Juhan Parts

Juhan Parts (2003)

Juhan Parts (born August 27, 1966 in Tallinn ) is an Estonian politician. He was Prime Minister from March 2003 to March 2005 and since 2002 chairman of the right-wing Estonian party Res Publica .

biography

After graduating from the Gustav-Adolf -Gymnasium in Tallinn (then 1st Tallinn High School ), he studied law at the University of Tartu (formerly Dorpat ).

He immediately received a position in the Estonian Ministry of Justice. He belonged to a young group of politicians who wanted to push through quick and comprehensive reforms for the purpose of greater transparency, rapid progress and a liberal economic policy. Integration into the EU and NATO was also in focus right from the start .

General auditor

From 1998 to 2002 Parts was a general auditor , an office similar to the President of the Federal Audit Office . In this almost permanent and very privileged position, a peculiarity of the Estonian constitution, he exercised strong and frequent criticism of the government coalitions he did not support.

Co-founder of Res Publica

Parts was one of the co-founders of the Res Publica party , which had emerged from the conservative - liberal youth organization of the same name of the nationalist party alliance Isamaa ("Fatherland"; later Isamaaliit ). It is economically liberal and otherwise very technology- friendly in character. In general, however, it can be described as technocratic and / or liberal in the libertarian sense; the classification as conservative often found in the German press is incorrect. She belongs to the European People's Party .

Prime Minister

After this very young party (barely members over 30 years of age) surprisingly narrowly became the largest party in the 2003 parliamentary elections - probably because of its unspoilt and novelty - Parts became Prime Minister of a three-party coalition made up of Res Publica , Rahvaliit ( People's Union ) and Eesti Reformierakond ( Reform Party ). His style of government was shaped by orientation towards Estonia's membership in the European Union and Estonia's economic success, particularly in the field of innovation . Organizationally, he pursued goals that resembled those of Margaret Thatcher . Parts was Prime Minister at the time of joining the EU on May 1, 2004 .

Since around this time, in mid-2004, Parts was strong against the Res Publica leaders, who often also held ministerial offices ( Ken-Marti Vaher , Taavi Veskimägi , Urmas Reinsalu ) and the government's performance, which was perceived as inadequate and one-sided, due to his weak leadership in public criticism; his polls and those of the party fell to around 5%. In addition, there were quarrels with the most important coalition partner, the radical-market-libertarian reform party ( Reformierakond ), which was several times ahead of Res Publica in the polls, but had less influence in parliament and government.

Resignation as Prime Minister

In spring 2005, Parts dismissed Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland , whose files had been lost in her ministry, without informing her party, Reformierakond, in advance. When it became known in March that Justice Minister Ken-Marti Vaher, who was very controversial because of various offenses (including more than 100 parking tickets because of excessive speed), had developed a quota system of minimum numbers of officials to be convicted of corruption per district (regardless of really corruption), this was compared to Stalinist cleansing methods and a vote of no confidence against Vaher emerged. Parts linked his political fate with the Vahers and when the vote of no confidence was nevertheless accepted on March 21 , Parts resigned from the office of Prime Minister on March 24, 2005 . He was succeeded at the beginning of April by the Chairman of the Reforming Council and former Minister of Economics Andrus Ansip .

Minister of Economics and Communication

With the formation of Andrus Ansip's second cabinet on April 4, 2007, Parts surprisingly became Minister of Economics and Communications. He also retained this office in Prime Minister Ansip's third cabinet , which was sworn in in April 2011. With the end of the government coalition in March 2014, Parts left the cabinet.

Web links

• http://www.respublica.ee Party Res Publica
• capital.de: Interview (September 2011)

See also

Cabinet Parts I