President Jean-Claude Juncker Spouse Arija Dombrovska Preceded by Ivars Godmanis Party Unity | Preceded by Gundars Berzins Succeeded by Laimdota Straujuma Name Valdis Dombrovskis | |
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Preceded by Jyrki Katainen (Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro) President Valdis Zatlers
Andris Berzins Born 5 August 1971 (age 52)
Riga, Latvia ( 1971-08-05 ) Political party New Era Party (2002–2011)
Unity (2011–present) Role Former Prime Minister of Latvia Previous office Prime Minister of Latvia (2009–2014) Books How Latvia Came Through the Financial Crisis Education University of Latvia (1996), Riga Technical University (1995), A. James Clark School of Engineering Profiles | ||
Bbc hardtalk valdis dombrovskis prime minister of latvia 1 7 13
Valdis Dombrovskis (born 5 August 1971) is a Latvian politician and the current European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue as well as a Vice-President of the European Commission, serving since November 2014. He served as Prime Minister of Latvia from 2009 until 2014, when he resigned. He served as Minister of Finance from 2002 to 2004 and was a Member of the European Parliament for the New Era Party. Following the resignation of Jonathan Hill, it was announced that Dombrovskis will take over the portfolio for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union from 16 July 2016.
Contents
- Bbc hardtalk valdis dombrovskis prime minister of latvia 1 7 13
- Latvian prime minister valdis dombrovskis resigns in wake of supermarket tragedy
- Education and science career
- Political activity
- Resignation
- References
Latvian prime minister valdis dombrovskis resigns in wake of supermarket tragedy
Education and science career
Born in Riga to a family with Polish roots (the original Polish surname is Dąbrowski), Dombrovskis earned a bachelor's degree in economics for engineers from Riga Technical University in 1995 and a master's degree in physics from the University of Latvia in 1996. He worked as a laboratory assistant at the Institute of Physics of the University of Mainz in Mainz, Germany, from 1995 to 1996, as an assistant at the University of Latvia's Institute of Solid-State Physics in 1997, and as a PhD student at the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park for electrical engineering in 1998.
Political activity
In 2002 Dombrovskis became a board member of the New Era Party. He was Minister of Finance of Latvia from 2002 to 2004 and a Member of the Latvian Parliament during its 8th parliamentary term (2002–2004). Then he was Observer at the Council of the European Union (2003–2004).
As Member of the European Parliament, Dombrovskis was a member of three European Parliament Committees: Committee on Budgets, Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. He is also a Substitute at Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Committee on Budgetary Control and delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.
Dombrovskis was also one of six Members of the European Parliament participating in the European Union's observer mission in Togo for the October 2007 Togolese parliamentary election.
On 26 February 2009, following the resignation of Ivars Godmanis, President Valdis Zatlers nominated Dombrovskis to succeed Godmanis as Prime Minister. It was believed that his government would consist of three of the four previously governing parties (all but Godmanis' LPP/LC), his own New Era Party, and a smaller right-wing party (the Civic Union); the government was approved on 12 March 2009.
Resignation
Dombrovskis resigned as Prime Minister on 27 November 2013 following the Zolitūde shopping centre roof collapse in which 54 people were killed. He announced that a new government is needed with strong support in the parliament after the tragedy, considering all related circumstances. His spokesman said that "the government takes political responsibility for the tragedy". He denied the president had urged him to step down, stating that he had considered the decision for days and that the country needs government with strong support in parliament in the moment of crisis.