Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis
| Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis | |
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| Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia | |
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In office 2010–2011 |
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Member of the European Parliament for Latvia |
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In office 2004–2009 |
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| Minister of Defense of Latvia | |
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In office 1998–2004 |
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| Minister of the Interior of Latvia | |
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In office 1993–1994 |
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| 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, 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). 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.
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