The new Estonian coalition has announced its new ministers – some of them are returning to the government both from the previous convocation and from earlier times, and there are also new faces in the composition, writes the ERR News.
Five Isamaa ministers will leave their seats in the government this week: Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu, Minister of Estonian Public Administration Affairs Riina Solman, Minister of Justice Lea Danilson-Järg, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology Affairs Kristjan Järvan and Minister of Education Tõnis Lukas.
Although the Reform Party is the winner of the elections, it still lost two ministerial positions: Finance Minister Annely Akkermann and Agriculture Minister Urmas Kruuse will leave their positions. Culture Minister Piret Hartman and Labor and Health Minister Peep Peterson are representatives of the Social Democrats who will leave the government.
Four of the new ministers have no previous experience at this level, while seven ministers return to the government from the previous administration, both keeping their current roles and taking up new positions. For the first time, the party Eesti 200 won the seat in Riigikogu.
Five of the 13 ministerial positions are held by women.
The departure from tradition is marked by the distribution of the ministerial positions obtained by the parties. Until now, all parties that entered the government, regardless of the number of seats won, had the same amount of ministerial seats. This time, ministerial positions were allocated strictly proportionally, guided by success in the elections. On the 5th of March, the Reform Party won 37 seats, Eesti 200 – 14, while the Social Democrats won nine seats. Therefore, the Reform Party has seven ministerial seats, and the other two parties have three ministerial seats each. Eesti 200 also won the position of Speaker of the Parliament, which will be held by Lauri Hussar.
The areas of responsibility of the ministries have also changed a little and combined, and other administrative changes and redistribution of responsibility are also expected – the goal of the reforms is to reduce expenses.
Kaja Kallas will start her third term as Prime Minister. She was a member of the European Parliament and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, she is often seen in the international media. The Minister of Defense of Estonia, Hanno Pevkur, will continue what he started in this term as well. He has three ministerial positions in his experience. Pevkurs, given his great influence on the security situation in the country, is one of the most discussed politicians of this term.
Minister of Social Affairs Singe Riisalo will also continue his work. After a short break, Kalle Laanet will return to the government as Minister of Justice. He previously held the position of Minister of Defense, and his work experience also includes managing Europol and the position of Minister of the Interior.
The new Minister of Finance, Mart Võrklaev, is one of two representatives of the Reform Party, who will have his first experience as a minister. The Minister of Culture, Heidy Purga, is also serving as a minister for the first time. She was a Member of Parliament for Rīga Kogi in the previous two convocations, and previously also worked as a producer for the Estonian Eurovision selection, Eesti Laul.
The newly created position of Climate Minister will be held by Kristen Michal, whose political career spans several decades.
While Eesti 200 is entering the government for the first time, its new Foreign Minister, Margus Tsahkna, has experience in government work: he has been the minister of both social affairs and defense. Kristina Kallas has been appointed Minister of Education. There are no related ties with the prime minister and the academician of Tartu University.
Tiit Riisalo has become a minister for the first time, and the new Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology Affairs will be under his authority. Riisalo’s work experience also includes managing the office of the President of Estonia during the term of Kersti Kaljulaid).
All three social democrat ministers worked in the government in the previous term as well. In the still challenging time, Lauri Läänemets will continue to fulfill the tasks of the Minister of the Interior, Riina Sikkut will occupy the chair of the Minister of Health (previously Sikkut held this position in 2018-2019), while the former Minister of the Environment Madis Kallas will head the Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Affairs. He ins’t related to the prime minister.
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