Mihkel Oviir

Mihkel Oviir (2009)

Mihkel Oviir (born October 11, 1942 in Märjamaa , today Rapla County ) is an Estonian lawyer.

biography

Mihkel Oviir graduated from high school in Tallinn . He then did his four years of military service in the Soviet Navy . He made his 1975 exam in jurisprudence at the University of Tartu .

Oviir had been employed in the Ministry of Justice of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic since 1972 and worked there for over 30 years. In 1989 he was a founding member of the Estonian Lawyers Association (Eesti Juristide Liit) and its first president. When Estonian regained independence, Mihkel Oviir became State Secretary (kantsler) in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Estonia in 1992 . He held this post for ten years. He then became the deputy of the Estonian Chancellor ( õiguskantsler ), the ombudsman of the Estonian government.

On February 25, 2003, the Estonian Parliament ( Riigikogu ) elected him President of the Estonian Court of Auditors ( riigikontrolör ) at the suggestion of the Estonian President Arnold Rüütel . He succeeded Juhan Parts , who had been elected Prime Minister of Estonia. Oviir's five-year term began on April 1, 2003. In 2008 he was re-elected by parliament.

In January 2008, the German Federal President Horst Köhler awarded him the Great Federal Cross of Merit .

Private life

Mihkel Oviir is married to the Estonian politician and MEP Siiri Oviir . The couple has three daughters. His daughter Liisa Oviir (* 1977) was Minister for Foreign Trade and Entrepreneurship of the Republic of Estonia from September 2015 to November 2016.

Web links

• CV (Estonian Court of Auditors)