Rihards Kols is a Latvian politician and Member of the European Parliament. Prior to this, a member of the Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia, where he served as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Head of Delegation at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the OECD. Rihards is also Deputy Chairman of the National Alliance party, a member of the National Guard, and a Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He holds a master’s degree in diplomatic studies and a professional bachelor’s degree in legal studies.
He served as Deputy Chairman of the Saeima’s Foreign Affairs Committee and as Secretary of the Saeima’s European Affairs Committee. He has also held positions such as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Culture of Latvia. Additionally, Rihards Kols has also worked as an international affairs analyst at the Latvian British Chamber of Commerce and interned at the Royal Institute of International Affairs on the Russia and Eurasia Programme.
