Short bio Born: Political career:
7 April 1940 Minister of Social Affairs 1992 - 1994 Member of Parliament 1992, 1994 - 1995, 1999 - 2003
Political Group in the European Parliament: Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament
Tunne Kelam 18,767 votes Running as the leading member of the right-wing conservative Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica, Tunne Kelam is a grand old man of Estonian politics. One of Tunne Kelam’s first political acts was the memorandum he sent to the United Nations in 1972, demanding an end to the Soviet occupation of Estonia and the restoration of Estonia’s independence. He entered the public political arena at the end of the 1980s during perestroika. After the restoration of Estonia’s independence, Kelam was an MP for four terms. For eleven years he has been the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and, in the early 2000s, spent three years leading the predecessor of his current party, the Pro Patria Union. Therefore, it is not surprising that Kelam’s political career continued in Brussels as Estonia joined the European Union. Tunne Kelam is the only Estonian politician who has been elected to the European Parliament in all three elections in which Estonians have participated. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Subcommittee of Security and Defence, and a substitute member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Tunne Kelam’s fields of activity include the EU’S foreign and defence policy, as well as employment-related issues. He is a standing member of the European Parliament’s Delegation of Relations with the United States. In addition, he is a substitute member of the Delegation for Relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and Delegation for Relations with Iraq. Kelam speaks seven foreign languages: English, Finnish, French, Russian, Polish, Italian and Ger-
Short bio man. One of his hobbies is bringing European art-house cinema to Estonia.
Born: Political career:
Marju Lauristin 26,868 votes The leading vote-getter of the Social Democrats, Marju Lauristin has made a comeback in politics during these elections. Lauristin has been well-known in Estonian politics for years, and in the early 1990s she held one of the most difficult ministerial positions in the then young Estonian government: Minister of Social Affairs. But for the last decade she has not been active in politics. Instead Lauristin has been teaching students in her home-town of Tartu and has participated in numerous socio-analytical projects. For example, she has been one of the key people behind the annual Estonian Human Development Report. In the Department of Journalism at the University of Tartu, Lauristin (or Marjustin as she is affectionately called by students) has been a legendary teacher for decades. Independent of her political background, Lauristin’s socio-critical opinion pieces and analyses are truly valued in Estonian media. It is hard to find another person whose opinions carry the same weight. After the elections, Postimees, the most read daily newspaper in Estonia, called the decision taken by the Social Democratic Party to have Lauristin as its top candidate a clever move. “She made people who normally do not vote for Social Democrats give their votes to the party. Estonia now has an MEP who is able to think about and speak on topics important for the future of Europe,” wrote Postimees.
10 July 1936 Member of the European Parliament 2004 Vice President of the Estonian Parliament 1992 - 1995, 1996 - 2003
Political Group in the European Parliament: Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats)
For the journalism and other students of the University of Tartu, it is of course a painful loss to have their highly valued lecturer move from Tartu to Brussels.
SUMMER 2014
I LIFE IN ESTONIA
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