Siim Kallas (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈsiːm ˈkɑlːɑs]; born 2 October 1948) is an Estonian politician, former Prime Minister of Estonia, and former European Commissioner, as well as a former member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ^[1]

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Quick Facts European Commissioner for Transport, President ...

Siim Kallas
Kallas in 2014
European Commissioner for Transport
In office 9 February 2010 – 1 November 2014
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Antonio Tajani
Succeeded by	Violeta Bulc
European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud
In office 22 November 2004 – 9 February 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Neil Kinnock (Administrative Reform)
Succeeded by	Maroš Šefčovič (Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration) Algirdas Šemeta (Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud)
European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs
In office 1 May 2004 – 22 November 2004 Served with Joaquín Almunia
President	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Pedro Solbes
Succeeded by	Joaquín Almunia
14th Prime Minister of Estonia
In office 28 January 2002 – 10 April 2003
President	Arnold Rüütel
Preceded by	Mart Laar
Succeeded by	Juhan Parts
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 9 November 1995 – 21 November 1996
Prime Minister	Tiit Vähi
Preceded by	Riivo Sinijärv
Succeeded by	Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Member of the Riigikogu
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 March 2019
Personal details
Born	(1948-10-02) 2 October 1948 (age 75) Tallinn, Estonia
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (before 1991) Reform Party (since 1994)
Spouse	Kristi Kallas
Children	2, including Kaja
Alma mater	University of Tartu

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He served as the European Commissioner for Transport between 2010 and 2014. Before that he was the European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud between 2004 and 2009. In both Barroso Commissions he was also a Vice-President. He was twice appointed the Acting Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro in Olli Rehn's stead, from 19 April 2014 to 25 May 2014 while he was on electoral campaign leave for the 2014 elections to the European Parliament and from 1 July 2014 to 16 July 2014 after he took up his seat.^[2][3]

Prior to his tenure as a European Commissioner, Kallas was the Prime Minister of Estonia, Estonian Minister of Finance, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, a member of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union and a member of the Riigikogu. Kallas is a member and former leader of the free-market liberal Estonian Reform Party and a former vice-president of Liberal International.

After leaving the European Commission, Kallas ran in the Estonian presidential election in 2016, but was not elected. In October 2017, he started as the municipal mayor of Viimsi Parish.^[4] His daughter, Kaja Kallas, is the current prime minister of Estonia.

• 1966–1969, 1972–1974 Budget and Finance, University of Tartu, specialist
• (1969–1972 Junior Sergeant, Soviet Armed Forces Corps of Signals)
• 1974–1977 Economics of environmental protection, University of Tartu, Candidate of Sciences

• 1969–1972 : Signals officer in Soviet Army
• 1975–1979: Specialist at the Finance Ministry Planning Committee of the Estonian SSR
• 1979–1986: Joint Secretary of the Central Authority of the Savings Banks of the Estonian SSR.
• 1986–1989: Deputy chief editor of the Communist Party of Estonia newspaper Rahva Hääl
• 1989–1991: Chairman of the Central Union of the Estonian Trade Unions
• 1989–1991: Member of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union
• 1991–1995: President of the Bank of Estonia
• 1995–2004: Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia
• 1995–1996: Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1996: Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
• 1999–2002: Minister of Finance
• 2002–2003: Prime minister
• 2004–2004: EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, serving with Joaquín Almunia
• 2004–2010: EU Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud and Vice-president of the Commission
• 2010–2014: EU Commissioner for Transport and Vice-president of the Commission
• 2017–2019: Municipal mayor of Viimsi.
• 2019-today: Member of the Riigikogu.

Kallas' grandfather was Eduard Alver, one of the founders of the Republic of Estonia on 24 February 1918, and the Commander of the Estonian Defence League during the Estonian War of Independence, and the first chief of the Estonian Police from 1918 to 24 May 1919.^[5] He speaks Estonian, English, Russian, Finnish, and German. Kallas is of Estonian and distant Baltic German ancestry.

Kallas is married to doctor Kristi Kallas, who, during the Soviet deportations from Estonia, at age six months, was deported to Siberia with her mother and grandmother in a cattle car and lived there until she was 10 years old.^[6]

He has one son and one daughter. His daughter Kaja Kallas is the current leader of the Reform party and Prime Minister of Estonia since 2021.^[7]

Kallas' inability to address some politically controversial issues such as corruption caused him to renounce his candidacy for the office of Prime Minister of Estonia in 2014.^[8][9]