Andris Ameriks (born March 5, 1961 in

Jūrmala Jūrmala (; "seaside") is a state city in Latvia, about west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching and sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has a stretch of white-sand beach, and a population of 49,325 in 2019 ...

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

) is a Latvian politician and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

who has been serving as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

since the 2019 elections. He is a former

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Political career

Career in national politics

During his youth, he was a former first secretary of the Communist Youth organization of the

. From 1993 to 1998 he was a member of the

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the po ...

, representing the

National Harmony Party The National Harmony Party ( Latvian: ''Tautas Saskaņas partija'', TSP; russian: Партия народного согласия) was a political party in Latvia. The party identified with social democracy. It supported further liberalisation o ...

and later,

Democratic Party "Saimnieks" The Democratic Party "Saimnieks" ( lv, Demokrātiskā partija "Saimnieks") was a Latvian centre-left political party formed through the merger of the Latvian Democratic Party and the political party "Saimnieks" in 1995. It won the 1995 parliament ...

. From 2001 he has been a member of the

Riga City Council Riga City Council ( lv, Rīgas dome) is the government of the city of Riga, the capital of Latvia. Its meeting place is in the Riga Town Hall (''Rīgas rātsnams)'' at the Town Hall Square (''Rātslaukums'') in the very heart of Riga. The Riga C ...

, from 2010 till 2018 serving as the Deputy Chairman of Riga City Council, i.e. the deputy mayor of the Latvian capital. Ameriks is known to be getting a significant part of his income from investments in

payday loan A payday loan (also called a payday advance, salary loan, payroll loan, small dollar loan, short term, or cash advance loan) is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates. The term "payday" in payday loan refers to ...

companies. In 2017 Ameriks received the largest income among the elected municipal officials in Latvia, reporting an income of 616,386 EUR and 35,250 USD, with most of it being interest payments from Mogo non-bank lender and from the sale of securities. Ameriks resigned as deputy mayor of Riga City Council on December 17, 2018, amid corruption allegations around

Rīgas Satiksme Rīgas Satiksme is a municipally-owned public transportation and infrastructure company serving Riga, Latvia and the surrounding areas. It was founded on 20 February 2003 as an Umbrella organization, umbrella organisation for the respective operat ...

. On December 19, 2018 members from the Riga City Council opposition initiated an unsuccessful

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

against Ameriks as a board chairman for

Freeport of Riga Riga Free Port ( lv, Rīgas brīvosta) is a major port on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, located in Riga, the capital of Latvia. It stretched for 15 kilometers along both banks of the Daugava within the city limits, the area of the port is 19 ...

Member of the European Parliament

Ameriks has been a

since the 2019 elections. He has since been serving on the

Committee on Transport and Tourism The Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair is the French MEP Karima Delli of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. Research service The Committee is directly supported by ...

and the

Committee on Petitions The Committee on Petitions (PETI) is a permanent committee of the European Parliament to offer a petition process including a web portal to create and admit petitions. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Dolors Montserrat, member of the ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, Ameriks is part of the Parliament’s delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, EU-Uzbekistan and EU-Tajikistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and for relations with Turkmenistan and Mongolia. He is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Western Sahara.Intergroup on Western Sahara

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

References

1961 births Living people People from Jūrmala Politicians from Riga National Harmony Party politicians Democratic Party "Saimnieks" politicians Latvia's First Party politicians Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way politicians Honor to serve Riga politicians Deputies of the 5th Saeima Deputies of the 6th Saeima MEPs for Latvia 2019–2024 University of Latvia alumni {{Latvia-politician-stub