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Toomas Hendrik Ilves (born December 26, 1953) is an Estonian diplomat, politician, and journalist. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament and a member and former leader of the Social Democratic Party.
Childhood and Education
Ilves was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He grew up in the United States, graduating from Leonia High School. He attended and received degrees in psychology from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Career
In the 1980s, Ilves worked as a journalist for Radio Free Europe and became actively involved in politics prior to Estonia's independence in 1991. Ilves subsequently served as the ambassador of Estonia to the United States for several years.
In December 1996, Ilves became Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, serving until resignation in September 1998, as a member of a small opposition party (People's Party, agrarian-conservative). Ilves was soon elected chairman of the People's Party, which formed an electoral cartel with Moderates, a centrist party. After the March 1999 parliamentary election he became foreign minister again, serving until 2002. He supported Estonian membership in the European Union and succeeded in starting the negotiations which led to Estonia joining the European Union on May 1, 2004. In 2001-2002 he was the leader of the People's Party Moderates. He resigned from the position after the party's defeat in the October 2002 municipal elections, in which the party received only 4.4% of the total votes nationwide. The Moderates party was then renamed the Social Democratic Party.
In 2003, Ilves became a member of the European Parliament and, since May 1, 2004, a full member. In the 2004 elections of the European Parliament, Ilves was elected MEP in a landslide victory for the Estonian Social Democratic Party. He sits with the Party of European Socialists group in the Parliament.
On 23 March, 2006, Ilves was nominated by the Reform Party and his own Social Democratic Party as a candidate for the 2006 presidential election in October.
External link
| Preceded bySiim Kallas | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1996 - 1998 |
Succeeded byRaul Mälk |
| Preceded byRaul Mälk | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1999 - 2002 |
Succeeded byKristiina Ojuland |