Halonen, 61, began her political career in 1974, holding various parliamentary posts before becoming the first woman to assume the Finnish presidency in 2000. Halonen is a strong European Union promoter despite the recent setbacks to adopting a constitution after no votes by France and the Netherlands. Though it is experiencing high unemployment, Finland is still steaming ahead of laggards France, Germany and Italy when it comes to economic growth. Halonen will take these achievements to the polls next year when she is up for re-election.