Raimonds Vējonis

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Raimonds Vējonis (2010)

Raimonds Vējonis (born June 15, 1966 in Pskov Oblast , then Russian SFSR , Soviet Union ) is a Latvian politician and was President of Latvia from July 2015 to July 2019 . Before that, he was chairman of the Green Party and held various ministerial offices from 2002 to 2015.

Life

Raimonds Vējonis was born on June 15, 1966 in the Russian Pskov Oblast to a Latvian father and a Russian mother when his father was stationed there as a soldier in the Soviet Army . He grew up in Sarkaņi and attended school in the nearby town of Madona . In 1989 he obtained a university degree from the Faculty of Biology of the Latvian Pēteris Stučka State University in Riga , in 1995 the master’s degree from the same faculty of the university, now renamed University of Latvia. During his studies he worked as a biology teacher in Madona from 1987 to 1989.

Public duties

In the 1990s he began to get involved politically and ecologically and was initially active as a politician in the environmental sector at the local level. From 2002 to 2011 he was Latvia's Minister of the Environment. In January 2014 he became Minister of Defense of the country in the Straujuma I cabinet under Laimdota Straujuma , and since November 2014 he has been Minister of Defense in the Straujuma II cabinet .

On June 3, 2015, Vējonis was elected new President by Parliament in the fifth ballot. He took office on July 8th. Since his party had to go into the opposition after the parliamentary elections in 2018 , it was foreseeable that he would not find a majority for re-election. Therefore, Vējonis decided not to run again at the end of his four-year term and handed over the office to his successor Egils Levits on July 8, 2019 .

On January 20, 2020, he was elected President of the Latvian Basketball Federation.

Private

Vējonis is married and has two sons.

On January 20, 2016, he had to undergo heart surgery.

Web links

Commons : Raimonds Vējonis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Latvia becomes the first EU country with a green head of state . Zeit Online, June 3, 2015
  2. ↑ Vejonis took over the presidency in Latvia. In: ORF.at . July 8, 2015, accessed July 8, 2015 .
  3. ^ Raimonds Vējonis becomes a president again. In: lsm.lv. January 21, 2020, accessed January 21, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Heart problems: Latvia's head of state urgently needs to go under the knife on de.sputniknews.com, accessed on February 23, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Vējonis, Raimonds
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Latvian politician (Latvijas Zaļā partija)
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Pskov Oblast , Russian SFSR, Soviet Union