- Andris Piebalgs
Infobox_Officeholder | name =Andris Piebalgs
order =European Commissioner for Energy
term_start =22 November ,2004
term_end =
predecessor =Loyola de Palacio
successor =Incumbent
birth_date =birth date and age|1957|09|17
birth_place =
profession =politician
party =EPP|Andris Piebalgs (born
17 September 1957 ) is aLatvia n politician and diplomat, currently serving asCommissioner for Energy at theEuropean Commission .Early career
Born in
Valmiera and educated at theUniversity of Latvia inRiga , 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 ofeducation minister from 1990 to 1993, andfinance minister from 1994 to 1995. He was Latvia'sambassador to neighbouringEstonia from 1995 to 1997, and to theEuropean Union from 1998 to 2003, playing a prominent role in the country's accession talks. Piebalgs was joint founder of the centristLatvian Way party.In addition to his native Latvian he is 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 theProdi Commission for its last few months in office. He was nominated for theBarroso Commission by the Latvian government as a replacement forIngrida Udre , who failed to win the support of theEuropean Parliament in her selection hearing for the position of Taxation and Customs Union Commissioner. He also replaced the Hungarian nomineeLászló 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 theEuropean 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." [http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/europeview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8491837 (subscription)]election 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 indemand 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 theEuratom Treaty is essential."Piebalgs expressed his unhappiness there was not 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 ofhydrogen as a fuel source, improving the competitiveness ofrenewable energy sources through economic measures, and supporting the development of nuclear fusion and theITER 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".
External links
* [http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/piebalgs/index_en.htm Official website]
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