Estonian Reform Party
The Estonian Reform Party ( et, Eesti Reformierakond) is a liberal political party in Estonia. The party has been led by Kaja Kallas since 2018. It is colloquially known as the "Squirrel Party" ( et, Oravapartei). It was founded in 1994 by Siim Kallas, then-president of the Bank of Estonia, as a split from Pro Patria National Coalition Party. As the Reform Party has participated in most of the government coalitions in Estonia since the mid-1990s, its influence has been significant, especially regarding Estonia's free market and policies of low taxation. The party has been a full member of Liberal International since 1996, having been an observer member between 1994–1996, and a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Reform Party leaders Siim Kallas, Taavi Rõivas, Andrus Ansip and Kaja Kallas have all served as prime ministers of Estonia. From 8 July 2022, the party has been the senior partner in a coalition government with Isamaa and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kaja Kallas
Kaja Kallas (; born 18 June 1977) is an Estonian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Estonia since 2021. The leader of the Reform Party since 2018, she was a Member of Parliament from 2019 to 2021, and previously between 2011 and 2014. Kallas served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2018, representing the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Prior to her election to Parliament, she was an attorney specialising in European and Estonian competition law. Early life and education Kaja Kallas was born in Tallinn on 18 June 1977. She is the daughter of Siim Kallas, who was the 14th prime minister of Estonia and later a European Commissioner. During the Soviet deportations from Estonia, her mother Kristi, six months old at the time, was deported to Siberia with her mother and grandmother in a cattle car and lived there until she was ten years old. Kallas's great-grandfather was Eduard Alver, one of the founders of the Repub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts European legislation, following a proposal by the European Commission. The Parliament is composed of 705 members (MEPs). It represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world (after the Parliament of India), with an electorate of 375 million eligible voters in 2009. Since 1979, the Parliament has been directly elected every five years by the citizens of the European Union through universal suffrage. Voter turnout in parliamentary elections decreased each time after 1979 until 2019, when voter turnout increased by eight percentage points, and rose above 50% for the first time since 1994. The voting age is 18 in all EU member states except for Malta and Austria, where it is 16, and Greece, where it is 17. Al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mart Laar
Mart Laar (born 22 April 1960) is an Estonian politician and historian. He served as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002. Laar is credited with having helped bring about Estonia's Economy_of_Estonia#Restoration_of_independence,_modernisation_and_liberalisation, rapid economic development during the 1990s. He is a member of the centre-right Isamaa party. In April 2011, Mart Laar became Minister of Defence (Estonia), Minister of Defence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and served until his resignation for reasons of health in May 2012. In April 2013, Riigikogu appointed Laar as chairman of the supervisory board of the Bank of Estonia, his term beginning on 12 June 2013. Career Mart Laar was born in Viljandi. He studied history at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1983; he received his master's degree in philosophy and his doctorate in history in 2005. Laar taught history in Tallinn, and served as president of the Council of Hist ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pro Patria National Coalition
Pro Patria National Coalition Party (''Rahvuslik Koonderakond Isamaa'' - RKEI) was an Estonian political party founded in 1992. In 1995 it merged, with the Estonian National Independence Party, into Pro Patria Union. The Pro Patria National Coalition was founded in September, 1992: it was an electoral alliance between four political parties: *''Christian Democratic Party'' (Kristlik-demokraatlik Erakond); *''Christian Democratic Union'' (Kristlik-Demokraatlik Liit); *''Conservative People's Party'' (Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond); *''Republicans' Coalition Party'' (Vabariiklaste Koonderakond). The coalition had 22.0% votes and 29 seats in 1992 parliamentary elections. Conservative People's Party and Republicans' Coalition Party left the alliance during 1994 and formed the People's Party of Republicans and Conservatives. The party formed a coalition with the Estonian National Independence Party, which obtained 7.9% votes and 8 seats in the 1995 parliamentary election. The tw ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Social Democratic Party (Estonia)
The Social Democratic Party ( et, Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Erakond, SDE) is a centre-left political party in Estonia. It is currently led by Lauri Läänemets. The party was formerly known as the Moderate People's Party ( et, Rahvaerakond Mõõdukad). The SDE has been a member of the Party of European Socialists since 16 May 2003 and was a member of the Socialist International from November 1990 to 2017. It is orientated towards the principles of social-democracy, and it supports Estonia's membership in the European Union. History During the perestroika era, the Estonian Social Democratic Party (''Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Partei'', ESDP) was formed as Estonia's social-democratic movements merged in 1990. The movements were: the Estonian Democratic Labour Party, the Estonian Social Democratic Independence Party, the Russian Social Democratic Party of Estonia and the Estonian Socialist Party's Foreign Association (successor of Estonian Socialist Workers Party in exile). The ES ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Isamaa
Isamaa is a Christian-democratic and national-conservative political party in Estonia. It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res Publica Party. Up to the 2007 parliamentary elections, the party held 32 seats out of 101 in the Riigikogu and one of Estonia's six seats in the European Parliament. The party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). The merged party consisted of two separate boards and two party leaders, which was replaced by a unified board and leader in May 2007. The party's prime minister candidate was Mart Laar, who became a chairman of the party. In 2018, its name was changed to "Isamaa", meaning literally "Fatherland". Ideologically, it has been positioned on the centre-right or right-wing on the political spectrum, and it is economically liberal. History Pre-foundation Prior to the merger, there was an extreme drop in public support for Re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kaja Kallas' Second Cabinet
The second cabinet of Kaja Kallas is the incumbent cabinet of Estonia. Background On 3 June 2022, Kaja Kallas dismissed Centre Party ministers from her first cabinet First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: * World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ... after several weeks of disputes between the two parties and Centre party voting with opposition against government supported bill. Continuing with a minority cabinet, the Reform Party called up the conservative Isamaa and the Social Democrats for talks on a possible new coalition. On July 8th, the three parties announced that they agreed on forming a new coalition government. Although law allows ministerial changes without cabinet resignation, Kallas stepped back so that the new coalition got to vote for the prime minister's mandate in the parliament. The new coal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andrus Ansip
Andrus Ansip (; born 1 October 1956) is an Estonian politician, a member of the European Parliament, the former European Commissioner for Digital Single Market and Vice President of the European Commission, in office from 2014 until 2019. Previously, he was Prime Minister of Estonia from 2005 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal Estonian Reform Party ( et, Reformierakond) from 2004 to 2014. Before his entry into politics Ansip trained as a chemist, before working in banking and business. He entered Parliament in 2004, quickly becoming Minister of Economic Affairs, and subsequently Prime Minister in April 2005. On 1 November 2014, he was appointed to the European Commission. Early life and business career Born in Tartu, Ansip graduated from the University of Tartu with a degree in Chemistry in 1979. He worked as an engineer at the university from 1979 to 1983 (with a two-year break for mandatory military service). He was an instructor in the Industry Department and Head of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Taavi Rõivas
Taavi Rõivas (; born 26 September 1979) is a Estonian politician, former Prime Minister of Estonia from 2014 to 2016 and former leader of the Reform Party. Before his term as the Prime Minister, Rõivas was the Minister of Social Affairs from 2012 to 2014. On 9 November 2016 his second cabinet dissolved after coalition partners, Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica and Social Democratic Party, sided with the opposition in a no confidence motion. At the end of 2020, Rõivas announced quitting politics, and resigned from his parliament seat. Early life Rõivas graduated from Tallinn Secondary Science School and from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the University of Tartu in international economics and marketing. Political career Rõivas joined the Reform Party in 1998. His political career began as an advisor to Minister of Justice Märt Rask from 1999 to 2002. He was Mayor of Haabersti district of Tallinn 2004–2005 and advisor to the Minister ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Free Market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any other external authority. Proponents of the free market as a normative ideal contrast it with a regulated market, in which a government intervenes in supply and demand by means of various methods such as taxes or regulations. In an idealized free market economy, prices for goods and services are set solely by the bids and offers of the participants. Scholars contrast the concept of a free market with the concept of a coordinated market in fields of study such as political economy, new institutional economics, economic sociology and political science. All of these fields emphasize the importance in currently existing market systems of rule-making institutions external to the simple forces of supply and demand which create space for tho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pro Patria National Coalition Party
Pro Patria National Coalition Party (''Rahvuslik Koonderakond Isamaa'' - RKEI) was an Estonian political party founded in 1992. In 1995 it merged, with the Estonian National Independence Party, into Pro Patria Union. The Pro Patria National Coalition was founded in September, 1992: it was an electoral alliance between four political parties: *''Christian Democratic Party'' (Kristlik-demokraatlik Erakond); *''Christian Democratic Union'' (Kristlik-Demokraatlik Liit); *''Conservative People's Party'' (Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond); *''Republicans' Coalition Party'' (Vabariiklaste Koonderakond). The coalition had 22.0% votes and 29 seats in 1992 parliamentary elections. Conservative People's Party and Republicans' Coalition Party left the alliance during 1994 and formed the People's Party of Republicans and Conservatives. The party formed a coalition with the Estonian National Independence Party, which obtained 7.9% votes and 8 seats in the 1995 parliamentary election. The tw ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bank Of Estonia
Bank of Estonia ( et, Eesti Pank) is the central bank of Estonia as well as a member of the Eurosystem organisation of euro area central banks. The Bank of Estonia also belongs to the European System of Central Banks. Until 2010, the bank issued the former Estonian currency, the kroon. The Governor of the Bank of Estonia, currently Madis Müller, is a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. TALIBOR Prior to the introduction of the euro, TALIBOR or the Tallinn Interbank Offered Rate was a daily reference rate based on the interest rates at which banks offer to lend ''unsecured'' funds to other banks in the Estonian wholesale money market (or interbank market in Estonian kroons). TALIBOR was published daily by the Bank of Estonia, together with TALIBID (Tallinn Interbank Bid Rate). TALIBOR was calculated based on the quotes for different maturities provided by reference banks at about 11.00 am each business day by disregarding highest and lowest qu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |