Gallery: President appoints Raul Siem minister of IT, foreign trade
President Kersti Kaljulaid appointed the Conservative People's Party of Estonia's (EKRE) candidate for Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology Raul Siem to ministerial office on Monday.
Siem went to Kadriorg to meet Kaljulaid with Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center Party), who was wearing a white face mask. Kaljulaid also wore a face mask during the meeting.
On Friday, EKRE announced it would recall Kaimar Karu, the then-minister. Ratas then submitted a proposal to Kaljulaid to release Karu from office and appoint Siem in his place.
Karu, an expert in IT, disagreed with EKRE's views in a number of areas, including proposed amendments to immigration laws and stepped into the role last November. He is not a member of the party.
Siem is a member of the party and a former adviser to party chairman and Minister of the Interior Mart Helme. He said he would take the party's views into consideration when making decisions in an interview on Monday.
Siem will be the fourth minister EKRE has appointed to the IT and foreign trade position in 13 months.
Last week Ratas and the government said people should start wearing face masks in public to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
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Editor: Helen Wright