Kristiina Ojuland

Kristiina Ojuland
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 28 January 2002 – 8 February 2005
Prime Minister	Siim Kallas Juhan Parts
Preceded by	Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Succeeded by	Rein Lang
Personal details
Born	(1966-12-17) 17 December 1966 Kohtla-Järve, Estonia
Political party	Reform Party, People's Unity Party

Kristiina Ojuland (born 17 December 1966 in Kohtla-Järve, Estonia) is an Estonian politician. She was the Foreign Minister of Estonia from 2002 through 2005. In June 2004 she ran for the post of secretary-general of the Council of Europe, but was defeated, receiving 51 of 299 votes. She was a member of the Estonian Reform Party from 1995 till 5 June 2013 and from 2009 to 2014 she served as one of the six Estonian MEPs in the European parliament. She was expelled from the Reform Party because of alleged vote rigging on 5 June 2013.^[1][2] She later founded the People's Unity Party, which failed to cross the 5% barrier in the 2015 parliamentary election.

She is a member of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group.^[3]

Education

In 1990 she received her LL.B. from University of Tartu. In 1992 she graduated from the Estonian School of Diplomacy in Tallinn and attended the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva special program. In 1993 she attended the Vienna School of International Studies, special program.

Career

Between 1990 and 1992 Ojuland worked in the Draft Legislation Department of the Estonian Ministry of Justice. She moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992 to work on affairs related to the Council of Europe, and she was promoted to be Estonia's Permanent Representative to the Council in 1993, a post she held for one year, before moving to become Director of the Estonian Broadcasting Association.^[4]

In 1994 she moved into politics, becoming a member of the Riigikogu and the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as chair of the Estonian-French parliamentary friendship group from 1996. She joined the Estonian Reform Party in 1995, becoming their Foreign Affairs Spokesperson. With the party's affiliation to the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR), she rose to the post of Vice President in 1999, as well as Leader of the LDR group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), to which she had been head of the Estonian Parliamentary Delegation since 1996.^[4]

From 2002 to 2005 Ojuland was the Estonian minister of foreign affairs, and she chaired the European Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu from 2004-07. She was the first vice-speaker of the parliament from 2007 to 2009, at which point she became a Member of the European Parliament for the ALDE. From 2007 to 2014 she was the Vice President of the ELDR and Vice-chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.^[4]

Kristiina Ojuland in 2004.

Decorations

• Commander of the Legion of Honour (France)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Infante D. Henrique (Portugal)
• The Order of the National Coat of Arms 5th class (Estonia)
• Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria (2007) ^[5]
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Georgia (2 February 2014)^[6]

Other

In 2007, Ojuland participated as a celebrity contestant on the second season of Tantsud tähtedega, an Estonian version of Dancing with the Stars. Her professional dancing partner was Aleksandr Makarov.

Personal life

From 1987 to 2000, Ojuland was married to Erik Siigur.^[7] Her current partner of seven years is Estonian businessman Raimo Kägu.^[8]

References

• BBC report on sacking