Andris Piebalgs (born 17 September 1957) is a Latvian politician and diplomat who served as European Commissioner for Development at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

from 2010 until 2014. Between 2004 and 2009 he served as Commissioner for Energy. Between 4 June 2016 and 19 August 2017, he served as the leader of the Unity party.

Career

Andris Piebalgs was born on 17 September 1957 in Valmiera, Latvia. Piebalgs is a graduate in Physics from the University of Latvia. Andris Piebalgs is an experienced Latvian politician who occupied key positions in both national and European political fields. Earlier in his career, while

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

was still part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, Andris Piebalgs worked as a teacher and was the headmaster of the 1st Secondary School of Valmiera (1980–1990). He also served as director of the department in the Ministry of Education in

. He was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union from 1979. In 1988, Latvian People's Front, an organisation that united more than 200,000 people, was established. Supporters of Latvian self-determination gained victory in the March 1990 parliamentary election. It was the first time since the Soviet occupation that candidates from various political parties were allowed to take part. On 7 May 1990, Andris Piebalgs was appointed as Minister of Education in the new Government, and one year later, in August 1991, Latvia regained full independence. Andris Piebalgs' main task was then to put in place the first independent education system in Latvia. In 1993, Andris Piebalgs won a seat in the Latvian Parliament, when the first elections after the restoration of independence were held according to the Latvian election law. He served as the chairman of the budget and finance committee until 1994. In September 1994, he became Latvia's Minister of Finance and deputy prime minister. From 1995 until 2003, he worked in the Latvian Diplomatic service. Andris Piebalgs first served as the ambassador of Latvia in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

(1995–1997), where he helped to solve the sea border issue between the two states. In 1997 he became the Latvian Ambassador to the EU. In this capacity he helped to establish Latvia as the EU candidate country and led the accession negotiations, which resulted in Latvia's successful accession to the EU in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of State for EU affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia. His role was instrumental in coordinating Latvia's position in the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

and all Council formations. At the time, he also established the new development assistance policy for

. In addition to his native Latvian he is fluent in English, German, French, and Russian, and has basic knowledge of Estonian.

European Commission

During the first

Barroso Commission The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its President of the European Commission, president was José Durão Barroso, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from Member sta ...

, starting in November 2004, he was the European Commissioner for Energy. In that capacity, he led the development of a more competitive, sustainable and secure European energy system, which is one of the crowning achievements of the Barroso I Commission. In doing so, he was instrumental in propelling EU energy issues into the centre of EU policy-making. In recognition of his leadership in European energy policy,

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

magazine honoured him with the title "Eurocrat of the Year" in 2007. In 2009, Andris Piebalgs received the "Diamond Prize" from the Regional Chamber of Commerce in Katowice (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) for his work in developing a cohesive European Energy Policy for the further generations. In 2009, the Energy Efficiency Global Forum presented him the Energy Efficiency Visionary Awards for his "outstanding contributions to the advancement of energy efficiency". He was twice appointed Acting Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget in Janusz Lewandowski's stead, from 19 April 2014 – 25 May 2014 while he was on electoral campaign leave for the 2014 elections to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

and from 1 July 2014 – 16 July 2014 after he took up his seat.

Selection hearing

;Energy On 15 November 2004 when questioned by the European Parliament as the Commissioner Designate for Energy, Piebalgs stressed the importance of environmental considerations in

energy policy Energy policies are the government's strategies and decisions regarding the Energy production, production, Energy distribution, distribution, and World energy supply and consumption, consumption of energy within a specific jurisdiction. Energy ...

, and announced his intention to pursue a policy framework based on limiting growth in demand for energy while increasing diversity of supply. He was cautious on the question of support for

nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity *Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy, the pot ...

, and said that he favoured an EU-wide regulatory framework for

nuclear safety Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...

as a way of increasing the industry's transparency and levels of public acceptance. He also said that, "strict application of provisions of the Euratom Treaty is essential." Piebalgs expressed his unhappiness there was not yet a 'level playing field' for competition in the energy and gas industries across the union. He assigned high priority to reducing overall energy demand, especially by improving the energy efficiency of buildings, promoting the long-term development of

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

as a fuel source, improving the competitiveness of

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

sources through economic measures, and supporting the development of

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction, reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form a larger nuclei, nuclei/neutrons, neutron by-products. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the rele ...

and the ITER project. Following his hearing Piebalgs received strong backing from across the political spectrum, including the Greens, who had previously described László Kovács's performance on energy issues as "an offense to the parliament". ;Development Hearing of the Commissioner Designate for Development took place on 11 January 2010 in the

. During three hours members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from Committees of Development, Foreign Affairs and International Trade questioned him about his political priorities and key aims of development policy. Commissioner Designate stressed that his main priorities in the office will be to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...

(MDG), ensure that EU Members States honour their commitments in regard to the

Official Development Assistance Official development assistance (ODA) is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure foreign aid. The DAC first adopted the concept in 1969. It is w ...

(ODA) and to make our international aid more efficient. Piebalgs underlined the need to take advantage of the creation of the post of a foreign policy High Representative and External Action Service, without, however "allowing development policy to be seen in any way as simply a tool to achieve wider political goals for the EU". He also stressed the need "to maintain the EU's role as a champion of the developing world."

Other activities

From 2012 to 2013, Piebalgs served – alongside Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

and others – on the High-level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda, an advisory board established by

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Ban Ki-moon to develop the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for the

.Secretary-General Assembles High-level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda, Appointing 26 Members of Government, Civil Society, Private Sector

, press release of 31 July 2012. In addition, Piegbals has held various honorary positions, including: * Friends of Europe, member of the board of trustees * Friends of the Global Fund, member of the board

Personal life

Andris Piebalgs is married and has three children. During his free time he likes to play tennis and to go skiing.

References

External links

Andris Piebalgs
Official Media Gallery

Video of the hearing of Commissioner Designate for Development

Andris Piebalgs' visit to Guinea
–

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Piebalgs, Andris 1957 births Living people People from Valmiera Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Latvian Way politicians Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way politicians New Unity politicians Ministers of finance of Latvia Deputies of the 5th Saeima Ambassadors of Latvia to Estonia Permanent representatives of Latvia to the European Union Latvian European commissioners University of Latvia alumni Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class