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Andrus Ansip (born 1 October 1956 ), is the current Prime Minister of Estonia , and chairman of the Estonian Reform Party ( Estonian : ''Reformierakond''). EARLY LIFE AND CAREER Born in for Radio Tartu . MAYOR OF TARTU In 1998 , Ansip was elected as Mayor of Tartu as a candidate of the market radical ''Reformierakond'' (Reform Party), a position which he held until 2004 , to great popular acclaim and very high ratings in the opinion polls. He had run in previous elections for the '' Riigikogu '', the Estonian Parliament , but had always given up his seat in order to stay Mayor. CHAIRMAN OF ''REFORMIERAKOND'' AND MINISTER OF ECONOMICS However, on November 21 , 2004 , Ansip became Chairman of ''Reformierakond'' because the party's founder and hitherto chairman, former Prime Minister Siim Kallas , had become EU Commissioner and Vice President and thus had to move to Brussels . It was obvious that Ansip would have to move to Tallinn , and a chance opened up when the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications in the coalition government of Juhan Parts , Meelis Atonen , a party colleague, had to resign. Ansip became his successor on September 13 . His track record as Minister is more difficult to evaluate because of the short duration of his service. PRIME MINISTER On March 31 2005 , Ansip was charged by President Arnold Rüütel to form a government, following the 24 March 2005 resignation by Prime Minister Juhan Parts. Ansip was able to form a coalition with '' Keskerakond '' ("Center Party", populist) and '' Rahvaliit '' ("Peoples' Party", rural), which was approved by the Riigikogu on April 12 2005 . Ansip thus became Prime Minister of Estonia (see Andrus Ansip's Cabinet ). He was backed by 53 out of 101 members of the Estonian parliament; forty deputies voting against. He and the ministers were inaugurated in office the next day, on April 13 . THE CABINET The new cabinet, approved by the ''Riigikogu'' on 12 April 2005 , looks as follows: ''Reformierakond''
''Keskerakond''
''Rahvaliit''
The general consensus in the Estonian media seems to be that the new cabinet, on the level of competence, is not necessarily an improvement over the old one, with the exception of the key positions of Minister of Justice and Minister of Finance. The new government is sometimes colloquially called the "communists' coalition" in reference to the three coalition leaders' former Soviet-era party affiliation or, alternatively, the "garlic coalition", because the agreement between the party leaders was reached at a Tallinn restaurant which specialises in garlic dishes. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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