Everything about Andris Piebalgs totally explained
Andris Piebalgs (born
17 September 1957) is a
Latvian politician and diplomat, currently serving as
European Commissioner for
Energy.
Early career
Born in
Valmiera and educated at the
University of Latvia in
Riga, Piebalgs worked as a teacher in Valmiera in the 1980s. 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's fluent in
English,
German,
French, and
Russian, and has basic knowledge of
Estonian.
European Commission
Before taking up his current post, Piebalgs ran the office of
Sandra Kalniete, Latvia's member of the
Prodi Commission for its last few months in office. He was nominated for the
Barroso Commission by the Latvian government as a replacement for
Ingrida Udre, who failed to win the support of the
European Parliament in her selection hearing for the position of Taxation and Customs Union Commissioner. He also replaced the
Hungarian nominee
László Kovács who had been set to take charge of the energy portfolio but failed to convince
MEPs of his competence for the role during his original selection hearing. Piebalgs took office along with the rest of the Barroso Commission on 22 November 2004. He is affiliated with the
European People's Party (EPP), along with 8 more Commissioners (including Barroso).
The Economist named Piebalgs as their "Eurocrat of the Year" in January 2007, commentating that he "understands both the technicalities of his brief and its political dimensions, and has the nerve to take on the powerful energy lobbies in Europe’s biggest countries."
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Selection hearing
Questioned by the European Parliament, Piebalgs stressed the importance of environmental considerations in
energy policy, and announced his intention to pursue a policy framework based on limiting growth in
demand for energy while increasing diversity of supply.
He was cautious on the question of support for
nuclear energy, and said that he favoured an EU-wide regulatory framework for
nuclear safety as a way of increasing the industry’s transparency and levels of public acceptance. He also said that, "strict application of provisions of the
Euratom Treaty is essential."
Piebalgs expressed his unhappiness there wasn't yet a 'level playing field' for competition in the energy and gas industries across the Union. He assigned high priority to reducing overall energy demand, especially by improving the
energy efficiency of buildings, promoting the long-term development of
hydrogen as a fuel source, improving the competitiveness of
renewable energy sources through economic measures, and supporting the development of
nuclear fusion and the
ITER project.
Following his hearing Piebalgs received strong backing from across the political spectrum, including the
Greens, who had previously described László Kovács's performance on energy issues as "an offence to the parliament".
Further Information
Get more info on 'Andris Piebalgs'.
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