Guntars Krasts

Guntars Krasts ( born October 16, 1957 in Riga) is Latvian politician, former prime minister and currently a member of the European Parliament of the party " For Fatherland and Freedom" ( Tēvzemei ​​un Brīvībai ).

Biography

Study and career

After school he studied economics at the University of Latvia, which he completed in 1982. In the meantime, he was also from 1976 to 1982 worked as an unskilled laborer. After graduation, he worked as research assistant, then worked until 1991 as an economist at the University of Latvia. After Latvia's independence on 21 August 1991, he was then independently as an entrepreneur.

Prime Minister from 1997 to 1998

Krasts began his political career as a member of the " Latvian National Independence Movement " ( Latvijas Nacionālās Neatkarības Kustība ) and, following the merger in 1997 as a member of the party " For Fatherland and Freedom" ( Tēvzemei ​​un Brīvībai ). He was appointed by Prime Minister Andris Šķēle Minister for Economic Affairs in the Cabinet in 1996.

As Šķēle on 28 July 1997 resigned, he confirmed his successor formally as Prime Minister and on 10 August 1997, the Parliament ( Saeima ). The Office of the Prime Minister he held until his replacement by Vilis Kristopans on 26 November 1998. Having dismissed Talavs Jundzis, he was at times from 27 October 1998 to the end of his tenure also acting defense minister.

In the reign of his successor Kristopans he was then on 26 November 1998 to July 16, 1999 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Affairs.

Deputy of the Saeima and the European Parliament

After his resignation as Prime Minister, he was elected deputies of the Saeima in 1998 and took over the legislative period 1998-2002 the chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was also a 1998-2004 board member of the party For Fatherland and Freedom. He was re- elected to the Saeima in 2002. The parliament then elected him in 2004 as Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs.

Before the accession of Latvia to the European Union on 1 May 2004, he was a few months observers of the Saeima in the European Parliament. In the European elections in June 2004, he was voted one of the nine members of Latvia in the European Parliament and, as such, the faction " Union for a Europe of Nations " to. Krasts was also Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs ( ECON ).

Awards

Throughout his political career he has won several awards:

  • Commander of ordering the Kingdom of Denmark, 1997
  • Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order, 1998
  • Commander of the Order of the Italian Republic, 2004
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