PROFILE: Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia's leading lady

Nov 12, 2009, 9:44 GMT

   Riga - By putting her name forward for the new position of European Council President, Vaira Vike-Freiberga is aiming to add another first to a notable pair she has already achieved.

   The flame-haired Latvian was her country's and Eastern Europe's first female head of state.

   Born in Riga in 1937, Vike-Freiberga saw her life affected by geopolitics from the beginning. Her family fled the advancing Red Army, which robbed Latvia of its short-lived independence.

   The young Vaira Vike spent time in Germany and Morocco but was raised mainly in Canada, where she met her husband, appended her name and embarked on a successful academic career working in semiotics and psycholinguistics.

   After the restoration of her homeland's independence in 1991, Vike-Freiberga returned in 1998 and won a surprise victory in presidential elections just one year later, followed by a second mandate in 2003.

   When she announced her retirement in 2007 she retained popular support, largely thanks to her reputation as an incorruptible and intellectual heavyweight not afraid to confront her country's powerful oligarchs.

   Latvians were also impressed by Vike-Freiberga's ease on the world stage, mixing with presidents and royalty on equal terms. To her critics, this quality looked like self-importance. During a visit by British monarch Elizabeth II in 2006, many jokes centred on which of the two women was more regal.

   But to her supporters, 'VVF' offers a way for the EU's larger states to avoid direct clashes. Coming from a small and some might say obscure member state, Vike-Freiberga's gravitas would foster compromise solutions where possible and principled stands where necessary.

   Fluent in five languages, she has impeccable European credentials, and she retains a firm belief in the European project.

   'I believe that European integration is the greatest success story we have had for centuries on our continent,' she told the German News Agency dpa.

   She is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and in December 2007 was appointed to the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe 2020-2030.

   'As a result, I am familiar with all the recent debates in the European Council, but I believe I am also in touch with public opinion,' she said.

   A President Vike-Freiberga would provide evidence of the importance of women to the EU and might help counter what many Eastern Europeans feel is an imbalance of power in favour of Western European countries.

   'I decided to step forward when it became clear that EU heads of states were looking for someone to embody the EU today in an inclusive manner. The fact that I am the only woman considered for the position is not unrelated to this decision,' she told dpa.

   A slick website (www.awomantoheadtheeu.eu) appeared as soon as Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis confirmed he would be putting her name forward.

   'This post must therefore be given to a person with high moral requirements and who has major intellectual powers,' the site says. 'Mrs Vaira Vike-Freiberga is the most qualified person to undertake this task.'

   However, Vike-Freiberga remains an outside bet for the EU's new top job. As well as her age - she will be 72 in December - and the fact that she had retired from day-to-day politics, she may have been surprised by lukewarm domestic support.

   Prime Minister Dombrovskis is a fan, but other members of his coalition government clashed with her while she was in office and are less enthusiastic about her comeback.

   Latvia's dreadful economic situation and its distant hopes of adopting the euro any time soon are obstacles, but the best evidence of how slim Vike-Freiberga's chances are came at a recent conference of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Riga.

At that forum, Estonia's president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and Lithuania's first female president, Dalia Grybauskaite, spoke glowingly of her abilities but stopped short of official endorsement.

   If Vike-Freiberga struggles to win backing from the other Baltic states, her chances of scoring another historic first don't look good. She insists she has support from other states but said it would be 'discourteous' to reveal any names.

   'My track record demonstrates my ability to take on this greatly challenging job and my nomination would be a strong symbol of a new Europe,' she said.