Latvian President advocates EU change

  • 2005-06-10
  • By TBT staff

RIGA - Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, addressing the fourth economics summit in Munich, asked for Europe to reach a new agreement on the future governance of the EU. She also emphasized that these ideas should be more comprehensible to citizens.


The Latvian president underscored that the EU was currently facing a crisis, and that aims to become the most dynamically growing economy in the world were falling short. Reforms in many EU member states have been formally implemented, she noted, and the results are not satisfactory.

An increasing contribution to research, education and technology is necessary to raise the bloc's international competitiveness, she said, pointing out that citizens are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the slow economic growth, unemployment and other woes.

"Each crisis has two alternative interpretations. One is a 'threat' and the other one 's 'opportunity.' In my opinion, we need a debate on what the EU actually is, and what it stands for, in order to go forward and turn crisis into opportunity," Vike-Freiberga said.