Kaja Kallas

Biography

Kaja Kallas was born in Tallinn in 1977, the daughter of Siim Kallas, a later prime minister and European commissioner. She took a law degree at the University of Tartu in 1999 and later an executive MBA at the Estonian Business School. She became an attorney and specialised in European competition law, eventually heading the competition practice at a Tallinn law firm.

She joined the Estonian Reform Party in 2010 and won a seat in the Riigikogu in 2011, chairing its economic affairs committee. From 2014 to 2018 she sat in the European Parliament with the liberal ALDE group, working on digital single market, energy and consumer issues and on relations with Ukraine.

In April 2018 she became the first woman to lead a major Estonian party. The Reform Party topped the poll in 2019 but stayed in opposition until January 2021, when she became Estonia's first female prime minister. She led the government through the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, pressing for strong sanctions and military aid, and won the 2023 election.

In 2024 she stepped down as prime minister to become the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and a vice-president of the European Commission, taking office that December.