Andris Piebalgs |
Wiki |
Andris Piebalgs (born 17 September 1957) is a Latvian politician and diplomat, currently serving as Commissioner for Energy at the European Commission.
Born in Valmiera and educated at the University of Latvia in Riga, Piebalgs worked as a teacher in Valmiera in the 1980s. He was a member of the Communist Party of USSR. In the early years of Latvia's independence from the USSR he held the posts of education minister from 1990 to 1993, and finance minister from 1994 to 1995. He was Latvia's ambassador to neighbouring Estonia from 1995 to 1997, and to the European Union from 1998 to 2003, playing a prominent role in the country's accession talks. Piebalgs was joint founder of the centrist Latvian Way party.
In addition to his native Latvian he is fluent in English, German, French, and Russian, and has basic knowledge of Estonian.