Ansip: I’m not going anywhere

  • 2014-01-08
  • From wire report

SEATED: Andrus Ansip not speculating on future

TALLINN - Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told Postimees in an end-of-the-year interview that after leaving the post of prime minister, he intends to continue working as a politician since it would be a “sin not to use his experiences for the good of the state.”
“The Estonian state has invested quite a lot in me. It wouldn’t be right to withdraw to private business, for example, with that set of knowledge and network of connections [I have]. I have no such plan. I intend to remain in Estonian politics,” said Ansip.

“I don’t worry too much about what would happen to me after I leave the post of the prime minister, as I am sure that I will find a use that is good for the Estonian state,” he added.
Ansip didn’t wish to reveal whether he could be the next Estonian European Commissioner, to replace Siim Kallas who has said that he won’t be running for the Commissioner’s job again. “There is a long road, still. The government will decide after the European parliament elections who will become the Estonian European Commissioner. It is too early to speculate about that now,” highlighted the prime minister.

He didn’t rule out the possibility that the European Parliament elections could change the government, either. “It depends on who of the government members plans to compete in the elections,” said Ansip.
“The Reform Party has to pick its prime ministerial candidate for the next Riigikogu elections after the European Parliament elections. This step will certainly be taken, but it doesn’t have to mean that the government would have to be replaced.”

Reform Party chairman Ansip first became Estonia’s prime minister in April 2005, and has said that he won’t be heading the next government, even if his party wins the elections.