“I tensed up. I worked very hard. If future generations take life easier and think they don’t have to put in effort, then those are our results.” This is what ex-President of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga said 20 years after the country’s accession to the European Union. In her interview to LTV, the ex-president said she is ashamed of Latvia’s backwardness when compared to other Baltic States, urging the country to use the opportunities offered by the European Union, as reported by lsm.lv.
The financing from European funds has given Latvia the opportunity to become a modern and democratic country. Have we used all of the opportunities provided by the European Union? The ex-president says no. “There were tens of millions that we didn’t use. We didn’t because we didn’t have projects, we weren’t able to prepare them and present to Europe, which is sad,” she told the public media.
According to her, politicians, officials and businessmen are to blame for this. “All three groups have to be able to tense up, think ahead and grab opportunities by the tail. It’s more like we cannot decide if we want to do A, or B, or C, or if we want to reconsider something. We are falling behind with this attitude.”
The ex-president pointed out to LTV that Latvia is behind its neighbours in many areas.
“I am ashamed of this. I don’t know how other people feel about it, but I’m ashamed of it. I worked to ensure Latvia doesn’t end up in that position. For eight years I did what I taught or what I could. I think there were results. But I tensed up. I worked very hard. If future generations take life easier and think that there is no need to put in effort, then these are the results,” Vīķe-Freiberga critically assessed.
According to her, there are two many stuck and unrealised projects, lsm.lv reports.
BNN previously reported that the investment climate in Latvia is at its lowest point – 1.9 points out of 5, according to foreign investors. This much is concluded in the study “Foreign Investment Environment Index 2023” carried out by the Riga School of Economics and the Council of Foreign Investors in Latvia (FICIL).
More on this topic: Foreign investors give Latvia’s investment climate historically the lowest score
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