Evika Siliņa (born 3 August 1975) is a Latvian lawyer and politician who has been serving as the

prime minister of Latvia The prime minister of Latvia ( lv, ministru prezidents) is the most powerful member of the Government of Latvia, who presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The officeholder is nominated by the president of Latvia, but must be able to obta ...

since 15 September 2023. From 2022 to 2023, she served as in the second cabinet of prime minister

Krišjānis Kariņš Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš (born 13 December 1964) is an American-Latvian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Latvia since 2019. A linguist and businessperson by profession, he previously served as Latvia's Minister of Economics ...

. She is a member of the

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

political party, and the second female head of government of Latvia.

Early life

Siliņa was born in

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 ...

on 3 August 1975. She studied at the

University of Latvia University of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Universitāte, shortened ''LU'') is a state-run university located in Riga, Latvia established in 1919. The ''QS World University Rankings'' places the university between 801st and 1000th globally, seventh ...

from 1993 to 1997, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in law and at the

Riga Graduate School of Law The Riga Graduate School of Law (RGSL) ( lv, Rīgas Juridiskā augstskola) in Riga, Latvia is an autonomous law school in Baltic region offering Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral studies. It was established in 1998 through an international agreeme ...

for a master's degree in social sciences, international law, and European law. From 2003 to 2012, Siliņa worked as a lawyer specializing in international and domestic business law. Her clients included firms in telecommunications and IT as well as government bodies.

Political career

In the

2011 Latvian parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 17 September 2011, following the country's first parliamentary dissolution referendum held on 23 July 2011. The previous parliamentary election was only held in October 2010. The elections r ...

, Siliņa ran as a candidate of the

Zatlers' Reform Party The Reform Party ( lv, Reformu partija), until April 2012 known as Zatlers' Reform Party ( lv, Zatlera Reformu partija, links=no, ZRP), was a centre-right political party in Latvia founded by former President Valdis Zatlers on 23 July 2011. It wo ...

in Riga, but was not elected. From 2011 to 2012, she was a legal adviser to the

Minister of Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

. Siliņa served as the Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Interior from January 2013 until 23 January 2019. During her tenure as the Ministry of Interior's Secretary, Silina was praised for her openness to journalists, as well as for her fight against

synthetic cannabinoids Synthetic cannabinoids are a class of designer drug molecules that bind to the same receptors to which cannabinoids (THC, CBD and many others) in cannabis plants attach. These novel psychoactive substances should not be confused with synthetic ...

and their circulation in Latvia. She also represented the Ministry in international organizations such as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

INTERPOL The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

, and

CEPOL CEPOL, or the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training, is an agency of the European Union dedicated to training law enforcement officials. The institution was founded in 2000 and adopted its current legal mandate on 1 July 2016. It i ...

. Following the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers led by Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš on 23 January 2019, she assumed the role of to the Prime Minister. Siliņa ran as a

New Unity The New Unity ( lv, Jaunā Vienotība, JV) is a centre-right political alliance in Latvia. Its members are Unity, the Latgale Party and four other regional parties, and it is orientated towards liberal-conservatism and liberalism. History Be ...

party candidate in the

2022 Latvian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 1 October 2022, following the end of the term of the 13th Saeima elected in 2018. Electoral system The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by open list, proportional representation from five mult ...

and was elected to the 14th Saeima. On 6 December 2022, Siliņa was appointed as the Minister of Welfare in the Krišjānis Kariņš' cabinet. The new cabinet was confirmed on 14 December. As the Minister of Welfare, increasing minimum income was one of her main objectives. On 23 February 2023, she was appointed by the Prime Minister as a member of the newly formed Thematic Committee on European Union Funds. On 4 July 2023, her Ministry brought to 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 ...

ratification of the

Istanbul Convention The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a human rights treaty of the Council of Europe against violence against women and domestic v ...

with some reservations and the non-support of the government partner National Alliance.

Prime Minister of Latvia (2023–present)

On 16 August 2023, after the resignation of

, the New Unity nominated Siliņa as a candidate for the post of

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. On 24 August, she was asked by President

Edgars Rinkēvičs Edgars Rinkēvičs (born 21 September 1973 in Jūrmala) is a Latvian public official and politician, currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, a role he has held since 2011. Before beginning in this role, he served as head o ...

to form a government. On 29 August, United List declined to be part of a four-party coalition government following the offer by Siliņa. On 1 September, Siliņa indicated that she intended to forge a new parliamentary majority with the

Union of Greens and Farmers The Union of Greens and Farmers ( lv, Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība, ZZS) is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils. It is pos ...

(ZZS) and

The Progressives The Progressives (''Les Progressistes'') is a social-democratic French political party associated to the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement. It was founded in September 2007 by Éric Besson, Secretary of State in François Fillon's govern ...

(P). Twelve days later she unveiled the composition of the new government, in which New Unity (JV) had seven ministries, ZZS four and P three, with Krišjānis Kariņš recalled as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The government coalition led by Siliņa won the confidence of the parliamentary majority in the Saeima on 15 September 2023, receiving 53 votes. In her speech, the new Prime Minister emphasized the need to be more inclusive, which was interpreted as prioritizing gender equality and other progressive goals. For the Russian-speaking minority, inclusion assumes elimination of the "

non-citizen In law, an alien is any person (including an organization) who is not a citizen or a national of a specific country, although definitions and terminology differ to some degree depending upon the continent or region. More generally, however, ...

" status and integration into the Latvian-based education system. The government also aims to increase the military budget and complete the construction of the barrier on the country's border with Russia and Belarus. Siliņa is the second woman to become prime minister of Latvia, following

Laimdota Straujuma Laimdota Straujuma (born 24 February 1951) is a Latvian economist who was the Prime Minister of Latvia, Prime Minister of Latvia from January 2014 to February 2016. Before her tenure as Prime Minister, she served as Minister of Agriculture from 20 ...

in 2014–2016.

Personal life

Evika Siliņa is married to Aigars Siliņš, with whom she has three children. As well as her native language of Latvian, Siliņa is fluent in English and Russian.

References

External links