Valentina Pop, EUObserver
BERLIN - Conservative parties in the three Baltic states are supporting former Latvian prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis to take the pole position for the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) in the EU elections.
Speaking to EUobserver on Saturday (15 February), Dombrovskis said he decided to put his name forward as the EPP top candidate because he believes "there is something from my work experience as a prime minister of Latvia which can be useful also at a European level."
Dombrovskis, 42 years old, is running again to be an MEP after being elected to the European Parliament in 2004-2009. He became Latvian PM in 2009, just as the financial and economic crisis struck his home country.
Latvia was the first EU country to ask for an international bailout, but later rebounded and managed to meet the strict economic and fiscal criteria for euro membership. It became a member of the single currency on 1 January. Dombrovskis, however, had already resigned a few weeks earlier, following the collapse of a supermarket which killed 54 people.
The EPP has started the process of selecting its top candidate for the EU elections, with a final decision due in three weeks' time at a congress in Dublin.
So far, the other official candidates in the running are ex-eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker (59 years old) and EU internal market commissioner Michel Barnier (63 years old), both veterans of EU politics.
Continue reading here: http://euobserver.com/eu-elect...
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