President appoints new ministers
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on Monday appointed Jürgen Ligi (Reform) Minister of Foreign Affairs and Maris Lauri (Reform) Minister of Education and Research.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the fourth ministry Jürgen Ligi gets to run, having previously been defense minister, finance minister, and most recently Maris Lauri’s predecessor as Minister of Education and Research.
For Maris Lauri, hers is the second ministerial post. She served as the country’s finance minister from 2014 to 2015.
Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas (Reform) accompanied the appointees to the Office of the President of the Republic in Kadriorg. Rõivas also handed the president the letter of resignation of former Minister of Foreign Affairs and presidential candidate Marina Kaljurand.
Ligi said that he hoped to be offered advice by the ministry. He pointed out that every one of his ministerial appointments had come out of necessity, and not because he had wanted them. “All my portfolios didn’t come from my dreaming about them, but because others didn’t want them or didn’t accept them. And that’s how it has happened,” Ligi said.
He added that foreign policy was consistently and very strongly supported by diplomacy, where it was possible all the time to ask someone for advice. “There you don’t have the problem that the ministry is somewhere far away and you can’t really tell who knows what. Asking questions is my management style,” Ligi added.
Maris Lauri promised to immediately familiarize with the necessary documents to be in a good position to defend her ministry in the state budget negotiations.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn