Latvia formally nominates Vike-Freiberga for EU president

Nov 9, 2009, 13:24 GMT

   Riga/Brussels - The Latvian government has formally nominated the country's former president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, as a candidate for the first president of the European Union, officials in Brussels confirmed Monday.

   Analysts say Vike-Freiberga will face an uphill struggle to convince other European leaders to back her for the EU's new top job, as her country is in deep financial trouble and has little influence within the EU.

   'I hereby propose Her Excellency Dr Vaira Vike-Freiberga ... a charismatic and powerful political thinker and a gifted multilingual orator who can unite and inspire nations,' Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis wrote to EU counterparts.

   Vike-Freiberga was born in Latvia, but fled the country in 1944 when the Red Army invaded, growing up in refugee camps in Germany and Algeria before moving to Canada.

   'Vaira Vike-Freiberga could become the symbol of a reunited Europe,' Dombrovskis wrote.

   Vike-Freiberga was Latvia's head of state, a largely ceremonial role, when the bloc joined the EU and NATO in 2004.

   A skilled diplomat and linguist, she quickly gained respect among Western leaders, with then US president George W Bush dubbing her 'the Iron Lady of the Baltics.'

   Her international fame peaked in 2005-06, when she was named UN Special Envoy on reforming the institution, and subsequently ran for the post of UN Secretary General, coming in at a better-than- expected third in the vote count.

   Since then, she has served as vice-president on the EU's internal think tank, the Reflection Group on the Future of the EU.

   However, analysts say that she lacks powerful backers who would allow her to overcome the challenge of front-runners such as the Belgian and Dutch premiers, Herman Van Rompuy and Jan-Peter Balkenende, because she does not belong to a political party.

Latvia is not a member of the euro zone and its economy is in deep recession. Moreover, some politicians in Riga argue that Vike- Freiberga's bid for the top job could weaken the chances for the country's EU commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, to win a powerful portfolio when the new EU executive is appointed later this year.