Laimdota Straujuma
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Through European Union and NATO
Early career
Between October 2000 and 2006, Straujuma served as the Secretary of State of the Ministry for Agriculture. Between 2007 and 2010, she was the Secretary of State of the Ministry for Regional Development and Local Government. She was appointed as Minister of Agriculture on 25 October 2011.
Straujuma joined the People's Party in 1998. She began working in the Ministry of Agriculture in 1999. She became the ministry's state secretary in 2000. Straujuma oversaw the distribution of agricultural subsidies from the European Union following Latvia's membership in 2004. She became the state secretary for the Ministry of Regional Development and Municipalities in 2007, holding the position until 2010. In 2011, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis appointed Straujuma Minister of Agriculture. As minister, Straujuma was responsible for the efforts to increase the European Union's farm subsidies, which eventually proved successful. She left the People's Party in 2011 and then joined Unity.
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Prime Minister of Latvia
On 5 January 2014, the Unity Party nominated Straujuma as a candidate for the post of Prime Minister following the resignation of Dombrovskis. The nomination was supported by Unity's coalition partners, the Reform Party and the National Alliance, as well as the opposition Union of Greens and Farmers.
Following the 2014 parliamentary election, in which the Unity Party came in second, the President of Latvia Andris Bērziņš nominated Straujuma to lead the new government, which was approved by Saeima on 5 November 2014.
As the country's first female prime minister, her term lasted nearly two years and her tenure focused on strengthening national defence in the wake of the Russian annexation of Crimea.
Resignation
Straujuma resigned on 7 December 2015. Media reports claimed Straujuma struggled to maintain cohesion within the coalition in the months preceding her resignation over the overwhelming issues of the European migrant crisis, teacher strikes and disagreement over strategy for state assistance to the debt-laden national airline Air Baltic. Reallocation of funds to ensure the country moved closer to NATO's 2% GDP defence spending requirement in light of the security situation helped make the 2016 budget controversial. The chairwoman of the Unity Party Solvita Āboltiņa criticised Straujuma's alleged lack of authority. Straujuma upon her resignation stated that there was a need in the government for "new ideas, a new contribution and a new energy". She personally recommended incumbent Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis as a successor. He later declined the role in an interview with Radio Latvia.
Honour
- Cross of Recognition