The future of Latvia’s government is still unclear as parties prepare for coalition meeting on Thursday, the 10th of August.
Politicians from the Combined List (AS) and National Alliance (NA) see positives in Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš’s recent announcement. This way the PM affirms the coalition’s stability.
However, it remains unclear if any agreement could be reached on rotation of seats in the government this Thursday. This was Kariņš’s suggested condition
under which he would not reach out to the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and Progressive Party (PP) as potential coalition partners.
NA representatives said they do not exclude the possibility of agreeing with the PM’s offer to take charge over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the same time, it is unknown what NA’s position is in regards to potentially losing the Ministry of Economy, which is currently managed by one of their own – Ilze Indriksone.
On Thursday, the 10th of August, AS will continue discussing the PM’s offer.
Both parties have questions they want to ask the PM.
As previously reported, in an effort to have the government work more dynamically, Kariņš has proposed giving NA member Rihards Kols the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, giving AS the Ministry of Economy and New Unity – the Ministry of Environment Protection and Regional Development.
On top of that, the PM also suggests New Unity should take over Saeima’s National Security Committee.
Latvia’s PM also invites AS and NA to sign a memorandum, in which parties agree to drop all new initiatives from ministries and politicians during 2024 state budget negotiations. This would mean only common government priorities would be taken into account during the budget’s preparation and approval process – defence, public order and security, healthcare and education.
The PM also proposes for parties to agree on the healthcare service network, as well as education quality and school network by the end of 2023. Kariņš also said coalition parties should agree on a solution to prevent shortage of labourers without putting at risk the country’s development, as well as make necessary decisions on the development of the capital market.
If NA and AS refuse this offer on Thursday, the 10th of August, the PM intends to reach out to ZZS and PP as potential coalition partners.
Also read: Latvian PM proposes to preserve existing coalition by re-distributing three minister posts