1. Andris Piebalgs was born on 17 September 1957 and is a Latvian politician and diplomat who served as European Commissioner for Development at the European Commission from 2010 until 2014.
16 Facts About Andris Piebalgs
1. 2.
Andris Piebalgs was born on 17 September 1957 in Valmiera, Latvia.
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Andris Piebalgs is an experienced Latvian politician who occupied key positions in both national and European political fields.
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Andris Piebalgs served as director of the department in the Ministry of Education in Latvia.
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Andris Piebalgs was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union from 1979.
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On 7 May 1990, Andris Piebalgs was appointed as Minister of Education in the new Government, and one year later, in August 1991, Latvia regained full independence.
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In 1993, Andris Piebalgs won a seat in the Latvian Parliament, when the first elections after the restoration of independence were held according to the Latvian election law.
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Andris Piebalgs served as the chairman of the budget and finance committee until 1994.
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Andris Piebalgs first served as the ambassador of Latvia in Estonia, where he helped to solve the sea border issue between the two states.
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Andris Piebalgs's role was instrumental in coordinating Latvia's position in the European Council and all Council formations.
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In 2009, Andris Piebalgs received the "Diamond Prize" from the Regional Chamber of Commerce in Katowice for his work in developing a cohesive European Energy Policy for the further generations.
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On 15 November 2004 when questioned by the European Parliament as the Commissioner Designate for Energy, Andris Piebalgs stressed the importance of environmental considerations in energy policy, and announced his intention to pursue a policy framework based on limiting growth in demand for energy while increasing diversity of supply.
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Andris Piebalgs was cautious on the question of support for nuclear energy, and said that he favoured an EU-wide regulatory framework for nuclear safety as a way of increasing the industry's transparency and levels of public acceptance.
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Andris Piebalgs expressed his unhappiness there was not yet a 'level playing field' for competition in the energy and gas industries across the union.
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Andris Piebalgs assigned high priority to reducing overall energy demand, especially by improving the energy efficiency of buildings, promoting the long-term development of hydrogen as a fuel source, improving the competitiveness of renewable energy sources through economic measures, and supporting the development of nuclear fusion and the ITER project.
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Andris Piebalgs underlined the need to take advantage of the creation of the post of a foreign policy High Representative and External Action Service, without, however "allowing development policy to be seen in any way as simply a tool to achieve wider political goals for the EU".