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Estonia: Premier Kallas resigns to become top EU diplomat

July 15, 2024

Kaja Kallas has resigned as Estonia's Prime Minister in order to become the European Union's foreign policy chief. Kallas has emerged as one the bloc's staunchest critics of neighboring Russia.

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Kaja Kallas (Prime Minister, Republic of Estonia) at the main stage
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is set to become the EU's new foreign policy chiefImage: Kuhlmann/MSC

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on Monday submitted her resignation ahead of becoming the European Union's new foreign policy chief.

Kallas, who has led the small Baltic republic since 2021, handed her resignation to President Alar Karis but will remain prime minister in a caretaker capacity until early August.

The 47-year-old, who will also step down as leader of the liberal Reform Party, was the first female prime minister in Estonia's history. She was chosen by EU leaders to replace Josep Borrell as the bloc's top diplomat after the recent EU elections.

Kallas has always been a hawkish critic of what she calls neighboring Russia's expansionist aims, especially since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

What did Kallas say?

Since the war in Ukraine started, Estonia has become one of the biggest suppliers of military aid to Kyiv in relation to GDP, while Kallas has continually pressed NATO and EU allies to follow suit.

"This was a very hard time," Kallas told Estonian public radio on Monday, looking back on her tenure.

"I started when the COVID-19 crisis was at its peak and I was probably the only prime minister who, immediately after being sworn in, went to a government meeting and started making decisions."

EU's top positions to be agreed in Brussels

Climate Minister Kristen Michal has been tipped to succeed Kallas, but much will depend on how the Reform party recalibrates the government with its coalition partners, the liberal Estonia 200 and the Social Democrats.

With a population of around 1.4 million, Estonia is the smallest of the Baltic States and the fourth-smallest country in the EU ahead of only Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta.

Following short periods of independence and battles against Russian and German occupation in the interwar years, Estonia was absorbed into the Soviet Union as a Soviet Republic after the Second World War, before achieving independence again in 1991.

mf/rmt (Reuters, AFP)