Inese Vaidere (born 3 September 1952) is a

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 ...

n politician who currently serves as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP).

Political career

Role in national politics

Vaidere was Minister of State for the Environment in the

Krištopans cabinet The Krištopans cabinet was the government of Latvia from 26 November 1998 to 16 July 1999. It was led by Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive b ...

from 1998 to 1999, Vice-Mayor of

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 ...

from 2001 to 2002 and 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 p ...

from 2002 to 2004.

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–present

Vaidere was elected 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 ...

in 2004 from the

For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (, abbreviated to TB/LNNK) was a free-market, national conservative political party in Latvia. In 2011, it dissolved and merged into the National Alliance (Latvia), National Alliance. The party was founded from sm ...

list and sat with the

Union for a Europe of Nations Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) was a national-conservative, Eurosceptic political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009. At its height in February 2008, it had 44 MEPs. UEN was affiliated with the Alliance ...

group. In 2009 she was elected from the Civic Union list and sat with the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

group. Between 2004 and 2014, Vaidere was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the

Subcommittee on Human Rights The Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI, after the French name ''Sous-commission des droits de l'homme du Parlement européen'') is a subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of human ...

. In 2013, she drafted the parliament's report on the impact of the financial and economic crisis on human rights, which calls for the EU to help developing countries create social-protection schemes. In 2014, Vaidere was placed 6th on the

Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

list and was preferenced 5th by voters. Unity won 4 of Latvia's European Parliament seats and she was not elected. However the first candidate elected on the list,

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 serv ...

, became the European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue on 1 November 2014 and ceased to be an MEP. Vaidere, as next in line on the Unity list, replaced him in the Parliament. From 2014 until 2019, Vaidere was a member of the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

. In addition to her committee assignments, she is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime), the European Parliament Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages, the European Parliament Intergroup on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda and the European Internet Forum.

Political positions

Vaidere is a signatory of the

Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism was a declaration which was initiated by the Czech government and signed on 3 June 2008 by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, among them former ...

. In 2015, news media reported that Vaidere was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

who are not allowed to enter the country.European Union anger at Russian travel blacklist
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', May 31, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaidere, Inese 1952 births Living people People from Jelgava People deported from Latvia Latvian National Independence Movement politicians For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK politicians Civic Union (Latvia) politicians New Unity politicians Deputies of the 8th Saeima For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK MEPs Civic Union (Latvia) MEPs MEPs for Latvia 2004–2009 MEPs for Latvia 2009–2014 MEPs for Latvia 2014–2019 MEPs for Latvia 2019–2024 Women MEPs for Latvia University of Latvia alumni Academic staff of the University of Latvia 21st-century Latvian women politicians Women deputies of the Saeima MEPs for Latvia 2024–2029