EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Railways, Transport

Rubesa has been selected as the best candidate for the RB Rail CEO and is ideally suited for the job, stressed Matiss.

Talks with Rubesa about the contract are continuing still, Matiss confirmed, but declined to comment whether the amount of the RB Rail CEO's salary was the reason why the contract had not been signed yet.

Latvian State Television's news program "Panorama" reported last night that, contrary to expectations, it was possible that Rubesa would not be confirmed as the RB Rail CEO.

Although Rubesa has won the competition for the RB Rail CEO, there have been problems with Rubesa's contract due to Lithuania's objections. According to "Panorama", the Lithuanians are also objecting to Rubesa's salary, insisting that EUR 8,000 a month is the absolute maximum. Rubesa herself declined to comment.

As reported, the Baltic countries' joint venture RB Rail was established in November 2014, its share capital is EUR 1.95 million. The company will be responsible for designing, construction, and marketing of Rail Baltica railroad.

Until now, the company had just one board member – Edvins Berzins.

The Rail Baltica project deals with construction of a new 1,435 millimeter standard-gauge railroad in the Baltic countries. The implementation of project could cost EUR 1.27 billion to Latvia and EUR 3.68 billion to the Baltic States altogether. The request for the European Union funding was submitted to the European Commission in the spring of 2015, so construction of the railroad could begin in 2016. Further funding for the project is to be provided as part of the next financial period that will begin in 2020.

Rubesa was member of the Citadele bank's council from 2012 to this past April. Before that Rubesa worked as vice-president at Statoil ASA. From 2002 to 2009, Rubesa worked on DnB Nord bank's council. Rubesa has also been member of the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and other organizations.

Rubesa has a degree in business administration from Shaw College in Toronto, Canada.