Ilmārs Poikāns (mainly known as Neo in Latvia due to leaking public sector tax records to the public) has been elected European of the Year 2010 in Latvia. The official award giving ceremony took place yesterday, on December 29 in Riga. This year for the 13th time European Movement – Latvia organized the public voting for the European of the Year 2010. The nomination is widely used as a possibility for everyone to thank the person who, in their opinion, was most successful in forging closer ties between Latvia and Europe.

The winner, Ilmārs Poikāns (aka NEO), stirred up Latvian and even international interest in February, when (even before the loudest Wikileaks publications) he, hiding behind the nickname, leaked several thousand of tax records and revealed the often excessive spending and salaries in the public sector. The data was obtained through a security hole in the computer systems of the State Revenue Service. Reacting to the big discontent of people in Latvia, the data on salaries and public spending is now regularly published after changes in the law. Poikāns is a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Latvia.

According to the policy expert Dr. Ivars Ījabs, the support of the society for Poikāns as European of the Year in Latvia is very understandable: “We might or might not like his action, but it must be taken into account. Ilmārs Poikāns with his activities has revealed different policy weaknesses and triggered a wide discussion on the necessary changes and development of Latvian and European democracy in the future. One phenomenon in this context is clear: the gap between information available to decision-makers and to the society is becoming ever narrower.” Ilze Nagla, journalist of the Latvian Television, believes Poikāns proved that even one single person can make a big change. Voters, who nominated Poikāns as the European of the Year, mostly stressed his civic courage and his desire to promote openness as a crucial European value. His action, which did not bring any immediate personal benefits for NEO himself, has been lauded as inspiring and thought-provoking.

The voting, as usual, has garnered wide public attention. As each voter could suggest their own candidate, more than 45 persons were nominated, and president of the European Movement – Latvia Andris Gobiņš applauds the fact that “This year voters have appreciated the input of so many people, who with their activities have brought Latvia nearer to Europe and Europe to Latvia. In some way, each of them would have deserved this title.”

European Movement – Latvia is grateful to the Representation of the European Commission in Latvia for its support!

Further information: Andris Gobiņš, president of the European Movement – Latvia, tel. +371-29626646, info@eiropaskustiba.lv