Kaja Kallas (born 18 June 1977) is an Estonian politician and diplomat. She was the first female prime minister of Estonia, a role she held from 2021 until 2024, when she resigned in advance of her appointment as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Since 2024, she has served in that role as well as Vice-President of the European Commission in the second von der Leyen Commission.
The daughter of former prime minister Siim Kallas, she was leader of the Estonian Reform Party from 2018 to 2024 and a member of the during 2011–2014 and 2019–2021. Kallas was a member of the European Parliament during 2014–2018, representing the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Before her election to , she was a lawyer specialising in European competition law. Kallas has taken a strong stance against Russia, advocating for robust sanctions and military support for Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Early life and education
Kaja Kallas was born on 18 June 1977 in Tallinn. Her father, Siim Kallas, was director of an Estonian branch of the Savings Bank of the USSR in 1986–1989 and later, after Estonia had restored independence in 1991, served as chairman of the Bank of Estonia in 1991–1995, as prime minister of Estonia in 2002–2003, and as a European Commissioner in 2004–2014. Kallas' paternal great-grandfather, Eduard Alver (1886–1939), a lawyer, was the commander of the Estonian Defence League during the Estonian War of Independence from 1918 to 1920 and also served as the head of the country's police and the Internal Security Service.
During the March 1949 Soviet mass deportations, Kallas' mother, Kristi, six months old at the time, grandmother and great-grandmother, all labeled as "enemies of the state", were deported to Siberia. Her mother was allowed to return to Estonia in 1959. Apart from her Estonian heritage, Kallas patrilineally has some distant Latvian and German ancestry, as discovered by journalists researching her father's family roots after his premiership.
Kallas attended primary and secondary school in Tallinn.Kaja Kallas attended primary school in what is now part of the Lilleküla Gymnasium, she attended secondary school at the Tallinn Secondary School No. 7 (now Tallinn English College). She graduated from the University of Tartu in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in law. In 2007, Kallas began studying towards a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Estonian Business School (EBS), which she did not complete. She went on to obtain a one-year Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from EBS in 2010.
Professional career From 1996 to 1997, Kallas worked as advisor to the director of Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu. Kallas became a member of the Estonian Bar Association in 1999, and an attorney-at-law in 2002. While training in European law, she briefly worked as a lawyer at the corporate law firms Courtois Lebel in Paris (March–April 2001) and Hannes Snellmann in Helsinki (October 2003). She became a partner in the law firms Tark & Co and Luiga Mody Hääl Borenius, where she headed the competition law department from 2008 to 2011. Kallas also worked as an executive coach at the Estonian Business School. In 2011, she was placed on inactive status as a member of the Estonian Bar Association.
Between 2003 and 2010, Kallas was a council member of several Estonian private and public limited companies: LHV-Seesam Varahaldus, Pakri Tuulepark, Viru-Nigula Tuulepark, Hiiumaa Offshore Tuulepark, Paldiski Tuulepark, Tooma Tuulepark, Roheline Ring Tuulepargid, Biofond and 4E Tehnoinvest. In 2008, Kallas was a board member of Nelja Energia. From 2009 to 2010, Kallas was a board member of the Estonian Wind Power Association.
Political career
Member of the Estonian Parliament (2011–2014) In 2010, Kallas joined the Estonian Reform Party. In the 2011 parliamentary elections she won a seat in the Riigikogu (for the Harju County and Rapla County constituency) receiving 7,157 votes. She was a member of the 12th Parliament of Estonia and chaired the Economic Affairs Committee from 2011 to 2014.
Member of the European Parliament (2014–2018) In the 2014 European Parliament election in Estonia, Kallas received 21,498 votes. In the European Parliament, Kallas served on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and was a substitute for the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. She was a vice-chair of the Delegation to the EU–Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee as well as a member of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and Delegation for relations with the United States. In addition to her committee assignments, Kallas was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda, and was also a vice-chair of the Youth Intergroup.
During her period in Parliament, Kallas worked on the Digital Single Market strategy, energy, and consumer policies, and relations with Ukraine. In particular, she defended the rights of small and medium-sized enterprises, maintaining that borders in the digital world hinder the emergence of innovative companies. She is a proponent of innovation and frequently emphasises that regulations must not hinder the technological revolution.
Kallas served as rapporteur for six reports: opinion on the ePrivacy Regulation, civil law rules on robotics, on the Annual report on EU Competition Policy, and on Delivering a New Deal for Energy Consumers, legislation on Custom infringements and sanctions, and the own-initiative report on the Digital Single Market. During her time in Parliament, she was also nominated as a European Young Leader (EYL40). At the end of her term, she was cited by Politico as one of the 40 most influential MEPs, and one of the most powerful women in Brussels, who was highlighted for her understanding of technological issues.
Return to national politics (2017–2020) On 13 December 2017, the Reform Party leader Hanno Pevkur announced that he would no longer run for the party leadership in January 2018, and suggested that Kallas should run instead. After considering the offer, Kallas announced on 15 December 2017 that she would accept the invitation to run in the leadership election. Kallas won the leadership election held on 14 April 2018 and became the first female leader of a major political party in Estonia.
In the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election on 3 March, the Reform Party led by Kallas received about 29% of the vote, with the ruling Estonian Centre Party taking 23%. The Centre Party managed to form Jüri Ratas' second cabinet with the conservative Isamaa party and the far-right EKRE, leaving the Reform Party out of power. On 14 November 2020, Kallas was re-elected as leader of the Reform Party at a Reform Party Assembly.
Prime Minister of Estonia (2021–2024)
On 25 January 2021, after the fall of the Centre Party led cabinet with conservative parties, Kaja Kallas's first cabinet, a coalition with the Centre Party, was formed. In doing so, she became the first female prime minister in Estonia's history.
In June 2021, Kallas confronted German chancellor Angela Merkel at a European Council meeting opposing Merkel's plan to invite Russia's president Vladimir Putin to a summit of European leaders. Her opposition surprised other gathered leaders but successfully contributed to encouraging fellow leaders to force Merkel not to invite Putin. Later in the year Kallas stated that Russian military pressure should not influence the decision of which countries can join the European Union or NATO, and she did not like U.S. President Biden's outreach to Putin.
During the latter half of 2021, the global energy crisis disrupted the Estonian economy; businesses were forced to temporarily shut down, while the public requested government aid to pay for the high electricity and heating prices. Kallas initially resisted calls for government aid, suggesting that the government should search for long-term solutions rather than handing out benefits, and that a free market should not require consistent government intervention to keep people afloat. The energy crisis nearly caused the collapse of the coalition government. Kallas observed in a speech that the high cost of natural gas coupled with the Russian invasion of Ukraine was driving the increase in energy prices, and that the green energy measures Estonia adopted limited what the government could do to handle the crisis. In January 2022, Kallas announced a 245 million euro plan to reduce the cost of energy from September 2021 to March 2022. The energy crisis impacted her popularity in Estonia.
On the eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in January 2022, Kallas said that the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline was "a geopolitical project not an economic one" and urged that the pipeline be terminated. She also stated that Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas was a significant political problem. In January 2022, Kallas committed Estonia to donating howitzers to Ukraine to assist in its defence against a possible Russian invasion, pending German approval as the howitzers were originally purchased from Germany. When Germany delayed in giving an answer, Estonia sent American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles instead in the first weeks of February 2022. Following Russia's recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Kallas demanded that the European Union impose sanctions on Russia. Kallas was praised domestically for her leadership during the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Subsequently, her approval rating soared, making her Estonia's most popular politician.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on 24 February 2022, Estonia along with other allies triggered Article 4 of NATO. Kallas pledged to support Ukraine with political and materiel support. By April 2022, 0.8% of Estonia's GDP in military equipment had been handed over to Ukraine. Kallas has been praised both in Estonia and internationally as a leading pro-Ukrainian voice in the war, with the New Statesman calling her "Europe's New Iron Lady". She also strongly supported the admission of Ukraine to the European Union, saying that there was "a moral duty" to do so. In April 2022, she warned against "peace at any price" with Russia.
On 3 June 2022, Kallas dismissed all Centre Party ministers, after the Centre Party had sided with the opposition to vote down the preschool education bill, that would have made teaching Estonian language mandatory in preschool. Kallas symbolically resigned on 14 July 2022 to form a new coalition with the Social Democratic Party and Isamaa.
As prime minister, Kallas attracted international attention as a leader in efforts to support Ukraine during the Russian invasion, delivering more military equipment to Ukraine as a proportion of GDP per capita than any other country in the world. In September 2022, in the context of a plan by three other bordering nations to restrict Russian tourists, she said: "Travel to the European Union is a privilege, not a human right." She added that it was "unacceptable that citizens of the aggressor state are able to freely travel in the EU, whilst at the same time people in Ukraine are being tortured and murdered." She rejected any peace agreement that would cede part of Ukrainian territory to Russia.
In September 2022, Kallas announced that Estonia would not grant asylum to Russian citizens fleeing war mobilization, saying that "Every citizen is responsible for the actions of their state, and citizens of Russia are no exception. Therefore, we do not give asylum to Russian men who flee their country. They should oppose the war."