Artis Pabriks (born 22 March 1966) 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. Since January 2019 he has been the

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia. From 2014 to 2018, he was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

Early life and career

After completing his mandatory two-year stint in the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

, Pabriks obtained a degree in history from the

University of Latvia University of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Universitāte, shortened ''LU'') is a state-run university located in Riga, Latvia established in 1919. The ''QS World University Rankings'' places the university between 801st and 1000th globally, seventh ...

in 1992 and, on a Danish-financed grant,Gary Peach (October 23, 2013)
Artis Pabriks – Tolerant fighter
''

European Voice ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''. completed his Ph.D. in political science from the

University of Aarhus Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

in 1996. After finishing his Ph.D. on minorities in Europe, he became the

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences ( lv, Vidzemes Augstskola) is the higher education establishment in Valmiera, Latvia. It was founded in 1996 and now it has around 800 students. History Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences was founded in ...

, a newly founded regional college located in

Valmiera Valmiera (; german: link=no, Wolmar; pl, Wolmar see other names) is the largest city of the historical Vidzeme region, Latvia, with a total area of . As of 2002, Valmiera had a population of 27,323, and in 2020 – 24 879. It is a state city ...

. He has co-authored one book: ''Latvia: Challenge of Change'' (2001), which was subsequently re-published together with volumes on Lithuania and Estonia under the title ''The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania'' (2002). Both were published by

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

Political career

Pabriks was one of the founding members of the People's Party in 1998 and became a member of the

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the po ...

in March 2004. He served as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2004–2007

Pabriks was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on 21 July 2004. He resigned from his position in October 2007 due to disagreements with the leadership of the People's Party, which he subsequently left. In September 2008, Pabriks was one of founding members of the

Society for Political Change The Society for Political Change (, SCP) was a social-liberal political party in Latvia founded on 6 September 2008. Its members include two former ministers, former foreign minister Artis Pabriks and former economics minister Aigars Štokenbergs ...

. He was a visiting professor at

Bosphorus University The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern T ...

in Istanbul lecturing for the first semester of the 2009-2010 academic year.

Minister of Defence, 2010–2014

After the 2010 parliamentary election, Pabriks re-entered the government as the Minister of Defence. In 2010 Pabriks challenged the incumbent general secretary of the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (OSCE PA) is an institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The primary task of the 323-member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, an important aspect of the o ...

, Spencer Oliver for his position. Pabriks, supported by the Latvian delegation, called the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s rules "quite shocking from the perspective of an organization that's monitoring elections". It would have required a full consensus minus one to oust Oliver who has been in the position of general secretary since the organization’s inception in 1992. Pabriks was unsuccessful in his challenge. In early 2014, Pabriks was

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

’s first nominee to replace incumbent

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

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 ...

; however, he was rejected by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Andris Bērziņš who argued that he lacked economic credentials. Instead, the position went to

Laimdota Straujuma Laimdota Straujuma (born 24 February 1951) is a Latvian economist who was the Prime Minister of Latvia, Prime Minister of Latvia from January 2014 to February 2016. Before her tenure as Prime Minister, she served as Minister of Agriculture from 20 ...

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2018

Pabriks was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

at the European election in 2014. He has since been serving on the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.CETA The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union and its member states. It has been provisionally applied, thus removing 98% of the preexisting tariffs between the two parts. ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, he is a member of the Parliament’s delegations to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and for relations with the countries of Central America. In 2015, news media reported that Pabriks was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

who are not allowed to enter the country. In 2016, Pabriks was the Parliament’s lead negotiator on a proposal to set up a new EU border force and coast guard.Jacopo Barigazzi (June 22, 2016)
Parliament and Council agree on the EU border, coast guard
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''.

Leader of Development/For! and Minister of Defence, since 2018

In June 2018 Pabriks left the Unity party and joined the liberal movement

Development/For! Development/For! ( Latvian: ''Attīstībai/Par!,'' AP!) is a liberal political alliance in Latvia. It was formed in 2018 and it is made up of Movement For!, For Latvia's Development and Izaugsme. The coalition itself has embraced a centrist posi ...

. He was nominated as the prime ministerial candidate of this electoral alliance and was elected member of the

in the 2018 parliamentary election. Since January 2019 he has served as minister of defence and deputy prime minister in Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš's cabinet.

Other activities

* ''Baltic Review'', Member of the Editorial Board (since 2002)

Personal life

Pabriks has a daughter from a previous marriage and two children from his wife Undine, an ethnic German. Pabriks speaks fluent Latvian,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, as well as some

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

References

External links

PABRIKS, Artis
International Who's Who. accessed September 1, 2006. * Pabriks A
Occupational representation and ethnic discrimination in Latvia — Rīga: Nordik, 2002.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pabriks, Artis 1966 births Living people People from Jūrmala People's Party (Latvia) politicians Society for Political Change politicians New Unity politicians For Latvia's Development politicians Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Ministers of Defence of Latvia Deputies of the 8th Saeima Deputies of the 9th Saeima Deputies of the 10th Saeima Deputies of the 11th Saeima Deputies of the 13th Saeima MEPs for Latvia 2014–2019 University of Latvia alumni Rectors of universities in Latvia Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class Aarhus University alumni