Estonia’s Kersti Kaljulaid, a non-aligned EU auditor and trained biologist, was sworn in yesterday as the first female president of the tech-savvy Baltic state.
The 46-year-old takes over the largely ceremonial role as the Nato and eurozone nation gears up to hold the EU’s rotating presidency next July.
“Our main concern will always be security,” she told parliament as regional concerns grow over a resurgent Russia. “Many processes that cause us anxiety, to put it mildly, take place in our immediate neighbourhood.”
Moscow jangled nerves in this Baltic eurozone state at the weekend with its latest deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to its nearby Kaliningrad exclave.
Concerns about Russia have surged in Estonia and its Baltic neighbours Lithuania and Latvia – all members of Nato since 2004 – following Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Kaljulaid was elected by parliament last week as a dark horse candidate after a month-long political stalemate during which other contenders failed to garner enough support.
The head of state in the country of 1.3mn people is elected by parliament or electoral college rather than by direct public vote.
As Estonia’s fourth president since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kaljulaid succeeds Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who was known for his sharp tongue and fondness of bow ties.
Estonia’s head of state gives legislation its final seal of approval after checking its constitutionality.