Valdis Dombrovskis | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People | |
| Assumed office 1 December 2019 Serving with Frans Timmermans &Margrethe Vestager | |
| Commission | Von der Leyen I andII |
| Preceded by | Office established[1] |
| European Commissioner for Trade | |
| In office 12 October 2020 Acting: 26 August 2020 – 12 October 2020 – 30 November 2024 | |
| Commission | Von der Leyen I |
| Preceded by | Phil Hogan |
| European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union | |
| In office 16 July 2016 – 12 October 2020 | |
| Commission | Juncker Von der Leyen I |
| Preceded by | Jonathan Hill |
| Succeeded by | Mairead McGuinness |
| 20thPrime Minister of Latvia | |
| In office 12 March 2009 – 22 January 2014 | |
| President | Valdis Zatlers Andris Bērziņš |
| Preceded by | Ivars Godmanis |
| Succeeded by | Laimdota Straujuma |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 7 November 2002 – 9 March 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Einars Repše |
| Preceded by | Gundars Bērziņš |
| Succeeded by | Oskars Spurdziņš |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1971-08-05)5 August 1971 (age 54) |
| Political party | New Era Party(2002–2011) Unity(2011–present) |
| Other political affiliations | European People's Party |
| Spouse | Ārija Dombrovska |
| Alma mater | University of Latvia Riga Technical University University of Maryland, College Park |
Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvian pronunciation:[ˈvaldisdɔmˈbrɔvskis]; born 5 August 1971) is aLatvianpolitician serving asEuropean Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, and Commissioner for Implementation and Simplification. He previously served asExecutive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People (2019-2024),European Commissioner for Trade (2020-2024).European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (2016-2020) andPrime Minister of Latvia from 2009 to 2014.
Dombrovskis served asMinister for Finance of Latvia from 2002 to 2004.[2] He then served as aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) for theNew Era Party from 2004 to 2009. He became thePrime Minister of Latvia in 2009, serving until his resignation in 2014.[3] He wasVice-President of the European Commission for the Euro and Social Dialogue from 2014 to 2019. Following the resignation ofLord Jonathan Hill,[4] Dombrovskis served asEuropean Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union from 2016 to 2020. Following the resignation ofPhil Hogan, it was announced that he would take over the portfolio forTrade.[5]
Born inRiga to a family withPolish roots (the original Polish surname isDąbrowski), Dombrovskis earned a bachelor's degree in economics for engineers fromRiga Technical University in 1995 and a master's degree in physics from theUniversity of Latvia in 1996.[6] He worked as a laboratory assistant at the Institute of Physics of theUniversity of Mainz inMainz,Germany, from 1995 to 1996, as an assistant at the University of Latvia's Institute ofSolid-State Physics in 1997, and as a PhD student at theA. James Clark School of Engineering at theUniversity of Maryland, College Park for electrical engineering in 1998.[6]
In 2002, Dombrovskis became a board member of theNew Era Party. He wasMinister of Finance from 2002 to 2004 and a Member of theLatvian Parliament during its 8th parliamentary term (2002–2004). Then he was Observer at theCouncil of the European Union (2003–2004).[7]
AsMember of the European Parliament, Dombrovskis was a member of three European Parliament Committees: Committee on Budgets, Delegation to theACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Delegation to theEuro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. He is also a Substitute at Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Committee on Budgetary Control and delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations withTajikistan, Turkmenistan andMongolia.[8]
Dombrovskis was also one of six Members of the European Parliament participating in the European Union's observer mission inTogo for theOctober 2007 Togolese parliamentary election.[9]
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On 26 February 2009, following the resignation ofIvars Godmanis, PresidentValdis Zatlers nominated Dombrovskis to succeed Godmanis as prime minister.[3] It was believed that his government would consist of three of the four previously governing parties (all but Godmanis'LPP/LC), his own New Era Party, and a smaller right-wing party (theCivic Union); the government was approved on 12 March 2009.[10]
Dombrovskis resigned as prime minister on 27 November 2013 following theZolitūde shopping centre roof collapse in which 54 people were killed. He announced that a new government is needed with strong support in the parliament after the tragedy, considering all related circumstances. His spokesman said that "the government takes political responsibility for the tragedy".[11] He denied the president had urged him to step down, stating that he had considered the decision for days and that the country needs government with strong support in parliament in the moment of crisis.[12]
In February 2014, Dombrovskis officially lodged his application to be the candidate of the centre-rightEuropean People's Party (EPP) for thepresidency of the European Commission;[13] shortly after he withdrew his candidacy to endorseJean-Claude Juncker instead.[14] The Latvian government later nominated Dombrovskis to be the country'sEuropean Commissioner.[15]
Dombrovskis served asEuropean Commission Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue from 2014 to 2019. From July 2016, he was also in charge of the financial services portfolio formerly overseen by British CommissionerJonathan Hill, who resigned after theBrexit vote.[16] In addition, he has been serving as co-chair of theEPP Economic and Financial Affairs Ministers Meeting – alongsidePetteri Orpo (2016-2019) andPaschal Donohoe (since 2019) – which gathers the center-right EPP ministers ahead of meetings of theEconomic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN).[17]
Following the2019 European election, Dombrovskis was nominated by thecoalition government of Prime MinisterArturs Krišjānis Kariņš for a second term as Latvia'sEuropean Commissioner.[18] He subsequently decided to relinquish the seat he won in the election; he was succeeded byInese Vaidere, also once again in 2024.[19]Ursula von der Leyen has since proposed thatFrans Timmermans,Margrethe Vestager and Dombrovskis all serve as Executive Vice-Presidents of the commission with Dombrovskis having responsibility for an "Economy that Works for People". As Vice-Presidents of the commission, Dombrovskis has been a co-chair of theTrade and Technology Council since its creation in 2021.[20]
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Dombrovskis is a supporter of the University of Latvia Foundation. In 2018, he donated 1,500 euros, awarding 3 one-time Valdis Dombrovskis Excellence Scholarships to Bachelor of Science students of the University of Latvia.[21]
He is married to Ārija Dombrovska. The two have no children. Dombrovskis plays basketball and goes skiing in his freetime.[23]
Media related toValdis Dombrovskis at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 2002–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Latvia 2009–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union 2016–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Latvian European Commissioner 2014–present | Incumbent |
| Preceded byas European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro | European Vice President for the Euro and Social Dialogue 2014–2019 | |
| Preceded by | European Commissioner for Trade Acting 2020–present | |
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