2024-07-16 08:09:40
Estonian Prime Minister Kaia Kalas has resigned from her post to become the European Union’s high representative for foreign policy later this year, AP reported, cited by BTA.
Kalas, who is Estonia’s first female prime minister, officially handed in her resignation today to President Alar Karis during a brief meeting at the presidential palace in the capital, Tallinn.
Under Kalas, Estonia has become one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since the Russian invasion began in February 2022.
Summing up the results of her three-and-a-half-year rule, Estonian President Karis told the Baltic News Service news agency that “it has been a time full of crises, turning points such as the coronavirus pandemic, economic recession and war in Europe after Russia destroyed the previous security environment with its aggression in Ukraine”.
Kallas’ resignation automatically led to the resignation of her three-party government, made up of her center-right Reform Party, the Social Democratic Party and the liberal Estonia 200 party. The cabinet will continue to function as a caretaker government until the new government is sworn in, which is likely to happen at the end of this month or early next.
The Reform Party announced on June 29 that it had chosen its long-time functionary and climate minister Kristen Michal as its candidate for the next prime minister to replace Callas, whose last official engagement was attending the NATO summit in Washington last week.
Michal’s nomination will have to be approved by President Karis and the 101-seat parliament, called the Riigikogu, where the ruling coalition has a solid majority.