Position: Prime Minister of Estonia
Incumbent: Andrus Ansip
Date of birth: Oct. 1, 1956
Key Facts:
-- Ansip first became prime minister in 2005 after rising to the top of the centre-right Reform Party and after a period as economics minister and mayor of southern town Tartu.
-- He went on to win a 2007 election and formed a coalition government with another centre-right party. Ahead of the next general election expected in March 2011, the Reform Party is leading opinion polls.
-- Ansip at first promised more tax cuts for Estonians, but the onset of the global crisis in 2008 forced him to oversee wide cuts in spending in order to have Estonia meet the terms of entry into the euro zone.
-- Estonia eventually met the terms of euro entry and became the 17th member of the single currency bloc on January 1.
-- Ansip is a centre-right liberal who has promised to keep Estonia on a fiscally conservative path after euro entry.