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Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, on Monday stepped down from seat to become the European Union’s next foreign policy chief.
Kallas – who has led the Baltic state since 2021 – handed her resignation letter to the president but will remain in office until a new government is formed and sworn in.
“This was a very hard time,” Kallas, who was the first woman prime minister of Estonia, told Estonian public radio in a Monday interview describing her tenure.
“I started when the Covid crisis was at its peak and I was probably the only prime minister who immediately after being sworn in went to a government meeting and started making decisions,” she added.
The outgoing premier is also expected to resign as leader of her Reform party later this summer.
Kallas, a hawkish Russian critic, was last month picked as the EU’s next top diplomat but her nomination is yet to be put to a vote in the European Parliament.
Her Reform party has chosen the current climate minister Kristen Michal as their candidate for prime minister.
AFP
