European Parliament President Roberta Metsola paid tribute to former Estonian Prime Minister and European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas following the news of his death which was announced by the EU’s high commissioner, Kaja Kallas.
“It is with sadness that I must announce that my dear father, Siim Kallas, passed away last night, I am thinking of the courage it took to build the state and introduce our own currency in the early 1990s, and the quiet conviction he brought with him to Brussels years later. Estonia and Europe are better off because of his life’s work.” — posted EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas on Instagram.
The European Commission has also expressed its condolences and paid tribute to the Kallas family.
Siim Kallas, born in 1948, was also an economist. He served as the President of the Bank of Estonia (Eesti Pank) from 1991 to 1995, where he helped create the national currency, the kroon. He later served as Prime Minister of Estonia and European Commissioner for Transport and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2010 to 2014.
