LATVIA: Latvia's president has named senior right-of-centre politician Mr Aigars Kalvitis as prime minister, a move set to keep the new EU member on its previous foreign and economic policy tracks
Mr Kalvitis, nominated by the President, Ms Vaira Vike-Freiberga, after days of talks with major political parties, now has to fill the vacuum left by the collapse last month of the government of Mr Indulis Emsis, Europe's first Green prime minister.
Mr Kalvitis, head of the parliamentary wing of the People's Party, which has 20 seats in the 100-seat parliament, will now attempt to form a coalition.
Latvia plans to start the process of adopting the euro early next year and join the single currency zone in 2008.
Analysts said a government formed by Mr Kalvitis would be right-of-centre and there would be little change in policy. The new government is expected to have at its core the People's Party and another centre-right group, New Era, the single biggest party in parliament with 24 seats.
The former Soviet republic, which regained its independence in 1991, joined NATO and the EU earlier this year.
Since winning independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Latvia's fledgling democracy has develop chaotically - in common with its Baltic neighbours - with a rapid succession of governments but a steady, broad pro-Western stance. - (Reuters)