Artis Pabriks

Artis Pabriks
Pabriks in 2018
Minister of Defence
In office 23 January 2019 – 14 December 2022
Prime Minister	Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš
Preceded by	Raimonds Bergmanis
Succeeded by	Ināra Mūrniece
In office 3 November 2010 – 22 January 2014
Prime Minister	Valdis Dombrovskis
Preceded by	Imants Lieģis
Succeeded by	Raimonds Vējonis
Member of the European ParliamentforLatvia
In office 1 July 2014 – 5 November 2018
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 21 July 2004 – 28 October 2007
Prime Minister	Indulis Emsis Aigars Kalvītis
Preceded by	Rihards Pīks
Succeeded by	Māris Riekstiņš
Personal details
Born	(1966-03-22)22 March 1966 Jūrmala,Latvian SSR,Soviet Union
Political party	People's Party(1998–2007) Society for Political Change(2008–2011) Unity(2011–2018) For Latvia's Development(2019–present)
Other political affiliations	Development/For!(2018–present)
Alma mater	Aarhus University University of Latvia
Website	artispabriks.lv

Artis Pabriks(born 22 March 1966) is aLatvianpolitician. Since January 2019 he has been theMinister for Defenceand Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia. From 2014 to 2018, he was aMember of the European Parliament.

Early life and career

After completing his mandatory two-year stint in theSoviet Army,Pabriks obtained a degree in history from theUniversity of Latviain 1992 and, on a Danish-financed grant,completed his Ph.D. in political science from theUniversity of Aarhusin 1996.

After finishing his Ph.D. on minorities in Europe,he became therectorof theVidzeme University of Applied Sciences,a newly founded regional college located inValmiera.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 titleThe Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania(2002). Both were published byRoutledge.

Political career

Pabriks was one of the founding members of thePeople's Partyin 1998 and became a member of theSaeimain 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.

Return to private life 2008-2010

In September 2008, Pabriks was one of founding members of theSociety for Political Change.He was a visiting professor atBosphorus Universityin Istanbul lecturing for the first semester of the 2009-2010 academic year.

Minister of Defence, 2010–2014

In April 2011, Pabriks met with U.S. Defense SecretaryRobert Gatesat the Pentagon.

After the2010 parliamentary election,Pabriks re-entered the government as the Minister of Defence.

In 2010 Pabriks challenged the incumbent general secretary of theParliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,Spencer Oliverfor 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 wasUnity’s first nominee to replace incumbentPrime MinisterValdis Dombrovskis;however, he was rejected byPresidentAndris Bērziņšwho argued that he lacked economic credentials. Instead, the position went toLaimdota Straujuma.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2018

Pabriks was elected to theEuropean Parliamentat theEuropean electionin 2014. He has since been serving on theCommittee on International Trade.In this capacity, he is the Parliament’s chief rapporteur on EU-Canada trade agreementCETA.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 theEuropean Unionwho 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.

Leader of Development/For! since 2018

In February 2019, Pabriks greets U.S. Acting Defense SecretaryPatrick Shanahanand NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenbergin Brussels.

In June 2018 Pabriks left the Unity party and joined the liberal movementDevelopment/For!.He was nominated as the prime ministerial candidate of this electoral alliance and was elected member of theSaeimain the2018 parliamentary election.

Defence Minister (2019-2022)

Between January 2019 and 14 December 2022 he was theMinister for Defenceand Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia in theFirst Kariņš 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 fluentLatvian,Russian,andEnglish,as well as someGermanandDanish.

External links

• PABRIKS, ArtisInternational Who's Who. accessed September 1, 2006.
• Pabriks A.Occupational representation and ethnic discrimination in Latvia — Rīga: Nordik, 2002.ISBN9984-675-78-5