The Latvian parliament on Wednesday elected Judge of the European Court of Justice Egils Levits as the next president of the country. He gained the support of 61 lawmakers in the 100-member parliament
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th May, 2019) The Latvian parliament on Wednesday elected Judge of the European Court of Justice Egils Levits as the next president of the country. He gained the support of 61 lawmakers in the 100-member parliament.Latvian lawyer and political scientist Egils Levits was born in the Latvian capital of Riga on June 30, 1955.
In 1972, his family moved to West Germany, where he graduated in law and political science from the University of Hamburg.
In the late 1980s, he was an active participant in the movement for the restoration of Latvia's independence.
In 1989, Levits was a member of the Latvian People's Front Council and a member of the country's Civil Congress.
Levits was one of the authors of the Declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia," which was adopted by the Supreme Council of the Latvian SSR in May, 1990.
In 1993, Levits was elected a member of the country's parliament, the Saeima, from Latvian Way party.
From 1993 to 1994, Levits served as vice prime minister, justice minister and acting foreign minister.
He was ambassador to Germany and Switzerland from 1992 to 1993, and then, in 1994 and 1995, he became ambassador to Austria, Switzerland and Hungary.
Levits served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights from 1995 to 2004.
In 1997, he was appointed conciliator at the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
He became a judge at the European Court of Justice on May 11, 2004. In 2018, his term of office was extended for six years, to October 6, 2024.
At the end of 2007, he headed the Constitutional Law Commission, which was established by then- Latvian President Valdis Zatlers.
In 2007 and 2011, Levits was nominated as the presidential candidate, but he refused to run due to the lack of support from the ruling party. He was nominated for the position again in 2015, but failed to collect the required number of votes during the secret ballot.
On 9 May 2019, Levits was officially nominated as the presidential candidate by the ruling coalition.
On May 29, 2019, he was elected president by an open vote.
He is an author of numerous scientific publications in the fields of constitutional and administrative law, legal policy, reform and European Union law.
He is a researcher at the Faculty of Law at University of Kiel.
Levits has been a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration from 2001, and he is a member of the Latvian academy of Sciences.
He is married, and has a son and a daughter.
