Country profile/Estonia: One Estonian is making sure that her little nation's race to fill just six seats in the European parliament will get plenty of attention.
Carmen Kass, reputedly the world's second highest-earning supermodel and Estonia's richest woman, is now a front-runner for one of the Baltic nation's precious places in Brussels.
Eleven years after a talent scout spotted her in a supermarket in Tallinn, Estonia's historic capital, Ms Kass is rapidly becoming the face of a vibrant country determined to make its mark on the continent.
Now 25, she can command some $200,000 for each catwalk appearance and divides her time between New York and Tallinn, where she joined the Res Publica party this year to win a place on its ticket for the election.
Vogue's 2000 Model of the Year shrugs off criticism that she is just window dressing for her party and nation. In the frothy beau monde of high fashion, she is seen as a steely, cerebral loner. She even plays chess.
"I'm entering politics because, for the past 10 years, I've got a lot from the world," she said this year. "And everything I've got, I've got from Estonia. I want to give something back."
Res Publica is hoping to win three of the available seats on June 13th, and its pro-business brand of "caring conservatism" has proved popular in an Estonia whose high-tech economy is one of the fastest growing in Europe.
Tallinn followed Dublin's lead in slashing direct corporate taxes and adopted some of Europe's most liberal investment rules ahead of EU accession in May.
Prime Minister Juhan Parts, a Res Publica member, urges Estonia's MEPs to defend robustly their country in Brussels.
Relations with Russia will be a factor in the June 13th elections, especially coming a day before Estonians annually honour the thousands of people snatched by Stalin in 1941 and deported to the Siberian gulag.
More than a quarter of Estonia's population are Russian, but half of them are stateless, because they cannot or will not sit a test on Estonian language and culture for those seeking citizenship.
It will be a struggle for them to win a seat in the European Parliament, and an even bigger one to lure a shaft of the limelight away from Ms Kass.