Mart Laar

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Mart Laar 2006

Mart Laar (born April 22, 1960 in Viljandi ) is an Estonian politician and historian. He was Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002.

education

After graduating from high school in 1978, Mart Laar studied history at the University of Tartu until 1983 . He initially worked as a teacher before he was employed as head of unit in the Ministry of Culture of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (later the Republic of Estonia) from 1986 to 1990 . There he devoted himself particularly to monument protection.

Politician

Laar was already active in nationally-minded Estonian circles during his studies. He joined the so-called Popular Front Movement , which advocated national self-determination and separation from the Soviet Union . In 1990, Laar was represented in the first freely elected Estonian parliament ( Supreme Council ) as a right-wing conservative MP.

Mart Laar was a co-founder of the Isamaa electoral alliance (from which the Isamaaliit party , German: Fatherland Union , later emerged), which won the parliamentary elections on September 20, 1992. From October 21, 1992 to November 8, 1994, he was Prime Minister of Estonia in a coalition government. He is considered one of the founders of the liberal market economy in Estonia. During his reign, numerous economic reforms were carried out and the Estonian kroon was linked to the German mark in a fixed ratio . The government's political goal was a consistent westward course in Estonia, which had regained its independence.

Because of an alleged foreign exchange scandal during the ruble exchange phase, Laar had to resign in 1994 after a vote of no confidence, but remained active in the party and parliament. From 1992 to 1995 he was chairman of the Isamaa alliance and from 1995 to 2002 chairman of the Isamaaliit party.

From 2003, Laar was an observer in the European Parliament for one year and, after Estonian accession to the EU on May 1, 2004, was a member of parliament for almost three months until the end of the electoral term.

After a time in the opposition, Isamaaliit was able to put together a coalition government under Mart Laar in the parliamentary elections of March 7, 1999. From March 25, 1999 to January 28, 2002, Laar was again Prime Minister. In the government, Laar continued his liberal economic reform program. With Siim Kallas as finance minister and Toomas Hendrik Ilves as foreign minister, he brought experienced politicians into the government. The government broke up after squabbling over the occupation of the mayor's post in Tallinn . Isamaaliit again became an opposition party.

In 2006 Mart Laar was awarded the Cato Institute's The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty . In autumn 2006 he was chosen by the union of the conservative parties ( Fatherland Union and Res Publica ) as a candidate for the office of prime minister in the next parliamentary elections.

6 April 2011 Laar Defense in was Cabinet of Andrus Ansip . In May 2012, Laar resigned from the cabinet for health reasons.

historian

In addition to his work as a politician, Mart Laar is a recognized historian. The focus of his work is the time of the national awakening in the 19th century and the Second World War . In 2005 he received his doctorate in Dr. phil. at the University of Tartu. He was also an advisor to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili .

Private life

Mart Laar is married and has two children.

Honors

Main publications

  • The forgotten war: the armed resistance movement in Estonia 1944-1956 , Grenader, Tallinn (2005), ISBN 994-941176-9 .
  • Estonia in World War II , (2005), ISBN 994-941194-7
  • The Red Terror: Reprisals by the Soviet Occupying Power in Estonia , (2005), ISBN 9949-411-82-3
  • A Tour of Estonian History , (2005), ISBN 9949-411-88-2
  • Aratajad (2005)
  • Emajõgi 1944 (2005)
  • Sinimäed 1944 (2005)
  • The Estonian Economic Miracle (2002)
  • Estonia: little country that could (2002)
  • Eesti uus algus (2002)
  • Back to the future: 10 years of freedom in Central Europe (2001)
  • Eesti Vabadussõda ja Suuritannia 1918 - 1920 (1998)
  • Isamaa ilu hoieldes (1997)
  • Ajalugu 5th class (1997)
  • Teine Eesti: Eesti iseseisvuse taassünd 1986–1991 (1996)
  • Raamat Jakob Hurdast (1995)
  • The challenge for Europe (1994)
  • Metsavennad (1992)
  • Forest Brothers: War in the Woods (1992)
  • June 14, 1941 (anthology, 1990)
  • Kodu lugu (1989)
  • Eesti Leegion sõnas ja pildis (2008)

See also

Web links

Commons : Mart Laar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Office of the Federal President
personal data
SURNAME Laar, Mart
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian politician and historian
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Viljandi