Kaja Kallas (18 June 1977-) was Prime Minister of Estonia from 26 January 2021 to 23 July 2024, succeeding Juri Ratas and preceding Kristen Michal. A leader of the liberal Estonian Reform Party, she was the first female prime minister of her country, and she was nicknamed "Europe's New Iron Lady" for her steadfast support for Ukraine against Russian imperialism.
Biography[]
Kaja Kallas was born in Tallinn, Estonian SSR, Soviet Union in 1977, the daughter of Prime Minister Siim Kallas. She became a lawyer in 1999 and an attorney-at-law in 2002, and she joined the Estonian Reform Party in 2010 and served in the Riigikogu from 2011 to 2014, as an MEP from 2014 to 2018, as leader of the Reform Party from 2018, and in the Riigikogu from 2019. In 2019, she led her party to win the general election with 29% of the vote, forming a coalition with the fellow liberal Estonian Center Party. Upon Prime Minister Juri Ratas' resignation in 2021, Kallas formed a Reform-led coalition with the Center Party, becoming her country's first female prime minister. She emerged as one of the European Union and NATO's strongest voices criticizing Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and neo-Sovietism; she oversaw the removal of monuments glorifying the Soviet occupation of Estonia (for which Russia issued an arrest warrant for her) and supported aid to Ukraine. In 2024, she became Vice-President of the European Commission.