-managing Estonia with Tiit Made, Edgar Savisaar and Mikk Titma. The plan proposed to make Estonia economically independent from the Soviet Union – adopting a market economy and establishing Estonia's own currency and tax system.[4] Kallas was the chief editor of Rahva Hääl, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Estonia, in 1989–1991.[3] He was elected a member of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union in the 1989 Soviet Union legislative election, the first partially free elections in the Soviet Union.

After Estonia restored its independence in 1991, Kallas was appointed the President of the Bank of Estonia, which at the time had only 11 employees. Within a year a coherent structure of the bank was set up and on 20 June 1992, Estonia's own currency, the kroon, was back in circulation for the first time since 1941.[4]

Kallas entered politics in 1994 as one of the founders of liberal Estonian Reform Party, which was successful in the 1995 parliamentary elections. Kallas served as the minister of foreign affairs from 1995 to 1996. He later served as the minister of finance from 1999 to 2002 and the prime minister from 2002 to 2003.

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.[5][6]

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.[7] In 2019 he was elected member of the Riigikogu, a post he was also elected to in 2023.[8][9] He resigned as a member of Riigikogu and from politics in September 2024.[10][11]

His daughter, Kaja Kallas, was the prime minister of Estonia from 2021 to 2024.

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

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.[12] 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.[13]

He has one son and one daughter. His daughter Kaja Kallas was the leader of the Reform party and the prime minister of Estonia from 2021 to 2024,[14] after which she became EU Representative for Foreign Affairs.

References

  1. ^ "The liberal communist". Politico. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Estonia's Commission nominee defends communist past". Politico. March 17, 2004. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
  3. ^ "Siim Kallas". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  4. ^ "Top 12 most outstanding Estonian statespeople". Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Six commissioners head for EU election campaign trail". EUobserver. 3 April 2014.
  6. ^ "KUNA : Barroso announces caretaker replacements following resignation of 4 EU Commissioners – Politics – 01/07/2014". kuna.net.kw
  7. ^ "Interview: Siim Kallas on ambitions, Estonian politics, and EU presidency". ERR. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  8. ^ "Elected members of the Riigikogu". rk2019.valimised.ee. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
  9. ^ "Valimised". rk2023.valimised.ee. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
  10. ^ Paal, Gunnar (2024-09-07). "Jüri Jaanson becomes a member of the Riigikogu". Riigikogu. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
  11. ^ ERR, ERR | (2024-09-06). "Former EU commissioner, Reform Party co-founder Siim Kallas leaving Riigikogu". ERR. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
  12. ^ Even further from Russia: what is known about the new head of the Estonian government, Europeeska Pravda, 26 January 2021
  13. ^ (in Ukrainian) Even further from Russia: what is known about the new head of the Estonian government, Europeeska Pravda (26 January 2021)
  14. ^ "Estonia to get first female prime minister | DW | 24.01.2021". Deutsche Welle

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