After completing his university education, Parts instantly joined the Ministry of Justice. He soon became known as a young, dynamic figure[according to whom?] who wanted to push for reforms. As an ally of Deputy Minister Mihkel Oviir, he was appointed Auditor General in the spring of 1998. He held this office until 2002. From this virtually unimpeachable office, unique in the Estonian Constitution, he frequently criticised the government and became somewhat of a popular figure in Estonian politics.
Political career
Parts became the chairman of a new party, called Res Publica, which he was instrumental in starting. It is a largely technocratic party which can be described as an economically liberal party of young administrators. Res Publica now is a member of the right-of-centre European People's Party organisation.
Prime Minister of Estonia, 2003–2005
In the Riigikogu (Estonian parliament) elections in 2003, Parts surprisingly gained a majority among the right-of-centre parties, and as a result, he was charged to form a new government coalition and became Prime Minister of Estonia. The new government took office on 10 April 2003.
On 24 March 2005, Parts stepped down as prime minister after a vote of no confidence against Minister of JusticeKen-Marti Vaher had passed the Riigikogu. Vaher had established a quota system of how many civil servants had to be prosecuted every year (per county), which is seen as reminiscent of Stalinist purges by many Estonians, a measure that Parts had endorsed.
Parts' term as Prime Minister officially ended on 12 April 2005 when the Riigikogu confirmed his successor Andrus Ansip.
Early in his tenure, Parts unveiled a plan to boost Estonia's cyber security in response to the 2007 cyberattacks targeting websites of Estonian organizations, including Estonian parliament, banks, ministries, newspapers and broadcasters.[3] Under his leadership, the Estonian government opened talks with SAS Group about the future of Estonian Air and did not rule out taking a majority stake in the carrier.[4] Also during his time in office, Estonia and Finland signed a 2014 agreement on building two new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on either side of the Gulf of Finland and a pipeline connecting the two countries.[5]
After calling some members of the Lithuanian government "fools" in a 2014 interview with the Wall Street Journal about the joint Rail Baltic infrastructure project, Parts found himself under heavy fire in both countries.[6]
