Tõnis Lukas (born 5 June 1962) 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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, former

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizatio ...

from 2019 to 2021 and Minister of Education and Research from 1999 to 2002 and from 2007 to 2011.

Life

Lukas was 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 '' ...

.CV at the Estonian government web site
/ref> After graduating from secondary school and spending another year in technical school in Tallinn, he went on to study history in

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 ...

. He graduated in 1987 and continued postgraduate studies from 1989 to 1992, receiving his master's degree in history 1997. Tõnis Lukas started his career as a school teacher in Southern Estonia. 1989 he became a lecturer for postgraduate students in the University of Tartu. From 1992 to 1995 he worked as Director of the

Estonian National Museum The Estonian National Museum ( et, Eesti Rahva Muuseum) founded 1909 in Tartu is a museum devoted to folklorist Jakob Hurt's heritage, to Estonian ethnography and folk art. The first items for the museum were originally collected in the latter ...

. Since 1995 he has held mainly political posts both on local and national level. He briefly returned to University of Tartu for two years in 1997 to work as a project manager and to participate in doctorate programme (still unfinished). From 2013 to 2019 he took a break from politics, working from 2013 to 2018 again as Director of the Estonian National Museum and from 2018 to 2019 as Director of the Tartu Vocational Education Centre. He left the last post in order to serve as the Minister of Culture. Tõnis Lukas is a member of the Estonian Vocational Education Promotion Union, Society of Friends of Estonian National Museum, Estonian Heritage Society and

Learned Estonian Society The Learned Estonian Society ( et, Õpetatud Eesti Selts, shortened ÕES; german: Gelehrte Estnische Gesellschaft, shortened GEG) is Estonia's oldest scholarly organisation, and was formed at the University of Tartu in 1838. Its charter was to stu ...

. He is an author of several textbooks on history. Tõnis Lukas is married to a literary scholar Liina Lukas. They have two daughters and a son.CV at the Estonian Ministry of Culture

Political career

Lukas joined

Pro Patria Union The Pro Patria Union ( et, Isamaaliit, meaning literally Fatherland Union) was a national-conservative political party in Estonia. The party was founded on 2 December 1995 from a merger of the Estonian National Independence Party and the Pro Pat ...

in 1992 and was elected to Tartu City Council the next year. 1995 he became a member of

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 Just ...

and served for a year as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Cultural Affairs. Tõnis Lukas left the parliament in 1996 to serve as a Mayor of Tartu (1996–1997). After the parliamentary elections of 1999 he was appointed a Minister of Education in Prime Minister

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 rapid economic development dur ...

's cabinet on 25 March 1999. The highlight of his career as Minister was the transfer of the Ministry of Education from Tallinn to Tartu, justified as decentralisation of power and fostering regional development, while the critics see in it a result of successful lobby by

. When the government fell on 28 January 2002 Tõnis Lukas returned to Riigikogu and was re-elected to the parliament in 2003, serving currently as a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Cultural Affairs. After the resignation of

Tunne Kelam Tunne-Väldo Kelam (born 10 July 1936) is an Estonian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Estonia. He is a member of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, part of the European People's Party. Early life and educa ...

he was elected the Chairman of

on 16 April 2005. In November 2005 he unveiled plans of merger between Pro Patria Union and

Union for the Republic - Res Publica Res Publica Party ( et, Erakond Res Publica) was a political party in Estonia that self-identified as conservative. Established as a party on 8 December 2001, the political organisation Res Publica was founded already as early as 1989 and exist ...

. After the merger of the parties on 4 June 2006 he became one of the two co-Chairmen of the new

Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica 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 Publi ...

. At the party congress on 26 May 2007

was elected a new Chairman of the Union and Tõnis Lukas became one of the three Vice-Chairmen elected to assist Mart Laar. From 5 April 2007 to 6 April 2011, he again served as the Minister of Education and Research. He returned to the government in April 2019, becoming the

in Jüri Ratas' second cabinet.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lukas, Tonis 1962 births Living people Mayors of Tartu Politicians from Tallinn Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 4th Class 20th-century Estonian historians Members of the Riigikogu, 1995–1999 Members of the Riigikogu, 1999–2003 Members of the Riigikogu, 2003–2007 Members of the Riigikogu, 2007–2011 Members of the Riigikogu, 2011–2015 Isamaa politicians University of Tartu alumni 20th-century Estonian politicians 21st-century Estonian politicians Ministers of Culture of Estonia