Ivars Godmanis

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Ivars Godmanis (left) greets American Ambassador Chuck Larson, 2009
Ivars Godmanis (far left) with representatives of the government of Latvia, USA

Ivars Godmanis [ ˈivars ˈguɐdmanis ] (born November 27, 1951 in Rīga ) is a Latvian physicist and politician. He was Prime Minister of Latvia from 1990 to 1993 and from 2007 to 2009.

Life

Ivars Godmanis was born in Riga as the son of the scientist Teodors Godmanis . Godmanis studied physics at the University of Latvia in Riga and obtained a first degree (BS) in 1974. He then continued his studies at the Institute of Solid State Physics at the University of Latvia and graduated in 1983 with the diploma examination in physics and mathematics. In 1986/1987 Godmanis completed additional studies at the University of Graz in Austria and received his doctorate in natural sciences in 1992. Before and after his stay in Austria, Godmanis worked as a research assistant at the University Institute for Solid State Physics in Riga. Godmanis initially stayed away from politics, nor was he a member of the Communist Party . After the Soviet party leader Mikhail Gorbachev set an example for political change by relinquishing his claim to rule over the Eastern European states, Godmanis became involved in the Latvian Popular Front and became its second chairman in 1988.

On July 5, 1990, Ivars Godmanis became his country's first prime minister after it restored independence from the Soviet Union . During his tenure, Godmanis focused primarily on Latvia's difficult economic transition from a communist planned economy to a market economy .

From 1993 to 1998 Godmanis worked in the finance and banking sector. As a party member of Latvijas Ceļš , he was a member of the Saeima and from 1998 to 1999 Finance Minister of the Vilis Krištopans cabinet . In the 2004 merged party LPP / LC he was chairman together with Ainārs Šlesers . On December 20, 2007, after the resignation of Aigars Kalvītis , in whose government he had been Minister of the Interior, he was again prime minister. He resigned with his cabinet in February 2009. In the same year he was elected to the European Parliament in Brussels and therefore temporarily resigned from his party chairmanship. Meanwhile his party had disbanded; Godmanis did not run for the 2014 European elections. In the 2014 elections for Saeima, he ran on the Vienoti Latvijai party list .

EU parliamentarian from 2009 to 2014

Godmanis was a member of the board of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe . He was a member of the Committee on Budgets , the delegation for relations with Belarus and the delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly . Godmanis was an alternate member in the Committee on Regional Development and in the delegation in the committees for parliamentary cooperation EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.

Private life

The 32-year-old marriage to Ramona Godmane has three children. After the divorce, Godmanis married Ilze Pētersone in 2011. Godmanis moderated a program on the history of rock music on the private Latvian radio station SWH-Rock.

Individual evidence

  1. n-tv: Now also in Latvia - Godmanis resigns ; News from February 20, 2009
  2. ^ Ivars Godmanis on the website of the European Parliament.
  3. Ivars Godmanis slepus apņēmis sievu Mango. Lv

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Kārlis Ulmanis Prime Minister of Latvia
May 7, 1990 - August 3, 1993
Valdis Birkavs
predecessor Office successor
Aigars Kalvītis Prime Minister of Latvia
December 20, 2007 - March 12, 2009
Valdis Dombrovskis