The ruling coalition has an agreement to not edit the state budget project at the final reading, said leader of National Alliance Raivis Dzintars in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma on Thursday, the 23rd of February.
«We don’t think the budget is even close to ideal, but it is the best parties of the coalition could agree on,» added the politician. When asked if this means there is no room for an increase of the healthcare budget, which is much requested by healthcare workers, Dzintars said
both the teachers’ wage growth schedule and medical workers’ wages are topics that will be discussed in more detail after the budget has been approved.
As for the topic of the liquefied natural gas terminal, after the government’s decision to not provide the guarantees requested by developers of Skulte LNG Terminal, officials will switch to other options. Additionally, the option of state capital associations becoming involved in this project will be considered.
As for requirements of the law that require Russian citizens who were previously citizens or non-citizens of Latvia that stay in the country with permanent residence permits to submit documents that prove their state language knowledge by September 2023, Dzintars insisted that it is not allowed to deviate from this requirement. It is possible, he said, the government may look for various technical solutions to resolve the problem of excessive workload for various services.
When asked to explain the National Alliance condemnation of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, Dzintars said
he does not believe it will help reduce violence.
The politician also referenced unnamed conservative experts who said the document makes mention of ideological tendencies, «biological gender is replaced with a social construct», and these are the things parts of Latvia’s society find unacceptable.
Also read: Latvian government rejects Skulte LNG project developer’s and investor’s proposed conditions