Igor Gräzin Explained

Igor Gräzin
Party:Independent (1990-1991, 2019-2022, 2024-present)
Otherparty:Estonian Communist Party (1975-1990)
Republican Party (US) (1991-2002)
Reform Party (Estonia) (1994-2019)
Centre Party (Estonia) (2022-2024)
Citizenship:Estonia
Birth Date: 27 June 1952
Birth Place:Tartu, Estonia
Title3:Member of the Riigikogu
Termstart3:12 April 2005
Termend3:5 September 2018
Termstart4:11 March 1995
Termend4:13 March 1999
Termend5:1991
Termstart5:1989
Title5:Member of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Title2:Member of the European Parliament
Termstart2:5 September 2018
Termend2:1 July 2019
Title1:Member of the Tallinn City Council
Termstart1:November 2021

Igor Gräzin (born 27 June 1952 in Tartu) is an Estonian academic and politician currently serving as a member of the Tallinn City Council. He is a former member of Riigikogu and former Member of the European Parliament. Currently sitting as an independent city councillor, he was former affiliated with the Reform Party until 2019 and the Centre Party until 2024.

Academic Career

Grazin began his career as a professor of law at Tartu State University. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union he taught at the University of Notre Dame in the United States until 2000, after that at the University Nord in Tallinn (as the Dean of the Law School and the Vice President). He has also served as a research fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C.

Political Career

Grazin was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1989 as a candidate of the Popular Front of Estonia and served until its dissolution in 1991.

Political views

Proposed restoring the Estonian maritime border to where it was before 1993, allowing Estonian access to the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

He opposed the decision to sentence Saddam Hussein to death without a jury.[1]

An Eurosceptic, he was a dissenting voice in the strongly pro-EU Reform Party. He was the only member of Riigikogu to vote against ratifying the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.[2]

He supports abolishing the Estonian presidency and implementing a bicameral legislature with 80 members in the lower house and 40 in the upper house.[3]

Personal life

He is functionally trilingual in Estonian, English, and Russian.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kättemaks Iraagi moodi . 2024-04-02 . www.ohtuleht.ee . et.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20070312132055/http://web.riigikogu.ee/ems/plsql/minfo.votes_by_nr?dt=09.05.2006&nr=9 Hääletustulemused
  3. Web site: 2023-08-08 . IGOR GRÄZIN ⟩ Kaotame presidendi ja loome riigikogusse senati ning alamkoja . 2024-04-02 . Arvamus . et.