Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica

Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica is a Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, the Latvian Parliament, and is an active member of both the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on European Affairs. She leads the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where she is Vice-President of the EPP political group and Chair of the Monitoring Committee. She also serves as rapporteur on “Foreign interference: a threat to democratic security in Europe”. Beyond politics, Zanda lectures at the University of Latvia, teaching a master’s course on the European Union’s foreign affairs.

She is also a Council Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and is on the Board of Trustees of Friends of Europe, a Brussels-based think tank. From 2014 to 2022, she was Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representing Latvia at EU Foreign Affairs Council meetings of Development, Trade, and European Affairs Ministers. Earlier, she chaired the European Affairs Committee (2011–2014) of the Parliament and served as Strategic Analysis Advisor to President Valdis Zatlers (2008–2011). She holds a PhD in Management Science and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Latvia.