(ANSA-AFP) - TALLINN, JAN 25 - Pro-business europhile Kaja
Kallas is to be Estonia's first female prime minister after
parliament on Monday voted in her new coalition. Kallas, a
43-year-old former MEP and leader of the Reform Party, is the
daughter of the Baltic state's former prime minister Siim
Kallas. She will govern in a coalition with the Centre Party of
outgoing prime minister Juri Ratas. Her government will command
59 seats in Estonia's 101-member parliament and won the backing
of 70 MPs in Monday's confidence vote after garnering support
from the Social Democrats. Speaking to parliament as the small
Baltic eurozone state struggles with the Covid-19 pandemic,
Kallas vowed "to keep Estonia as open as possible, so that
people could go to work, and children to school, and the
economic activity could continue." She said that her "government
will be like a tightrope walker over an abyss, always watching
their balance" between controlling the pandemic and allowing
economic activity. The new government will be sworn in on
Tuesday. Ratas resigned earlier this month after his party came
under investigation for corruption. The far-right EKRE party
which had been in coalition with Ratas is now out of government.
Kallas's party came first in parliamentary elections in 2019 but
did not win an outright majority and then failed to build a
coalition. During her time at the European Parliament between
2014 and 2018, she was regularly included on lists of the most
influential MEPs. She is a passionate proponent of innovation
who argues that regulations must not hinder the digital
technological revolution. Focused on the rights of small and
medium-sized businesses, Kallas believes that borders in the
digital world prevent innovative companies from emerging. The
Reform and Centre parties have alternated in government over the
nearly three decades since Estonia broke free from the crumbling
Soviet Union. Both strongly support Estonia's EU and NATO
membership, which they see as a buffer against Soviet-era master
Russia. They have favoured austerity to keep spending in check,
giving the country of 1.3 million people one of the eurozone's
lowest debt-to-GDP ratios. (ANSA-AFP).
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