Our People
The Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) has more than 9500 members. We are the 3rd largest political party in Estonia in that regard. We hold 23 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu, the Parliament of Estonia. Six members of our party serve as ministers in the current Government of the Republic of Estonia.
Our party includes 80 heads of municipal administrations and councils; we belong to the ruling coalition in 76 out of 227 municipalities of Estonia.
In the European Parliament, our MEP Tunne Kelam belongs to the EPP Group (the faction that consists of centre and centre-right pro-European political forces). This is the largest faction in the European Parliament, encompassing 264 MEPs of the total 736.
IRL has 14 members' associations, 19 regional organisations and over 100 branches all over Estonia.
The predecessors of Pro Patria and Res Publica Union have been part of four different Republic's Governments in the time after the re-establishment of independence of the Republic of Estonia in August 1991. Prime Ministers Mart Laar (currently an MP and the Chairman of IRL) and Juhan Parts (currently the Minister of Economic Affairs), have led the governments of Estonia for more than 7 years, all together.