The Ultimate Tiit Vähi Dog Breeds Information Guide and Reference

Tiit Vähi (10 January 1947 - ), was an Estonian politician, as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1995 to 1997, and as acting Prime Minister for several months during 1992 under the transitional government.

Born in Valga, Estonia, Vähi graduated from the Tallinn Technical University with a degree in Engineering. From the time of his graduation till 1992 he served in several top managerial post with the Valga Trucking Company.

During the Estonian national independence movement, Vähi was among the organisers of the Estonian Popular Front , and led its regional committee in Valga County. In 1989 he was appointed Minister for Transport and Communications , a post that he held until January 1992. During his tenure as Transport Minister, he forged close ties with the transport ministries of the Nordic countries and improved relations with the other two Baltic States on transport related issues. He transferred control of Estonia’s airports, railways and sea ports, under the control Moscow, to the Estonian authorities.

Shortly after Estonia’s return to independence in 1991, Vähi was appointed as the Government’s special representative to north-eastern Estonia, a region inhabited by a majority of ethnic Russians.

On 30 January 1992, Vähi became the second Prime Minister of Estonia during it's post Soviet occupation era, succeeding Edgar Savisaar. During this first stint as Prime Minister he embarked upon a vast programme to transform the country’s economy form it being centrally controlled into a more free market economy. His government also introduced the Estonian currency, the Kroon, in June 1992. He also founded the Estonian Privatisation Agency , which embarked on the privatization of government owned assets to the private sector.

As agreed when he assumed Prime Minister post of the transition government, Vähi did not participate in the parliamentary elections on 20 September 1992.

In 1993, he was elected Chairman of the Estonian Coalition Party . The parliamentary elections of March 1995 gave victory to the KMÜ coalition, comprising the Estonian Coalition Party and the Union of Estonian Peoples’ Parties. As leader of the Estonian Coalition Party, Vähi was asked by President Lennart Meri to form a government. Appointed Prime Minister for the second time in his career, he formed a coalition government of the KMÜ and the Estonian Centre Party, which was sworn in on 17 April 1995.

His second term as Prime Minister would be a rocky one. On October 11, 1995 several minister would resign from the cabinet, causing the Estonian Center Party to withdraw from the government coalition with the coalition party. On November 7, 1995 Vähi would reform the government this time with the help of the Estonian Reform Party. This collation would only last under a year, when on November 20 1996 six ministers including then Foreign Minister Siim Kallas resign, causing a collapse of the collation of the Coalition Party and the Reform Party. December 1, 1996 Vähi would once again re-form his government, but this time only using members of his own party, thus greatly reducing it's power to keep the government. On February 7 1995 Vähi survives a no-confidence vote by 46 votes to 45. Feeling pressure from within his own party and from the possibility of more votes of no confidence from the Riigikogu, on February 25 1995 Vähi would resigns. Three days later, on February 27, President Lennart Meri names Mart Siimann as the new prime minister. By 2001 the Estonian Coalition Party, the party that Vähi helped formed and presided over government in Estonia from 1995 to 1999, disbanded.

Categories: 1947 births | Prime Ministers of Estonia