Juhan Parts (born 27 August 1966) is an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n politician who was

Prime Minister of Estonia The Prime Minister of Estonia ( Estonian: ''peaminister'') is the head of government of the Republic of Estonia. The prime minister is nominated by the president after appropriate consultations with the parliamentary factions and confirmed by ...

from 2003 to 2005 and Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications from 2007 to 2014. Juhan Parts is a member of

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.

Education

Born in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, Juhan Parts completed

Gustav Adolf Grammar School The Gustav Adolf Grammar School is a secondary school in Tallinn, Estonia.Overview of Gusta ...

in Tallinn (then ''Tallinn Secondary School No. 1''). Afterwards, he studied law at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

, Estonia.

Early career

After completing his university education, Parts instantly joined the Ministry of Justice. who wanted to push for reforms. As an ally of Deputy Minister

Mihkel Oviir Mihkel Oviir (born 11 October 1942 in Märjamaa) is an Estonian lawyer. In 1975, he graduated from Tartu University's Faculty of Law. Before 2003, he worked almost 30 years at Ministry of Justice, being on different posts. 2003–2013, he was ...

, he was appointed

Auditor General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Freq ...

in the spring of 1998. He held this office until 2002. From this virtually unimpeachable office, unique in the Estonian Constitution, he frequently criticised the government and became somewhat of a popular figure in Estonian politics.

Political career

Parts became the chairman of a new party, called Res Publica, which he was instrumental in starting. It is a largely technocratic party which can be described as an economically liberal party of young administrators. Res Publica now is a member of the right-of-centre

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

organisation.

Prime Minister of Estonia, 2003–2005

In the

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Jus ...

(Estonian parliament) elections in 2003, Parts surprisingly gained a majority among the right-of-centre parties, and as a result, he was charged to form a new government coalition and became Prime Minister of Estonia. The new government took office on 10 April 2003. On 24 March 2005, Parts stepped down as Prime Minister after a vote of no confidence against

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

Ken-Marti Vaher Ken-Marti Vaher (born 5 September 1974) is a leading member of the Estonian Pro Patria and Res Publica Union party. He has served twice as a Minister: as Minister of Justice (2003–2005) and as Minister of the Interior (2011–2014). Career Vah ...

had passed the ''Riigikogu''. Vaher had established a quota system of how many civil servants had to be prosecuted every year (per county), which is seen as reminiscent of

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

purges by many Estonians, a measure that Parts had endorsed. Parts' term as Prime Minister officially ended on 12 April 2005 when the Riigikogu confirmed his successor

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. Previo ...

Minister for Economic Affairs, 2007–2014

From 2007 until 2014, Parts served as Minister for Economic Affairs and Communications in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. Early in his tenure, Parts unveiled a plan to boost Estonia's cyber security in response to the 2007 cyberattacks targeting websites of Estonian organizations, including Estonian parliament, banks, ministries, newspapers and broadcasters. Under his leadership, the Estonian government opened talks with

SAS Group SAS AB (Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag), trading as SAS Group, is an airline holding company headquartered in the SAS Frösundavik Office Building in Solna Municipality, Sweden. It is the owner of the airlines Scandinavian Airlines and S ...

about the future of

Estonian Air Estonian Air was the flag carrier airline of Estonia between 1991 and 2015. Headquartered in Tallinn it operated scheduled services from Tallinn Airport. Prior to its closure, the airline flew from Tallinn to 11 destinations in Europe. From 19 ...

and did not rule out taking a majority stake in the carrier. Also during his time in office, Estonia and Finland signed a 2014 agreement on building two new

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

(LNG) terminals on either side of the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...

and a pipeline connecting the two countries. After calling some members of the Lithuanian government "fools" in a 2014 interview with the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' about the joint Rail Baltic infrastructure project, Parts found himself under heavy fire in both countries. In the 2015 parliamentary election, Parts was re-elected to the parliament with 4,208 individual votes.

European Court of Auditors, 2017–present

In 2016, the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

appointed Parts as member of the

European Court of Auditors The European Court of Auditors (ECA; French: ''Cour des comptes européenne'') is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg in order to improve EU financial management. It has 27 members ( ...

. Since taking office, Parts has been leading the Court's investigations into the performance of the

European Anti-Fraud Office The European Anti-Fraud Office (commonly known as OLAF, from the french: Office européen de lutte antifraude) is a body mandated by the European Union (EU) with protecting the Union's financial interests. It was founded on 28 April 1999, unde ...

(2019), the European Union's 2014-2020 development spending in Kenya (2020) and the use of

Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, or simply IPA, is a funding mechanism of the European Union. As of 2007, it replaced previous programmes such as the PHARE, ISPA, SAPARD and CARDS. Unlike the previous assistance programs, IPA offe ...

funds in the

Western Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whol ...

(2022).Raf Casert (10 January 2022)
EU auditors: Rule of law aid for W Balkans doesn’t pay off
''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

''.

References

External links

Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica

Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Parts, Juhan 1966 births Living people Politicians from Tallinn Prime Ministers of Estonia Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 2nd Class Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic University of Tartu alumni Res Publica Party politicians Isamaa politicians 21st-century Estonian politicians Members of the Riigikogu, 2003–2007 Members of the Riigikogu, 2007–2011 Members of the Riigikogu, 2011–2015 Members of the Riigikogu, 2015–2019