Siim Kallas (; 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.

From 1972 to 1990 Kallas was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 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. 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. Kallas was the chief editor of Rahva Hääl, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Estonia, in 1989–1991.

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. In 2019 he was elected member of the Riigikogu, a post he was also elected to in 2023. He resigned as a member of Riigikogu and from politics in September 2024.

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

  • 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 Congress of People's Deputies 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.
  • 2019–2024: Member of the Riigikogu.

Personal life

thumbnail|left|upright|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. 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.

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, after which she became EU Representative for Foreign Affairs.

References

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

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