Urmas Reinsalu

Early life and education

Reinsalu was born in Tallinn on 22 June 1975. He graduated from the Tallinn Secondary School No. 37 and studied law at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1997.

Political career

From 1996 to 1997, Reinsalu worked as a specialist in public law in the Ministry of Justice and as an advisor to then Estonian President from 1996 to 1998. In 1998, Reinsalu was appointed Director of the Office of the President of Estonia when Lennart Meri was in office. From 2001 to 2002, he worked as the political secretary of the Res Publica Party. From 2002 to 2003, Reinsalu was a lecturer in the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences.

From 2007 to 2013, Reinsalu was a member of the Riigikogu. On 28 January 2012, Reinsalu became the chairman of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, replacing Mart Laar. He elected chairman with an absolute majority in the first round of voting at the party congress held in Tallinn.

On 11 May 2012, Reinsalu was appointed Minister of Defence, replacing Mart Laar who resigned from office due to health reasons. Reinsalu's term as the Minister of Defence ended on 26 March 2014, when he was replaced by Sven Mikser. From 2014 to 2015, he was a member of the Riigikogu.

In the 2015 parliamentary election, Reinsalu was re-elected to the Riigikogu with 2,949 individual votes. On 9 April 2015, Reinsalu became the Minister of Justice in Taavi Rõivas' second cabinet.

As the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union was the biggest loser in the elections with 9 seats lost, Reinsalu announced he would resign as party chairman after the party's congress in June. On 6 June 2015, he was replaced by Margus Tsahkna.

Personal life

Reinsalu is married and has two children. He is fluent in English, German, Russian and Finnish.