Estonia’s ruling party taps climate minister for the Baltic country’s top job

Associated Press

HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s ruling center-right Reform Party has chosen Climate Minister Kristen Michal to replace outgoing leader Kaja Kallas as prime minister of the Baltic country. The unanimous decision to nominate Michal was made Saturday following a closed-door meeting by the party’s governing board, only two days after the European Union tapped Kallas to become the bloc’s new foreign policy chief. Kallas has proposed an extraordinary party meeting to elect her replacement as a party chairman on July 14 and 48-year-old Michal, a former economics and justice minister, is expected to take over after his main rival former prime Minister Hanno Pevkur bowed out on Friday.