21 Facts About Sandra Kalniete

Sandra Kalniete was born on 22 December 1952 and is a Latvian politician, author, diplomat and independence movement leader.

Sandra Kalniete is currently a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and a substitute member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.

Sandra Kalniete has previously served as Ambassador to the United Nations, France and UNESCO.

Sandra Kalniete was born in Togur, Kolpashevsky District, Tomsk Oblast, Siberia, Russia, where her family had been deported from Latvia by the Soviet secret police during the occupation of her country by the Soviet Union, for use as slave labour.

Sandra Kalniete's father Aivars Kalnietis was born on 1931 and was deported together with his mother in 1949 as well.

Sandra Kalniete only saw her native country when she was five years old, when the family was allowed to return in 1957.

Sandra Kalniete studied art at the Latvian Academy of Art from 1977 to 1981 and worked as an art historian, publishing a book, Latvian Textile Art, in 1989.

Sandra Kalniete entered politics in 1988, during Latvia's independence movement, and was a deputy chairwoman and one of the founders of Latvian Popular Front, the main pro-independence political organization.

Sandra Kalniete graduated from the Department of Art History and Art Theory at the Art Academy of Latvia, the Institute for International Studies at the University of Leeds, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies - now Geneva Graduate Institute -, and has a Master of Arts from the Art Academy of Latvia.

Sandra Kalniete became Foreign Minister of Latvia in November 2002 and served in this position until in 2004 when she was appointed the first Latvian Commissioner of the European Union in charge of Agriculture and Fisheries.

At the beginning of 2006, Sandra Kalniete joined the New Era Party.

Sandra Kalniete was the 2007 candidate of the New Era Party for the post of Latvian president, before withdrawing in favor of Aivars Endzins on 24 May 2007.

Between 2006 and 2007, Sandra Kalniete served as member of the Amato Group, a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe into what became known as the Treaty of Lisbon following its rejection by French and Dutch voters.

In 2008, Sandra Kalniete announced she was leaving the New Era Party.

Sandra Kalniete joined the newly founded Civic Union and became the party's leader.

Sandra Kalniete put herself forward as a potential candidate to succeed Andris Berzins as President of Latvia after his decision to step down in 2015.

Sandra Kalniete was reelected as a Member of the European Parliament and in the 2019 European Parliament election in Latvia.

Sandra Kalniete was mentioned as a possible candidate for the 2023 Latvian presidential election.

Sandra Kalniete was reelected as a Member of the European Parliament and in the 2024 European Parliament election in Latvia.

Sandra Kalniete is involved in many human rights causes pertaining to totalitarian crimes.

Sandra Kalniete is the chair of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group, an all-party group in the European Parliament aimed at coming to terms with the totalitarian past in many countries of Europe.