Swedish newspaper expresses support towards Vike-Freiberga's candidacy
LETA-ELTA
In its opinion section today, Swedish daily ''Dagens Nyheter'' (DN) recommended former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga be elected as the first European Union president.
''The EU needs and strong, stable leader that is able to unite. Her name is Vaira Vike-Freiberga,'' the newspaper writes.
The newspaper points out that the election process for the European Union president post will be a relatively closed process, taking place during the Swedish EU presidency, which will be headed by Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt during the EU Summit in November.
DN also warns that ''the election will take place with no open debates and selection hearings'', that is why there is a risk that the best candidates could be lost in the ''diplomatic process'', where much importance will be ''corner discussions''. The end result could be that ''colorless mediocrity'' is elected. Thus, the newspaper wishes to remind ''EU members and national leaders of a person who could be a excellent EU president. Her name is Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and she is the former president of Latvia.''
The article goes on to write about Vike-Freiberga's biography, that she was born in Latvia and escaped from the country in WWII, grew up in Morocco and Canada, where she became a professor and later returned to Latvia in 1998. She was the president of Latvia for two terms and became a ''very respected representative of her country'', where she contributed to the strengthening of rule of law and the fight against corruption.
''Dagens Nyheter'' also praised Vike-Freiberga's eloquence and knowledge of languages, and also attempts to rebut the possible objections against her candidacy. The newspaper mentions the following as the possible objections against her candidacy - her support of the George Bush war in Iraq, the fact that Latvia is not a euro-zone member, and possible objections by Russia to her candidacy.
''None of these arguments are valid,'' DN writes, ''the invasion of Iraq is history, and if this issue is decisive on who will be elected as EU president, most of the current candidates would be excluded.'' Also, some politicians calling for a requirement that candidates must be from the euro-zone is pointless, but Russia does not have veto rights in EU elections.
The article ends with saying that ''Vaira Vike-Freiberga could give the EU a strong and well formulated global voice. She could be a unifying force within the EU, and the union should finally have a woman in its highest post. 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the time has come to elect an EU president from one of the new member states. This would etch out the EU's solidarity and the beginning of a new era.''
2009-11-06
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