On Friday, the 1st of September, New Unity announced that an agreement was reached on the new coalition consisting of New Unity (JV), Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and Progressive Party (PRO) commencing work, as confirmed by JV representative Anna Ūdre.
The agreement was announced at a press-conference attended by Minister of Welfare and prime minister candidate Evika Siliņa, Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens and JV Saeima faction’s vice-chairman Edmunds Jurēvics.
“This was not an easy negotiation process. It is in our collective interest to immediately start working on security topics and reduction of socio-economic stress. The refusal from the Combined List (AS) to work in the government, I believe, is historically a unique situation in Latvia’s politcs, because even to some in the party it is confusing why the higher-ups made this decision,” said Siliņa.
The politician explains that AS was provided with “special favour” during government negotiations.
The prime minister candidate met with representatives from AS on multiple occasions. She was also positive about information consultations, of which there were only several held during the negotiation process. “I dedicated a great deal of time to reach out and invite AS politicians to join the government,” said Siliņa, adding that all of their concerns were put to rest and agreements were reached in regards to various important tasks.
“Unfortunately, I cannot afford to wait for any longer. The security situation on our country’s border prevents us from staying too long in ideological discussions. Now is not the time! This time the choice is between working and not working. The doors were and remain open to all, but time-wasting, which is a practice currently employed by some parties, is no longer acceptable,” said the prime minister candidate.
According to Siliņa, work on the future government’s declaration will commence on Monday with the parties that are interested in working in the government: “I would like to stress that this is the individual choice of each party and their members – to work or not to work!”
Also read: PM candidate: JV, ZZS and Progressive Party will continue creating Latvia’s new government