DR. ARTIS PABRIKS

Dr. Artis Pabriks is a politician, an academician, and currently chairman of “Northern Defence Policy Centre”. 

Pabriks started his political career in 2004, when he was elected to the Parliament of Latvia (Saeima). Three months later, he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. During this time he was negotiating Latvian-Russian border agreement.

In 2014, when he was elected in the European Parliament, Dr. Artis Pabriks became a member of the Committee on International Trade and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. He was responsible for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU, and the reform of FRONTEX. In 2018, he was elected to the Parliament of Latvia. From January 2019 until December 2022, Dr. Artis Pabriks was the Minister for Defense and Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia.

He holds a degree in history from the University of Latvia (1992) and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Aarhus, Denmark (1996). After finishing his Ph.D., he became the first rector of the Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, a newly founded regional college located in Valmiera, Latvia. Later on Dr. Pabriks held a position of an associate professor at Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration. 

He has co-authored one book - “Latvia: Challenge of Change” (2001), which was subsequently re-published together with volumes on Lithuania and Estonia under the title “The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania” (2002). His research interests are focused mainly on security policy, multiculturalism, nationalism, ethnic policy, ideologies, gender issues, and human rights. He has worked also as a policy analyst and consultant in several NGOs. Currently Dr. Artis is a chairman of newly founded think tank “Northern European Policy Center”.

On a personal note his main hobbies are chess and martial arts - Dr. Pabriks holds a 4th degree black belt in karate.