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Rein Lang (born July 4 1957 in Tartu, Estonia) is an Estonian politician, a member of the Estonian Reform Party since 1995, and a diplomat. He is currently serving as the Minister of Justice.

Childhood and education

Lang's father was appointed to work at the Soviet embassy in Helsinki. Consequently, Rein Lang grew partly up in Finland, becoming a fluent speaker of Finnish. He has championed Finnish-Estonian relations. Lang got the basic and highschool education in Tallinn English College (then known as 7th Highscool of Tallinn) and graduated cum laude from University of Tartu in 1980, acquiring a degree in law.

Family

Lang is in an open marriage with Ulvi Kuusk, whom he met in 1979, and has a teenage (as of 2007) daughter.

Careers

Legal career

In 1980–1983, Rein Lang belonged to Injurkollegija, a specialised attorney organisation for foreign legal relations of the USSR. This was his first job after graduation.

Rein Lang participated in Constitutional Assembly of Republic of Estonia (Template:Lang-et) tasked to write the Constitution of Estonia enacted in 1992.

Business career

In late years of the Soviet Union — since 1986 —, Lang worked in the entertainment business. He has been a deputy director of the Linnahall and in 1989 became a deputy director of club 'Muusik' (Estonian for 'Musician'). In 1990, he became CEO of AS Laulusillad (Estonian for Song Bridges), and in 1991–2001 served at various positions in AS TRIO, along with Hans H. Luik establishing and running the first politically independent radio station in post-Soviet Estonia, Radio Kuku. Over the next several years, Lang launched two more radio stations, Radio Uuno, a music-only radio station, and the Russian language Radio Tallinn (later renamed Radio 100). In 2002, Lang and Luik sold their radio interest to their then co-partner from the United States, Metromedia International Group Inc.

Media career

In Radio Kuku, Lang regularly appeared in talkshows, ending up gaining considerable reputation as a political commentator. His most popular programme, the weekly 'Midday Hour' (Template:Lang-et), has become legendary, and a subject of a number of jokes mostly associated with Valdo Jahilo. 'State of the state' (Template:Lang-et) was also popular.

Political career

Following his departure from the media business, Lang served as deputy mayor of Tallinn in 2001–2003 and as a member of Riigikogu in 2003–2005. He served as the Deputy Speaker of Riigikogu and Chairman of its European Affairs Committee. In 2005, Lang was the minister of Foreign Affairs for two months, from February to April. With the resignation of Juhan Parts, the prime minister at that time, a new cabinet was proposed by Andrus Ansip; there, Lang would serve as the Minister of Justice, a position he officially took when the new cabinet took an oath on April 12, 2005.

Press Enemy of 2004

In 2004, the Estonian Newspaper Association (Template:Lang-et) consensually titled Lang 'Year's Press Enemy'. The explanation provided in the press release cited Lang's snobbish attitude towards press, exemplified by an email response in which Lang asked a county newspaper's correspondent to "not bother" him with any more requests for information. Lang has disputed this characterisation, and implied that Toomas Leito, leader of the Estonian Newspaper Association, was following a policy of But you are lynching Negroes.

Controversial "Delfi bill"

In autumn of 2005, Lang initiated a bill that would have allowed penalising web portals for anonymous commentary left by their visitors. The bill, nicknamed "Delfi bill" (Template:Lang-et) after an Estonian web portal commonly associated with poorly thought out and scatological commentary, was widely criticised and ended up rejected by Riigikogu. Among other concerns, critics commonly pointed out that Delfi belonged to a media concern competing with AS TRIO, and questioned the minister's neutrality.

The Ministry of Culture can only be tidied up by a grenade, thrown in through its window.

Birthday party controversy

On July 4, 2007, Rein Lang celebrated his 50th birthday at a beer restaurant in Tartu, Estonia. The party featured a performance of the play Adolf, an award-winning anti-fascist drama by Pip Utton. Lang had asked the guests to come in period costumes, however pointing out that the event had not been intended as a fancy dress party; specifically, guests wouldn't be expected to arrive in uniforms or bearing Nazi symbols.

Russian media spun this event as the minister "decorating his birthday with swastikas". This distortion was widely pointed out by Estonian media.. The Nochnoy Dozor group has in Russian media made calls for the Minister of Justice to resign over the event. Estonian oppositional politicians criticized Lang for giving hostile Russian media an opportunity to associate Estonia with alleged pro-Nazi sentiments. In an explanatory opinion article, Lang stated "The Republic of Estonia has condemned Nazi crimes and my birthday was attended by people who, without exception, despise fascism." Trivimi Velliste, speaking on TV3, called Russian media's distorted coverage of this incident a case of psychological warfare.

Opinions on situation in road traffic

On July 18, 2007 Rein Lang and Estonia's Minister of Internal Affairs Jüri Pihl agreed upon a new package of legislation amendments, introducing harder sanctions for drunk driving and other road traffic related offenses. On August 3, Lang announced that, being a liberal, he condemned the tendency to demand more sanctions and restrictions.

Constitution anniversary beer

On August 9, 2007 an Estonian brewery A. Le Coq announced that in co-operation with Estonian Ministry of Justice they would launch "Constitution Pilsner" (Põhiseaduse Pilsner), dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Estonian Constitution (active from July 3, 1992). Rein Lang stated that the idea was to attract more public and media attention to the Constitution.

External links

• Official blog, sponsored by the Estonian Reform Party
• A news item by Rossiya, the national TV channel of Russian Federation.

References

1. ^ http://www.just.ee/minister
2. Postimees February 22, 2005: Soome ajaleht: Lang on «kõva pähkel»
3. Äripäev 2 February 2007: Rein Lang — Lapsesuu või PR-guru?
4. ^ Eesti Päevaleht 30 June 2007: Rein Lang (50)
5. Estonian Newspaper Association 10 December 2004: Pressisõber on Marko Pomerants, pressivaenlane Rein Lang
6. Postimees 8 January 2005: Liberaalne Molekul, interview by Priit Pullerits
7. delfi.ee November 1, 2005: Sõnavabadus internetis ohus
8. Keskpäevatund, quoted in Sõnavabadus internetis ohus
9. ^ Eesti Ekspress July 4, 2007: Langi juubelil "Adolf" by Alan Proosa
10. Pip Utton, describing the play on a promotional website.
11. ^ Eesti Päevaleht July 9, 2007: REIN LANG: Mis siis tegelikult toimus?
12. ^ Postimees July 6, 2007: Rein Langi juubelipidu äratas huvi Vene meedias
13. Eesti Päevaleht July 6, 2007: Vene meedia haaras Rein Langi sünnipäeva mõnuga hambusse, edited by Tuuli Aug
14. ITAR-TASS July 5, 2007: Estonian minister marks jubilee under aegis of Nazi Swastika
15. Postimees 28 July 2007: TV3: vabadusvõitlejate kokkutulekut jälgis RTRi võttegrupp

• 1957 births
• Living people
• Estonian politicians
• University of Tartu alumni
• People from Tartu
• Estonian businesspeople
• Estonian ministers
• Russian accusations of Nazism in Estonia
• Psychological warfare