Latvia, the first woman PM has started her mandate

The 62-year-old Laimdota Straujuma, appointed as Prime Minister two weeks ago. Schulz: “I welcome her plans to continue the reforms that allowed Latvia to enter the euro zone”

Maybe her resemblance with the German Chancellor, which have already led local press to call her “the Latvian Merkel”, will be a good omen for her: Laimdota Straujuma started today her adventure as Latvian Prime Minister. The first woman PM ever in the story of the country.

The coalition government led by the 62-year-old economist won the Parliament confidence vote after being appointed two weeks ago by the Latvian President Andris Berzins. Her predecessor, Valdis Dombrovskis, resigned voluntarily after accepting political responsibility for the collapse of a supermarket roof that killed 57 people in November. Strujuma is the country’s first woman ever to hold the post of Prime Minister, and the first PM of the country since Latvia became the 18^th member state of the euro zone on 1 January as well.

“I congratulate the new Latvian Prime Minister,” said Martin Schulz, European Parliament President, and “I wish Prime Minister Straujuma all the best in efforts to meet the country’s challenges,” which include “sustaining Latvia’s accelerating economic growth while reducing social inequality, curbing unemployment and avoiding the past boom and bust cycles.” Schulz is confident on PM Straujuma plans “to continue the reforms launched by her predecessor, which allowed Latvia to become the 18th member state of the euro zone this year.”