The politics of Latvia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic,whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government,and of a multi-party system. The President holds a primarily ceremonial role as Head of State. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament,the Saeima. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Latvia a "flawed democracy" in 2022.
The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission,the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president of the Commission leads a cabinet of Commissioners,referred to as the College. The president is empowered to allocate portfolios among,reshuffle,or dismiss Commissioners as necessary. The College directs the commission's civil service,sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces. The commission is the only body that can propose or draft bills to become EU laws.
The People's Party was a conservative political party in Latvia. The People's Party was the leader of three governments and a member of another four.
Michel Barnier is a French politician who served as the European Commission's Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as Chief Negotiator,Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU from October 2016 to November 2019.
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic,liberal-conservative,and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation,it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Christian-democratic parties in 1976,it has since broadened its membership to include liberal-conservative parties and parties with other centre-right political perspectives. On 31 May 2022,the party elected as its President Manfred Weber,who was also EPP's Spitzenkandidat in 2019.
Artis Pabriks is a Latvian politician. Since January 2019 he has been the Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia. From 2014 to 2018,he was a Member of the European Parliament.
The Santer Commission was the European Commission in office between 23 January 1995 and 15 March 1999. The administration was led by Jacques Santer.
Inese Vaidere is a Latvian politician who currently serves as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
Manfred Weber is a German politician who has served as President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2022 and as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany since 2004. He is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU),part of the European People's Party.
Latvia replaced its previous currency,the lats,with the euro on 1 January 2014,after a European Union (EU) assessment in June 2013 asserted that the country had met all convergence criteria necessary for euro adoption. The adoption process began 1 May 2004,when Latvia joined the European Union,entering the EU's Economic and Monetary Union. At the start of 2005,the lats was pegged to the euro at Ls 0.702804 = €1,and Latvia joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism,four months later on 2 May 2005.
Ivars Godmanis is a Latvian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Latvia from 1990 to 1993 and again from 2007 to 2009. He was the first Prime Minister of Latvia after the country restored its independence from the Soviet Union.
The European Commissioner for Trade is the member of the European Commission responsible for the European Union's common commercial policy.
The Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People is the member of the European Commission responsible for economic and financial affairs. The position was previously titled Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro and European Vice President for the Euro and Social Dialogue from 2014 to 2019. The current executive vice president is Valdis Dombrovskis (EPP).
Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 2 October 2010. It was the first parliamentary election to be held in Latvia since the beginning of the economic crisis during which Latvia had experienced one of the deepest recessions in the world.
The Civic Union was a political party in Latvia. It was founded in 2008,and most of its members came from the For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK and New Era Party. A liberal-conservative party,it was part of the European People's Party at the European level. It has also been described as centre-right or right-wing.
Unity is a liberal-conservative political party in Latvia. It is a member of the New Unity alliance and is positioned on the centre-right on the political spectrum. Since 2017,its chairman of the Main Board has been the former Minister for Economics of Latvia,Arvils Ašeradens,who succeeded former European Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
The first Dombrovskis cabinet was the government of Latvia from 12 March 2009 to 3 November 2010. It was the first government to be led by Valdis Dombrovskis,who was Prime Minister from 2009 until 2014. It took office on 12 March 2009,after the resignation of Ivars Godmanis,succeeding the second Godmanis cabinet,which had lasted from 2007 to 2009. It was replaced by the second Dombrovskis cabinet on 3 November 2010,after the October 2010 election.
The Juncker Commission was the European Commission in office from 1 November 2014 to 30 November 2019. Its president was Jean-Claude Juncker,who presided over 27 other commissioners. In July 2014,Juncker was officially elected to succeed JoséManuel Barroso,who completed his second five-year term in that year.
The ninth European Parliament was elected during the 2019 elections and is slated to remain in session until the forthcoming 2024 elections.
