Jānis Reirs (born 23 September 1961 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 B ...

) is a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n politician who has been serving as Minister of Finance in the government 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 ...

Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš since 2019. He previously served as Minister for Welfare in the

Kučinskis cabinet The Kučinskis cabinet was the government of Latvia from 11 February 2016 to 23 January 2019. The stated objectives of the cabinet were to develop the economy, state security, education and health reform, the living standards of families, and soc ...

from 2016 to 2019 and

Minister for Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

in the

second Straujuma cabinet The Second Straujuma cabinet was the government of Latvia from 5 November 2014 to 11 February 2016. It was the second government to be led by Laimdota Straujuma, who was the Prime Minister from 2014 to 2016. It took office after the October 2014 ...

Education

Reirs holds a master's degree in economics from 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 ...

(LU).Board of Governors: Jānis Reirs

European Stability Mechanism The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was ...

Career

Reirs was active member of Communist party (students’ organization). While progressive part of Latvian nation was talking about declaring independence from USSR, Reirs was still defending ideals of the communism. Reirs was a Member of the Board of Trasta komercbanka PLC from 1996 to 1999. He chaired the board of JSC Spodrība, a Latvian producer of detergents and maintenance products. He was also a partner at Prudentia, one of Latvia's largest investment banks.Nicholas Hirst (December 18, 2014)
Jānis Reirs: Latvia’s finance minister
''

European Voice ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''. Together with

Einars Repše Einars Repše (born 9 December 1961) is a Latvian physicist, financier and politician, chairman of the Association for Latvian Development. Biography Einars Repše graduated from Latvia State University (now known as University of Latvia) in ...

, who later served as Latvia's prime minister from 2002 until 2004, Reirs was one of the founders in 2002 of New Era, which in 2010 merged into the centre-right grouping

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 ...

. Reirs became a member of the Latvian Parliament in the 2002 national elections and later served as Minister for Information society from 2004 until 2006. From 2010 until 2014 he chaired the Budget Committee. Reirs participate in parliamentary elections of 2022, however he has rejected, mainly because of his past, and also because of decisions made by him during his service as minister of finance. His name also appears is so called building cartel case. In 2019, Reirs joined forces with his counterparts of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands in pushing for the establishment of a new EU supervisory authority that would take over the oversight of money laundering at financial firms, which had been the responsibility of member states.

Other activities

European Union organizations

* European Investment Bank (EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019) *

(ESM), Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019)

International organizations

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially fo ...

(EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019) *

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is an international financial institution which offers political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees. These guarantees help investors protect foreign direct investments agains ...

(MIGA),

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Gr ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019) *

Nordic Investment Bank The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is an international financial institution founded in 1975 by the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). In 2005, the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) also bec ...

(NIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors *

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019)Board of Governors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reirs, Janis 1961 births Living people Politicians from Riga New Era Party politicians New Unity politicians Ministers of Finance of Latvia Ministers of Welfare of Latvia Deputies of the 8th Saeima Deputies of the 9th Saeima Deputies of the 10th Saeima Deputies of the 11th Saeima Deputies of the 12th Saeima Deputies of the 13th Saeima University of Latvia alumni