Egils Levits (born 30 June 1955) is a Latvian politician, lawyer, political scientist and jurist who served as the tenth

president of Latvia The president of Latvia ( ) is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Latvian National Armed Forces, National Armed Forces of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. The term of this office is four years. Before 1999, it was three years. The presi ...

from 2019 to 2023. He was a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

from 2004 to 2019. During the late Soviet-era, he was a member of the Popular Front of Latvia and contributed to the declaration of restored Latvian independence in 1990. He was vice-prime minister and minister for justice of Latvia from 1993 to 1994 and ambassador to Hungary, Austria and Switzerland from 1994 to 1995. He was then appointed a judge of the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

, a position he held until 2004. He finished second in the indirect

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

for the president of Latvia in 2015, behind Raimonds Vējonis. Although an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, he was the candidate of the

National Alliance National Alliance may refer to: Electoral alliances *National Alliance (Egypt) (2015) * National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards) * National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004) *Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023) Political parties and organizations ...

. In 2018, Levits was reappointed a judge of the European Court of Justice, having first been appointed in 2004. He is married and has two children: a son, Linards, and daughter, Indra. He published a book of memoirs in 2019. He announced in early May 2023 that he would not run for reelection to the presidency and, on 31 May,

Edgars Rinkēvičs Edgars Rinkēvičs (born 21 September 1973) is a Latvian public official and politician serving as the 11th and current president of Latvia since July 2023. He previously served as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Latvia), minister of foreign af ...

was elected as his successor.

Early life

Levits was born in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, into the family of Latvian Jewish engineer Jonass Levits and his mother, Latvian-Baltic German poet (née Barga, pen name ''Aija Zemzare''). In 1972, the family was expelled from the

USSR 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 ...

for their

Soviet dissident Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union (USSR) in the period from the mid-1960s ...

activities and settled in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, where Ingeborga's relatives lived. They lived in West Germany until 1990 when Latvia regained its independence. Levits has stated in interviews that despite being of Jewish and German heritage, he identifies foremost as Latvian, and called on Latvian citizens of non-Latvian origin to adopt a similar stance.

Political career

Levits has been involved in Latvian politics since the late 1980s. Levits became a member of the Popular Front of Latvia and a member of the Latvian Citizens' Congress established in 1989. Later, he joined the political club " Klubs 21" and in 1993 was elected a 5th

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 p ...

deputy from the list of the party Latvijas Ceļš. In 2016, he was among the best paid EU officials. In 2018, he was named the "European Person of the Year in Latvia" by the European Movement – Latvia. He has been an ambassador of Latvia to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. He is the co-author of the preamble to the

Constitution of Latvia The Constitution of Latvia (, ) is the fundamental law of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. The Satversme is the oldest Central and Eastern Europe, Eastern or Central European constitution still in force and the sixth oldest still-functioning repu ...

and has been the head for Commission for Constitutional Law, working under the president together with lawyer Lauris Liepa.

Presidential campaigns

Levits was named a presidential candidate by the

party in 2011 and 2015, coming second in votes in the final round to the minister of defense Raimonds Vējonis in 2015. Levits was widely discussed as a potential frontrunner candidate for the presidency in early 2019, and on April 15 the parties of the ruling coalition announced that they would support Levits' candidacy. Latvia's parliament elected him on 29 May 2019.

Presidency

Levits was inaugurated in the

on 8 July 2019. During his inaugural speech, he noted that "there is no ideal country, because that implies halted progress." After the ceremony, he visited the

Freedom Monument The Freedom Monument () is a monument located in Riga, Latvia, honouring soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence (1918–1920). It is considered an important symbol of the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of Latvia. Unveil ...

, laid flowers at the grave of

Jānis Čakste Jānis Kristaps Čakste (; 14 September 1859 – 14 March 1927) was a Latvian politician and lawyer who served as the first head of an independent Latvian state as the Chairman of the Tautas Padome, People's Council (1918–1920), the Speaker o ...

, and received the keys to Riga Castle from outgoing president Raimonds Vējonis. On July 10, he conducted his first foreign visit to

Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, meeting with

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Kersti Kaljulaid Kersti Kaljulaid (; born 30 December 1969) is an Estonia, Estonian politician who served as the fifth president of Estonia between 2016 and 2021, and was its first and only female head of state since the country declared independence in 1918. S ...

and Prime Minister Jüri Ratas. In August 2021, Levits made an official visit to Sweden, meeting

King Carl XVI Gustaf Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. Having reigned since 1973, he is the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history. Carl Gustaf was born during the reign of his paternal great-grandfather, K ...

to mark the centenary of diplomatic relations and the 30th anniversary of Latvian independence. In September 2021, Levits was accused of putting inappropriate pressure on members of the

Development/For! Development/For! ( Latvian: ''Attīstībai/Par!,'' AP!) was a liberal political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicia ...

party alliance to nominate his legal advisor Irēna Kucina to a position on the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

. Levits admitted that a phone call with those party members had taken place, but denied making any threats and called the controversy a "misunderstanding". According to the data of the public opinion research firm SKDS, in March 2023, 27% of Latvian citizens rated Egils Levits activity positively, and 64% negatively. On 10 May 2023, it became known that President Levits will not run in the 2023 Latvian presidential election on 31 May, although he previously announced his readiness to run for a second term.

Judicial career

In 1995, Levits was elected representative of Latvia for

. Since 2004, he has been Latvia's representative to the

, where the mandate will expire in 2024.

Political views

Levits has expressed traditionally conservative views on issues in Latvian politics. During his time as a European judge, he has been involved in and commented on current developments in Latvia; for example, he said that neither the reception of refugees nor the

Istanbul Convention The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a International human rights instruments, human rights treaty of the Council of Europe oppos ...

violate the

. Levits has expressed scepticism about enacting major change to the financial system, calling Latvia one of the strongest economies in Europe. Levits has also supported many initiatives to reduce the use of Russian language in Latvia, including promulgating amendments banning private universities to employ instruction in languages other than the

official languages of the European Union The European Union (EU) has 24 official languages, of which three English, French and Germanwere considered "procedural" languages, but this notion was abandoned by the European Commission (whereas the European Parliament accepts all offic ...

, and reaffirmed that Latvian non-citizens (even Latvian-born) must first pass a Latvian literacy test to receive citizenship. Levits is not a member of any political party, and has expressed a wish to remain independent.

In popular culture

On the 7 December 2019 episode of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', Levits was portrayed by Alex Moffat, in a sketch that poked fun at

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's experience at the 2019 NATO summit.

Personal life

Levits is married to Andra Levite, a gynecologist, and has a son named Linards and a daughter named Indra. In 2019, Levits released his first book ''Valstsgriba. Idejas un domas Latvijai 1985–2018'' (''Country's Will: Ideas and thoughts for Latvia 1985–2018'') where he mentions articles, interviews and combines them with his personal opinion as a Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Aside from his native

Latvian language Latvian (, ), also known as Lettish, is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. It is spoken in the Baltic region, and is the language of the Latvians. It is the official language of Latvia ...

, he also knows

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(from his time in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

), English, French and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Honours

National

* : Grand Master and Commander Grand Cross with Chain of the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

(8 July 2019) * : Grand Master and Grand Cross of the

Order of Viesturs The Order of Viesturs () is a Latvian state order (honour), order founded in 1938, which was temporarily discontinued in 1940 by the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, Soviet occupation of Latvia, but was re-established in 2004. The order is nam ...

(8 July 2019) * : Grand Master of the Cross of Recognition (8 July 2019)

Foreign

* : Collar of the

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (, also the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of the Estonian state. (The Latin name ''Terra Mariana'' ...

(19 April 2023) * :

Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise The Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise () is a Ukrainian award. It is awarded for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation in the field of state building, strengthening the international prestige of Ukraine, develop ...

, 1st class (23 August 2021) * : Grand Cross of the

Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau The Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau (, ; ) is a chivalric order shared by the two branches of the House of Nassau (the Ottonian and Walramian lines). In the context of the elder ''Walramian line'', this order is the highest Luxemb ...

(13 March 2023) * : Grand Collar of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

(12 April 2023) * : Knight of the Order of the White Eagle (26 January 2023)

Publications

* * *Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit in Lettland. Osteuropa-Recht: Gegenwartsfragen aus dem sowjetischen Rechtskreis Osteuropa-Recht, Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 305-328, Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 305-328, 1997. *Der zweite Weltkrieg und sein Ende in Lettland. Lüneburg: Institut Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk, 1996. *Die Wirtschaft der baltischen Staaten im Umbruch. Köln: Wissenschaft und Politik, 1992. (with Boris Meissner; Dietrich A Loeber; Paulis Apinis and others) *Lettland unter sowjetischer Herrschaft: die politische Entwicklung 1940-1989. Köln: Markus Verlag, 1990 *Sowjetunion heute: Glasnost und Peristroika; Grundinformation.

iel ( or ) is a neopronoun in the French language intended as an alternative to the gender-specific pronouns ("She (pronoun), she") and ("He (pronoun), he"). It has been adopted by the Dictionnaires Le Robert, Le Robert dictionary but is not offici ...

1989 *Die baltischen Staaten: Estland — Lettland — Litauen. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 1989. (with Hildegard Bremer) (in German) *Der politische Konflikt zwischen den Selbstbestimmungsbestrebungen und dem sowjetischen Herrschaftsanspruch in Lettland: eine regionale Fallstudie zur sowjetischen Nationalitätenpolitik. Marburg an d. Lahn: Johann-Gottfried-Herder-Institut, 1988. *Die baltische Frage im Europäischen Parlament. 1983. Bd. 22. S.9-37 *Die demographische Situation in der UdSSR und in den baltischen Staaten unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von nationalen und sprachsoziologischen Aspekten. 1981.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Levits, Egils 1955 births Living people Candidates for President of Latvia Deputies of the 5th Saeima European Court of Justice judges Judges of the European Court of Human Rights Latvian judges of international courts and tribunals Latvian people of Jewish descent Latvian Way politicians Ministers of justice of Latvia Politicians from Riga Presidents of Latvia Latvian people of German descent Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class 20th-century Latvian judges 21st-century Latvian judges