Riga, Oct 13. (dpa/GNA) – Ülle Madise has been sworn in as the president of the EU and NATO member state Estonia.
The 51-year-old lawyer took the oath of office at a ceremony at the parliament in Tallinn on Monday. She succeeds Alar Karis, who decided not to stand for a second five-year term and did not seek re-election.
Madise is the sixth head of state of the small Baltic nation, since it regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
She is Estonia’s second female president after Kersti Kaljulaid, who held the country’s highest office, a role primarily of a ceremonial nature, from 2016 to 2021.
Madise intends to maintain Estonia’s clear Western orientation and its support for Ukraine, as it defends itself against Russia’s invasion.
In her speech at the swearing-in ceremony, the new president called on the country’s 1.2 million inhabitants not to let fear or hopelessness take hold, despite the serious times and the “unpredictable and dangerous” world surrounding Estonia.
Due to its location on NATO’s eastern flank, Estonia is particularly vulnerable and feels threatened by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
The Baltic state is a close partner and supporter of Kiev.
Madise, who is independent of any political party, was elected to the highest office in the Baltic republic at the beginning of September.
She worked for many years as a professor of law at Tallinn University of Technology and at the University of Tartu.
GNA