Ilze Viņķele (born Ilze Vidiņa on 27 November 1971 in

Rēzekne Rēzekne (, ''Rēzne'' or ''Rēzekne'' , ) is a state city in the Rēzekne River valley in the Latgale region of eastern Latvia. It is called ''The Heart of Latgale'' (Latvian ''Latgales sirds'', Latgalian ''Latgolys sirds''). Built on seven ...

) is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n politician, and the former Minister for Welfare and

Minister for Health of Latvia Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

. Currently, she is a member of the political party

Movement For! Movement For! () is a liberal political party in Latvia.Development/For! Development/For! ( Latvian: ''Attīstībai/Par!,'' AP!) was a liberal political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicia ...

alliance.

Political activity

On 7 November 2006 Ilze Viņķele became the Secretary of Parliament of the Special Assignments Ministry for European Union Funds of Latvia. In 2010 she was elected as a member of the 10th

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 p ...

, however, she became the Secretary of Parliament of the Ministry for Finance of Latvia. Viņķele was appointed Minister for Welfare of Latvia on 25 October 2011. In September 2012, 54

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s sent a joint letter demanding the resignation of Viņķele over two

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

booklets "The Day when Ruth was Richard" and "The Day when Karl was Caroline" whose publishing and distribution the ministry supported. On 17 July 2017 Viņķele and 4 other MPs (

Ints Dālderis Ints Dālderis (born 10 February 1971, Jūrmala, Latvian SSR) is a Latvian clarinetist and politician of initially the People's Party, then New Era Party, then Unity and finally Movement For!. He was Minister of Culture of Latvia The ministe ...

Lolita Čigāne Lolita Čigāne (born 18 August 1973) is an international consultant and policy analyst in elections, good governance, parliamentarianism and anti-corruption, previously a journalist, anti-corruption activist and advocate and a member of parliam ...

Andrejs Judins Andrejs is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the name Andrew and may refer to: *Andrejs Apsītis (1888–1945), Latvian cyclist and Olympic competitor *Andrejs Auzāns (1871–1953), Latvian military general and topographer *And ...

and

Aleksejs Loskutovs Aleksejs Loskutovs (born August 22, 1962) is a Latvian politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament for Unity from January 24, 2019, until July 1, 2019. Biography Aleksejs Loskutovs attended secondary school in Riga. In 1984, he ...

) left

Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

, however she continued to work in the party's parliamentary faction. On 26 August 2017 Viņķele became one of the founders for the political party Movement For! and was elected as its board member. On 29 August 2017 Viņķele stepped down as a member of

, being selected to study at the

McCain Institute The McCain Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based nonpartisan think tank established in cooperation with Arizona State University with the stated mission to "fight for democracy, human dignity, and security for a world that is free, safe, and jus ...

at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

as one of the eight

beneficiaries A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example, the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is the person who receives the payment of the amount of ...

. On 5 January 2021

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Krišjānis Kariņš Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš (; born 13 December 1964) is a Latvian American politician who served as the prime minister of Latvia from 2019 until 2023. A linguist and businessman by profession, he previously served as Latvia's minister of Economic ...

announced that he would be demanding the resignation of Viņķele as Health Minister due to disagreements over her proposed plan for the distribution of the

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

in Latvia. On the same day, she accepted the demand, and stepped down on 7 January 2021, with party member

Daniels Pavļuts Daniels Pavļuts (born 14 May 1976 in Jūrmala, Latvia) is a Latvian politician and former Minister for Health of Latvia from January 2021 to December 2022. He was formerly the Ministry of Economics (Latvia), Minister for Economics of Latvia, a po ...

being confirmed to succeed her the same day.

References

External links

Ministry of Foreign Affairs profile
1971 births Living people People from Rēzekne For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK politicians Civic Union (Latvia) politicians New Unity politicians Movement For! politicians Ministers of welfare of Latvia Deputies of the 10th Saeima Deputies of the 11th Saeima Deputies of the 12th Saeima Women government ministers of Latvia Women deputies of the Saeima Riga Stradiņš University alumni 21st-century Latvian women politicians {{Latvia-politician-stub