President Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia
Ilves was born in Stockholm, Sweden; his parents were Estonian refugees.
Ilves was soon elected chairman of the People's Party (reformed Peasants' Party), which formed an electoral cartel with the Moderates, a centrist party.
In the 2004 elections to the European Parliament, Ilves was elected MEP in a landslide victory for the Estonian Social Democratic Party.
Ilves was nominated by the Reform Party, Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica and his own Social Democratic Party on 23 March 2006, as a candidate for the 2006 presidential election.
On 29 August, Ilves was the only candidate in the second and the third round of the presidential election in Riigikogu, the Parliament of Estonia (he was supported by an electoral coalition consisting of the governing Reform Party plus the Social Democrats and the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica which form the parliamentary opposition.
Ilves has promised to concentrate more on foreign policy; according to Ilves, "The road to Moscow goes via Brussels.
Ilves has severely criticised alleged political pressure exercised by the Centre Party and People's Union leaders over their parliamentary deputies and local politicians.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves has been married twice.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves has a brother, Andres Ilves, head of the Persian and Pashto World Service of the BBC.
Until the early 2000s, Andres Ilves was head of the Afghanistan bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty based in Prague, Czech Republic.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves was born on Saturday, December 26, 1953 in Stockholm and he is a famous head of state from Estonia.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves had studied at Leonia High School, Leonia, NJ (in 1972) and then he attended the BA Psychology, Columbia University (in 1976.
I admit that I am biased, Ilves is a good friend and ex-colleague, whom I have admired for many years.
As a former academic, journalist, diplomatand foreign minister, Ilves has the nack to bring foreign policy alive.
And last but not least: President Ilves was quite outspoken about EU's energy policy.
On Tuesday President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Evelin Ilves received the King of Belgium Albert II and Queen Paola who arrived on a State visit to Estonia.
educated Ilves is likely to reinforce the small Baltic EU member's pro-Western policies and its drive to adopt the EU single currency, the euro.
Ilves was born in Sweden in 1953 to parents who had fled the re-occupation of Estonia by Soviet forces in 1944.
Ilves is in New York for his annual address to the United Nations General Council on September 27, but his visit also includes a stop in Morningside Heights to participate in a discussion one day earlier with President Lee C.
The son of refugees from Soviet-ruled Estonia, Ilves was born in Stockholm in 1953 before emigrating to America with his parents several years later.
Ilves was valedictorian at Leonia H.
Though it has yet to catch on, Ilves says hes determined to try again.
Though Ilves had never been to his parents homeland and would not travel to Estonia until 1984, from an early age he would raptly listen to visiting family friends discuss Estonian politics.
Ilves has applied his Contemporary Civilization readings to Eastern European politics in the wake of Soviet disintegration, citing Politics and The Republic along with his favorite Enlightenment texts as being a vital foundation on which to build a democracy.
But when the communist then-president of Estonia, Arnold Ruutel, came up for reelection in September 2006, it became clear that Ilves was the only realistic opponent.
Ilves lives with his wife, Evelin, and daughters, Juulia Kristine, 15, and Kadri Keiu, 4.
At 53, Ilves is the youngest elected head of state in the European Union.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves was elected President of Estonia in 2006.
Ilves was scheduled to meet Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on April 14 for talks that are.
The road to Moscow goes via Brussels where the EU is headquartered, Ilves has famously asserted, according to the International Herald Tribune.
Ilves was born in 1953 to Estonian parents who had fled a repressive Soviet regime that installed itself in the Baltic nation following World War II.
Four years after he joined Radio Free Europe, Ilves was named head of its Estonian desk, a post he held until 1993.
It became the Peoples Party, which joined with another group, the Moderate Peoples Party, in 1999 to become the Moderate Peoples Party, which Ilves was elected to chair in 2001.
A year later, Ilves was elected to the European Parliament as one of the first wave of official Estonian delegates sworn in when the country became a member state of the European Union.
Ilves has two children from his first marriage to an American psychologist, and a daughter born to his second wife, Evelin Int-Lambot, whom he married in 2004.
Ilves says the conflict has laid to rest the post-Soviet belief that Russia won't attack any other country.
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It is surprising that Toomas Hendrik Ilves was elected in the first round.
When interviewed about this Prime Minister Andrus Ansip (Reform Party, ER), said that the majority support of Estonians to Toomas Hendrik Ilves is vital since 90% of the Grand Electors are Estonians.
52 year-old Toomas Hendrik Ilves was born in Sweden and spent part of his life on the east coast of the USA (New Jersey) where his parents were exiled to escape Estonia's occupation by Soviet troops in 1940.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves has sound international experience speaking Latvian, English, German and Spanish fluently.
In August last when interviewed by an Estonian newspaper Toomas Hendrik Ilves said that if he was elected head of State he would work for greater co-operation between the new members of the EU.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves is seen as someone able to provide transparency and honesty to a country which needs it.
Finally with the upcoming general elections in view next year Rein Toomla, political analyst from the University of Tartu believes it particularly interesting that Mr Ilves has been elected as President since as he stresses himself the rightwing has elected a leftwing president.
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves discusses the dispute over the Soviet memorial in Tallinn, why the Nazis were not necessarily worse than the Soviets, and the ethnic Russians plotting against the Estonian state.
Ilves received 174 votes from the 345-member electoral college, made up of lawmakers and municipal leaders, compared to 162 votes for incumbent Arnold Ruutel, the electoral committee said.
Ilves is a two-time foreign minister and former ambassador to the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Ilves took office in October 2006, but says hes personally proudest of something he helped accomplish before then: getting Estonia into the European Union.
From the Estonian viewpoint, there is no difference between Nazis and Communists, Ilves said at a September ceremony to mark the brief period of independence between Nazi and Soviet occupation.
Ilves says that Russia will have to take full recognition of the Soviet Unions deeds to improve relations between the two countries: If you deny what you did, were going to be very difficult.
Despite his status as president, Ilves says he has virtually no political power.
TALLINN, Estonia, Jan 8 (UPI) -- Estonia and Azerbaijan share several common interests in the area of energy security through corridors to Europe, the Estonian president said Thursday.
President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves places wreath at Memorial on June 25, 2007 (photo by Krister Paris, Eesti Päevaleht.
Ilves was decorated with the Grand Commandeur Legion d'Honneur of the Republic of France.
President Ilves was born on December 26, 1953, in Stockholm, Sweden.