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 Riigikogu 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 Riigikogu, she was a lawyer specialising in European competition law. Kallas has taken a strong stance against Russia, advocating robust sanctions and military support for Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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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. 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.
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (2024–present)
On 28 June 2024, Kallas was nominated to become High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. A confirmatory vote by the European Parliament took place in November. She formally resigned as prime minister on 15 July, but remained in office until the creation of a new government on 22 July. She also became Vice-President of the European Commission. In November 2024, she stated that the People's Republic of China must pay a "higher cost" for its support to Russia, referring to China's position on Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On 1 December 2024, her first day in office as High Representative, Kallas visited Ukraine along with European Council President Antonio Costa and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos. Kallas expressed strong support for a Ukrainian victory, stating that "the European Union wants Ukraine to win this war". The trip was criticized by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who stated, without further elaboration, that Kallas and Costa had made statements that had not been agreed upon by EU bodies.
On her first day in office, Kallas also warned the Georgian government not to use violence to suppress the ongoing protests against the ruling party's decision to postpone EU accession talks, threatening possible sanctions.
On 11 February 2025, Kallas condemned China in relation to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying that "Without China's support, Russia would not be able to continue its military aggression with the same force." She also added "China is the largest provider of dual-use goods and sensitive items that sustain Russia's military-industrial base and that are found on the battlefield in Ukraine."
On 13 February 2025, she criticized a call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as an "appeasement" towards Russia. On 20 February 2025, Kallas expressed doubts about Donald Trump's attempts to negotiate a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine war, warning that "if we are giving everything on the plate to the aggressor, it sends a signal to all the aggressors in the world that you can do this".
Personal life
From 2002 to 2006, Kallas was married to Roomet Leiger. She lived together with former finance minister and businessman Taavi Veskimägi. Kallas and Veskimägi have one son; they separated in 2014. In 2018, she married Arvo Hallik, a banker and investor. Hallik has two children from a previous relationship. Apart from her native Estonian, Kallas is fluent in English, Finnish, Russian and French. She is known for reading history books, and is friends with historians Timothy Garton Ash and Timothy Snyder.
Honours
State decorations
Order of the National Coat of Arms, 2nd Class (Estonia, 5 February 2025)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania (2021)
Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star (Sweden, 2023)
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 2nd class (Ukraine, 2023)
Awards and prizes
Transatlantic Leadership Award awarded by the Center for European Policy Analysis (2022)
Grotius Prize awarded by Policy Exchange (2022)
European Prize for Political Culture awarded by the Hans Ringier Foundation (2022)
International Prize awarded by the Friedrich August von Hayek Foundation (2022)
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Award awarded by the International Republican Institute (2023)
Marion Dönhoff Prize for International Understanding and Reconciliation awarded by the ZEIT Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius (2023)
International Lord Byron Prize awarded by the Society for Hellenism and Philhellenism, in collaboration with the Academy of Athens (2023)
Walther Rathenau Award awarded by the Walther Rathenau Institut (2024)
Other activities
Since 2020, Kallas has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Friends of Europe. Additionally, she is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, an advisory board member of the Women Economic Forum, and a patron of the Model European Union Tallinn. She is also a mentor of the European Liberal Youth, a member of the European Young Leaders, a MEP ambassor of Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, a member of the MEP Library Lovers Group, a political member of the European Internet Forum, a member of the extended board of the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources, a member of the Global Young Leaders, a member of the Women Political Leaders, and a MEP ambassador of the European Entrepreneurship Education Network.