Rihards Kols is a member of the European Parliament. He is a Member of the 14th Saeima (the Parliament) of the Republic of Latvia since his re-election in 2022. Mr Kols previously served as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima and as the Representative of the Saeima to the OECD. He is Deputy Chair of the “National Alliance’’ political party. Mr Kols is a Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Before his current duties, Mr Kols has also served as Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, a Member of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima and a Member of the Parliament. R. Kols also served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Culture of Latvia, worked as an international affairs analyst at the Latvian British Chamber of Commerce and interned at the Royal Institute of International Affairs “Chatham House” at the Russia and Eurasia Programme. Mr Kols holds a Master’s degree in Diplomatic Studies from the University of Westminster – The Diplomatic Academy of London, as well as a professional Bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies from the School of Business Administration “Turība”.