(AFP) – Apr 5, 2008

RIGA (AFP) — She may not be Oprah Winfrey but Latvia's budding queen of talk is already as much of a household name here: ex-president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, who has recycled her loquacious candor into a new role.

"I've always enjoyed dialogue with the public," the 70-year-old Vike-Freiberga told AFP.

"I felt good as a president because I could be in touch with the people... And TV is a great tool to reach big audiences," she said.

The result is her own television talk show entitled, "We Are," a name borrowed from one of her more colourful public appearances during her two terms as head of state from 1999 to 2007.

In that incident, in 2003, she took to the stage at a Latvian music festival in full folk costume and chanted "We are great, we are grand" -- delighting an incredulous public who quickly took up chanting the refrain.

A former university lecturer, Vike-Freiberga says her talk show on Latvian state television is only "continuing the work of education which has been my life's mission, to share my knowledge and experience with others."

The show, which started in February, airs at prime time once a month. The flame-haired hostess has complete editorial control -- and is full of surprises.

"This is sort of the intrigue of the talk show, meant to incite curiosity about what I am going to discuss next," she said.

Her first programme used Cinderella -- the oppressed, storybook stepdaughter who wound up marrying a prince -- as a metaphor for Latvian identity.

Like Cinderella, this Baltic state of 2.3 million quietly pursued a difficult road to triumph, from regaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 to its current status as a member, since 2004, of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

"I used this symbol to show that we are not poor little orphans on the world stage, on the contrary -- that whatever has been your fate in the past, you have every possibility to transform it," she said, evoking the inspirational tone of the US chat show diva Oprah Winfrey.

"It is the element of hardship that one has to overcome, by doing what they have to do. That makes one grow."

Vike-Freiberga's second show was dedicated to the role of women in society, drawing on her own, impressive background.

Born in the capital Riga in 1937, her early life was marked by World War II and the Soviet occupation which saw her family flee their homeland in 1945.

They lived as refugees in Germany, moving later to Morocco then Canada where Vike-Freiberga completed university, earning a doctorate in experimental psychology. She later lectured at the University of Montreal from 1965.

Her life as an exile -- an experience shared by thousands of Latvians -- made her a polyglot who speaks Latvian, English, French, German and Spanish.

Although half a world away, Latvia remained in her heart and a focus for her work, as she lectured on Latvian culture and heritage and sharply criticised the Soviet occupation.

She notably researched the country's folk song tradition, becoming not only a renowned specialist in the genre but also a performer, and recently released a recording.

Vike-Freiberga returned from Canada only in 1998, when she was appointed director of a new cultural body, the Latvian Institute.

A year later, she made history by becoming Latvia's first woman president. Though a largely figurehead post, she used it to stamp her vision for the country and help steer the country into the EU and NATO.

Last December, Vike-Freiberga was appointed vice-president of an EU "reflection group" to consider the long-term future of the 27-nation bloc, which has almost doubled in size since the big bang expansion to ex-communist states in 2004.

"I've read Plato's 'Republic' since I was 18-years-old and I have always been interested in the matters of state from a philosophical standpoint," she said with her characteristic directness. "I am fascinated by the idea of our common future. And I can use my expertise to contemplate on what is common for us all."

Asked if she would be interested in the job of EU president, a new post being created by the bloc's reforming Lisbon Treaty, she said: "I have never refused a serious offer in my life".

The elder stateswoman, who is married with a grown daughter and a son, said she has no intention of putting up her feet.

"I keep a busy schedule, there are days when I feel very loaded with work, when I long for a steadier tenor of life, however, retiring is out of the question," she said.

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