Background
Michal was born in Tallinn on 2 July 1975.
Michal was born in Tallinn on 2 July 1975.
He studied law at Academy Nord and graduated in 2009.
He is Estonia"s minister of economic affairs and infrastructure. He also served as minister of justice from 2011 to 2012. He has been pursuing master"s study in law at Tallinn University"s Law School since 2009.
Michal worked as an advisor at different levels for the Reform Party from 1996 to 2002.
He became an advisor to then prime minister Siim Kallas in 2002. Michal served as the Elder of the Tallinn City Centre for one year (2002-2003).
In 2003, he was named as the secretary general of the Estonian Reform Party and held this post until 2011. He was appointed minister of justice on 6 April 2011, replacing another Reform Party member Rein Language.
Michal"s term ended on 10th of December 2012 when he resigned from office.
He was replaced by Hanno Pevkur as Minister of Justice. Since April 8th, 2015 he serves as the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure. 2015 Parliamentary elections brought Michal a personal record of votes and a strong mandate from the people.
Therefore Michal was also included in the new government as the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure.
Under his leadership the government has planned to relocate the Competition Authority from the Ministry of Economics to the Ministry of Justice and bring the natural resources management under the Ministry of Economics. In transport, the main focus will be on Rail Baltic - finalizing the route and starting construction.
Energy sector will focus on connecting the gas network with Central-Europe and increasing the share of renewable energy in energy consumption. Also, increasing energy efficiency among companies.
In the field of Information Technology, the ministry will create new e-services and continue with the e-residency programme.
One of broader goals is to re-structure the policy for government owned companies. Controversy
He further argued that Michal was informed about these donations. Both Michal and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip denied these allegations.
However, upon these accusations, the delegates from the Council of Europe"s GRECO anti-corruption watchdog visited the country in June 2012.
On 31 July 2012, the Estonian State Prosecutor" General’ s Office announced that Michal and Kalev Lillo, another Reform Party member, were suspects of this event and that they both had been interrogated. Michal was investigated on accusations of money laundering and illegal party financing.
On 10 September 2012, the first day of parliamentary session, the Social Democratic Party"s faction started a petition process for the resignation of Michal through a vote of no confidence. However, petition failed on 19 September 2012 when the party gave up the process.
Michal announced that if he would be found guilty, he would resign from his post.
Estonian State Prosecutor" General’ s Office closed the case on 15 October 2012. On 15 October 2012, the prosecutor general closed the investigation. Back then prosecutor Heli Sepp stated that the investigation was concluded with no evidence supporting the accusations.
13th Riigikogu; 12th Riigikogu. 11th Riigikogu; 10th Riigikogu]
Michal has been a member of the Riigikogu from 2005-2011 and 2012-2015. In May 2012, it was claimed by Silver Meikar, a Reform Party member and a former member of parliament, that the Reform Party had received donations from dubious sources for years.