Siim Valmar Kiisler (born 6 November 1965) is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, a member of the

Parempoolsed Erakond Parempoolsed () is a self-declared economically liberal political party in Estonia. The party has no representation in the parliament. History The party was formed in August 2022, mostly by a group of former members of the Isamaa pa ...

, former member of

Isamaa Isamaa () is a Christian democratic and national conservative political party in Estonia. It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res ...

(Pro Patria and Res Publica Union).

Personal life

In 1984, he finished his

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, and attended the

Tallinn University of Technology Established in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech; ) is the only Institute of technology, technical university in Estonia. TalTech, in the capital city of Tallinn, is a university for engineering, business, public administration a ...

. Seven years later, he received his degree in automated control systems. He was president of the advisory council of the company ''Glacier Eesti AS'' between 1995 and 2003. Married, he is the father of four boys (Taavi Kalle, Heiki Rein, Mati Kalev, Arti Tanel) and a girl (Mari Helmi). He speaks

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

, English,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, and Finnish.

Political career

He was elected to the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

in 1999. In the same year, Siim-Valmer Kiisler became the governor of the Kesklinn district in Tallinn for two years. Reelected to the

in 2002, he left in 2003, to seek election as an MP in the ''

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (, from Estonian ''riigi-'', "of the state", and ''kogu'', "assembly") is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the prime minister and chi ...

''. He was elected until 2005, and again between 2006 and 2007. He was first a member of the

Res Publica ', also spelled ''rēs pūblica'' to indicate vowel length, is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning "public affair". It is the root of the ''republic'', and '' commonwealth'' has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however, translations var ...

party, which led the parliamentary group, and then joined the

Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica Isamaa () is a Christian democratic and national conservative political party in Estonia. It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res ...

(IRL). He was re-elected to the ''Riigikogu'' on 4 March 2007, and named Vice-Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, under

Juhan Parts Juhan Parts ((, born 27 August 1966) is an Estonian politician who was Prime Minister of Estonia from 2003 to 2005 and Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications from 2007 to 2014. Juhan Parts is a member of Isamaa party. Education Born ...

. On 23 January 2008, Siim-Valmar Kiisler became Minister of Regional Affairs in the second cabinet of Andrus Ansip. He continued in the same capacity also in the third cabinet of Andrus Ansip that was in office until 26 March 2014. After the 2015 election, Kiisler became deputy group chairman of his party in the ''Riigikogu'' in 2016. On 12 June 2017, he was appointed Minister of the Environment in Ratas' first cabinet as the successor to Marko Pomerants. In the 2019 parliamentary election, he only received 379 votes and did not win re-election. It was only through the death of his party colleague Mart Nutt that Kiisler returned to the government in June 2019. After the resignation of Ratas' second cabinet, had to leave the government, receiving nearly €26,000 in compensation. In March 2022, the board of Isamaa expelled Kiisler from the party. He later joined the Parempoolsed party as its only member in ''Riigikogu''.

References

External links

*
Biography on official site of the Estonian government
*
Biography on the official site of the Estonian Ministry of the Interior
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiisler, Siim-Valmar 1965 births Living people Politicians from Tallinn Res Publica Party politicians Isamaa politicians Government ministers of Estonia Members of the Riigikogu, 2003–2007 Members of the Riigikogu, 2011–2015 Members of the Riigikogu, 2015–2019 Members of the Riigikogu, 2019–2023 Tallinn University of Technology alumni