November 2, 2004 - 4:45 PM

Latvia drops controversial EU candidate

By Jorgen Johansson

RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia has dropped its controversial Eurosceptic nominee to the European Commission,
choosing a diplomat with EU experience to help ease turmoil over the 25-member team.

Former Finance Minister and former Latvian EU envoy Andris Piebalgs said the speed of his appointment would
help incoming EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso get the executive approved by the European Parliament.

"The fast response from the Latvian government will help put together the new commission and secure its
approval," Piebalgs told Reuters in a telephone interview from Brussels.

He replaced current parliament speaker Ingrida Udre, after Barroso asked Latvia to consider a new candidate.
She sparked controversy when she told reporters after meeting Barroso that she had expressed her "healthy
Euroscepticism".

She was among the members of Barroso's team who prompted anger among some European Parliament
members, although most of their ire was aimed at Italian Rocco Buttiglione for calling homosexuality a sin and
expressing conservative views on marriage.

Barroso pulled his team just before a parliamentary investiture vote for fear it would be rejected over Buttiglione.

With Buttiglione and Udre gone, attention turns to former Hungary's Laszlo Kovacs, who failed to impress
parliament with his command of the energy brief, and Dutch nominee Neelie Kroes, a former businesswoman
whose nomination as competition chief raised conflict of interest concerns.

Latvia, an ex-Soviet state which won its independence in 1991, joined NATO and the EU this year and most
politicians see close ties to Brussels as central to its economic development.

"Piebalgs is very experienced in European affairs and he helped Udre on her interview (at the European
Parliament)," said Latvian Prime Minister Indulis Emsis. Emsis is in a caretaker role after his government collapsed
last week.

"He would himself be ready to answer questions from the European Parliament," said Emsis.

Piebalgs was former education and finance minister in the early years of Latvia's post-Soviet independence. He
has since been a career diplomat, serving as ambassador to Estonia and then to the EU.