Evika Siliņa

Evika Siliņa (born 3 August 1975) is a Latvian lawyer and politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Latvia since 15 September 2023. From 2022 to 2023, she served as Ministry of Welfare (Latvia) in the second cabinet of prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš. She is a member of the Unity political party, and the second female head of government of Latvia.

Early life
Siliņa was born in Riga on 3 August 1975. She studied at the University of Latvia from 1993 to 1997, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in law and at the Riga Graduate School of Law 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, Siliņa ran as a candidate of the Zatlers' Reform Party in Riga, but was not elected. From 2011 to 2012, she was a legal adviser to the Minister of Interior.

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 and their circulation in Latvia. She also represented the Ministry in international organizations such as the United Nations, INTERPOL, and CEPOL.

Following the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers led by Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš on 23 January 2019, she assumed the role of Parliamentary Secretary (Latvia) to the Prime Minister.

Siliņa ran as a New Unity party candidate in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election 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 ratification of the Istanbul Convention 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 Krišjānis Kariņš, the New Unity nominated Siliņa as a candidate for the post of prime minister. On 24 August, she was asked by President Edgars Rinkēvičs 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 (ZZS) and The Progressives (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" 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 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.