Siim Kallas strives to lead European liberals
Siim Kallas, former prime minister of Estonia and EU commissioner, is running for ALDE Party President.
ALDE, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, will elect a new president on November 21, so Kallas has a month to campaign among party functionaries.
Kallas is running against Hans van Baalen from Netherlands and must secure the favor of more than half of the 488 delegates from 43 parties and the association's youth organization.
Kallas was nominated by Estonian Prime Minister and Reform Party Chairman Taavi Rõivas. His campaign slogan will be called "A united liberal vision for a stronger Europe.”
"As a former prime minister and EU commissioner, Siim Kallas has a strong background in international relations, so he's definitely a worthy candidate," Rõivas explained the decision.
ALDE is the third largest European-wide political party represented in European Union institutions, with 70 MEPs and 5 members of the European Commission. Of the 28 EU member states, there are seven with ALDE-affiliated Prime Ministers: Xavier Bettel in Luxembourg, Charles Michel in Belgium, Taavi Rõivas in Estonia, Miro Cerar in Slovenia, Juha Sipilä in Finland, Mark Rutte in the Netherlands and Lars Løkke Rasmussen in Denmark.
Editor: M. Oll