Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis

Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia
In office 2010–2011
Member of the European Parliament for Latvia
In office 2004–2009
Minister of Defense of Latvia
In office 1998–2004
Minister of the Interior of Latvia
In office 1993–1994
Personal details
Born	19 February 1962 Ventspils, Latvian SSR
Nationality	Latvian

Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis (born 19 February 1962 in Ventspils) is a Latvian politician. He is a member of the centre-right Unity party.

Kristovskis served in several previous Latvian governments as the Minister for the Interior from August 3, 1993 to October 28, 1994, when he resigned), and the Minister of the Defense from November 26, 1998 to March 9, 2004. He was elected to the Saeima in four subsequent elections since 1993,^[1] being a member of Latvian Way party in 1993–1998 and a member of For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK party in 1998–2008. At the 2004 European election he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK, but lost his mandate in the 2009 elections. Subsequently he was elected to the Riga City Council where he was the leader of the opposition.

In 2008 he founded the centre right Civic Union party which became a founding member of the Unity coalition which won the largest mandate the 2010 Saeima elections. On November 3, 2010 Kristovskis became the Foreign Minister in the new Cabinet. In November, a scandal erupted in Latvia concerning the minister's correspondence with a doctor, who had expressed views perceived as Russophobic. Kristovskis survived the vote of non-confidence held on 9 November (36 deputies representing the opposition parties of the pro-Russian Harmony Center coalition and the right-wing For a Good Latvia voted for the proposal, with 51 deputies from the governing coalition voting against).^[2] Between 3 November 2010 and 25 October 2011 he served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia. Kristovskis lost his seat in the Saeima as a result of the 2011 Latvian parliamentary election.

He is a signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism,^[3] and co-sponsored the European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on European conscience and totalitarianism.^[4]

References

1. "Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis; 8.Saeimas deputāts" (in Latvian). Saeima.lv. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
2. "Mixnews.lv". Mixnews.lv. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
3. "Prague Declaration: Selected signatories". Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism. Archived from the original on 2011-08-25. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
4. "Joint motion for a resolution: European Parliament resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism". Europa.eu. 30 March 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-10.