Egils Levits was born on 30 June 1955 and is a Latvian politician, lawyer, political scientist and jurist who has served as the tenth president of Latvia since 8 July 2019.
23 Facts About Egils Levits
2.
Egils Levits was a member of the European Court of Justice from 2004 to 2019.
3.
Egils Levits was vice-prime minister and minister for justice of Latvia from 1993 to 1994 and ambassador to Hungary, Austria and Switzerland from 1994 to 1995.
4.
Egils Levits was then appointed a judge of the European Court of Human Rights, a position he held until 2004.
5.
Egils Levits finished second in the indirect election for the president of Latvia in 2015, behind Raimonds Vejonis.
6.
In 2018, Levits was reappointed a judge of the European Court of Justice, having first been appointed in 2004.
7.
Egils Levits is married and has two children: a son, Linards, and daughter, Indra.
8.
Egils Levits was born in Riga, into the family of Latvian Jewish engineer Jonass Egils Levits and his mother, Latvian-Baltic German poet Ingeborga Levite.
9.
Egils Levits has stated in interviews that despite his partial Jewish heritage, he identifies foremost as Latvian.
10.
Egils Levits has been involved in Latvian politics since the late 1980s.
11.
Egils Levits became a member of the Popular Front of Latvia and a member of the Latvian Citizens' Congress established in 1989.
12.
Egils Levits has been an ambassador of Latvia to Austria, Switzerland and Hungary.
13.
Egils Levits is the co-author of the preamble to the Constitution of Latvia and has been the head for Commission for Constitutional Law, working under the president together with lawyer Lauris Liepa.
14.
Egils Levits was named a presidential candidate by the National Alliance party in 2011 and 2015, coming second in votes in the final round to the minister of defense Raimonds Vejonis in 2015.
15.
Egils Levits was widely discussed as a potential frontrunner candidate for the presidency in early 2019, and on April 15 the parties of the ruling coalition announced that they would support Egils Levits' candidacy.
16.
Egils Levits was inaugurated in the Saeima on 8 July 2019.
17.
Egils Levits admitted that a phone call with those party members had taken place, but denied making any threats and called the controversy a "misunderstanding".
18.
In 1995, Egils Levits was elected representative of Latvia for European Court of Human Rights.
19.
Egils Levits has expressed traditionally conservative views on issues in Latvian politics.
20.
Egils Levits has expressed scepticism about enacting major change to the financial system, calling Latvia one of the strongest economies in Europe.
21.
Egils Levits has supported many initiatives to reduce the use of Russian language in Latvia, including promulgating amendments banning private universities to employ instruction in languages other than the official languages of the European Union, and reaffirmed that Russian nationals must first pass a Latvian literacy test to receive citizenship.
22.
Egils Levits is not a member of any political party, and has expressed a wish to remain independent.
23.
Egils Levits is married to Andra Levite, a gynecologist, and has a son named Linards and a daughter named Indra.