Ivars Godmanis (born 27 November 1951) is a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n politician who served as the

Prime Minister of Latvia The prime minister of Latvia ( lv, ministru prezidents) is the most powerful member of the Government of Latvia, who presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The officeholder is nominated by the president of Latvia, but must be able to obt ...

from 1990 to 1993 and again from 2007 to 2009. He was the first Prime Minister of Latvia after the country restored its independence from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

Political career

Godmanis served as Prime Minister from 1990 to 1993, focusing primarily on Latvia's difficult economic transition from planned to

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...

. In 1995 Godmanis was awarded with the Order of the Three Stars. He later served as the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

from 1998 to 1999. He was originally associated with the Latvian Popular Front, but after the Front ceased to exist he moved to the

Latvian Way Latvian Way ( lv, Latvijas Ceļš) was a conservative-liberal political party in Latvia. It merged with Latvia's First Party to form the Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way (LPP/LC) in 2007. It described itself as "a liberal party defending peo ...

party. In November 2006, following elections in which the Latvian Way in coalition with

Latvia's First Party The Latvia's First Party ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā Partija) was a socially conservative, Christian-democratic right-wing political party in Latvia. It merged with Latvian Way to form Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007. It was founded on 25 M ...

returned to Parliament, Godmanis became the Minister of the Interior. On 14 December 2007, Godmanis was nominated as Prime Minister by President

Valdis Zatlers Valdis Zatlers (born 22 March 1955) is a Latvian politician and former physician who served as the seventh president of Latvia from 2007 to 2011. He won the Latvian presidential election of 31 May 2007. He became President of Latvia on 8 July 2 ...

. He was approved by the parliament on 20 December, with 54 votes in favor and 43 in opposition. On 18 June 2008 he suffered head injuries in a car accident when his official limousine was involved in a collision with a small bus. On 19 September 2008 he replaced Roger Taylor on drums during

Queen + Paul Rodgers Queen + Paul Rodgers (sometimes referred to as Q+PR or QPR) was a collaboration between Queen ( Brian May and Roger Taylor) and Paul Rodgers; formerly of Bad Company, Free, The Firm and The Law. Guitarist May had previously performed with ...

' performance of "

All Right Now "All Right Now" is a song by English rock band Free. It originally appeared on the band's third album '' Fire and Water'' (1970), which Free recorded on the Island Records label, formed by Chris Blackwell. Released as the album's second single ...

" at a concert in Riga. Economic problems and corruption charges caused the popularity of Godmanis's government to plummet. In January 2009, anti-government protests turned into the worst riots the country has seen since re-gaining independence in 1991. On 20 February 2009, Godmanis resigned as Prime Minister along with the rest of his government over concerns about handling the economic crisis. On 26 February 2009, President

appointed former finance minister

Valdis Dombrovskis Valdis Dombrovskis (born 5 August 1971) is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously served ...

as the new prime minister; he was sworn in on 12 March 2009.

References

External links

Government of Latvia, The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia: Prime Minister
{{DEFAULTSORT:Godmanis, Ivars 1951 births Living people Politicians from Riga Popular Front of Latvia politicians Latvian Way politicians Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way politicians Prime Ministers of Latvia Ministers of the Interior of Latvia Ministers of Finance of Latvia Deputies of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia Deputies of the 7th Saeima Deputies of the 9th Saeima Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way MEPs MEPs for Latvia 2009–2014 People of the Singing Revolution Riga State Gymnasium No.1 alumni University of Latvia alumni Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class

Political career

See also

References

External links