Igor Grazin

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Igor Grazin

Igor Gräzin (born June 27, 1952 in Tartu ) is an Estonian politician and lawyer. He belongs to the liberal Estonian Reform Party ( Eesti Reformierakond ). At the beginning of September 2018 he moved up as a member of the European Parliament .

Life

Early years

Igor Gräzin graduated from the renowned Miina Härma Gümnaasium in Tartu in southern Estonia in 1970 . In 1975 he graduated from Tartu State University with a law degree . In 1979 he obtained the degree of candidate in Moscow . In 1987 he completed his doctorate in law at the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR .

Since 1975 Gräzin has taught philosophy and law at the State University of Tartu. From 1986 to 1988 he was Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law. He has held several academic positions since then, including a. in Estonia and the USA (including the University of Notre Dame ) as well as numerous publications, especially on questions of legal philosophy and macroeconomics. He also works as a lawyer in a Tartu law firm.

Politician

From 1975 to 1990 Igor Gräzin was a member of the CPSU . From 1989 to 1991 he was a member of the Estonian Parliament and a representative of the opposition Popular Front ( Rahvarinne ) of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR .

In 1994 he was one of the co-founders of the liberal Estonian Reform Party (RE). From 1995 to 1999 and again from 2005 (most recently re-elected in 2015), Gräzin was a member of the Estonian Parliament ( Riigikogu ).

After taking over the European mandate of Kaja Kallas, who had returned to Estonia as party chairman, in September 2018 , Gräzin announced that he would withdraw from politics at the end of the 8th electoral term of the European Parliament. He justified this by saying that he wanted to devote himself to other tasks in the future and that he had also alienated himself from his party. On January 3, 2019, he announced that he would no longer be a member of RE.

Private life

Igor Gräzin was married to Jelena Gräzin. The couple has a son. He has another child with the former Estonian Minister of Social Affairs, Maret Maripuu .

He is particularly interested in the work of Franz Kafka .

Political positions

Gräzin is considered to be the unadjusted Eurosceptic lateral head of his party. He was the only MEP to vote against the abolition of the death penalty in Estonia and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union . He also became known for his rejection of the existing Estonian-Finnish maritime border in the Baltic Sea in order to influence the Nord Stream project for a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. In 2014, he turned against the new liberal civil partnership law in Estonia.

Thanks to his political positions and a weekly television broadcast, Gräzin has received a lot of attention in the political debate in Estonia.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Igor Gräzin to leave politics following end of term as MEP , online report on news.err.ee from December 27, 2018, accessed on December 27, 2018 (English)
  2. ↑ Former MP Igor Gräzin leaves Reform Party , online report on news.err.ee from January 6, 2019, January 6, 2019 (English)
  3. ↑ Riigikogu liige: Igor Gräzin
personal data
SURNAME Grazin, Igor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian lawyer and politician, member of the Riigikogu
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Tartu