During a meeting of Saeima’s Parliamentary Inquiry Committee, opposition party “For Stability!” member Svetlana Čulkova voiced her confusion as to why the Director of the State Chancellery Raivis Kronbergs was the one who came to explain the “waiter situation”, not Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, who was the one asked to provide explanations in the first place.
Čulkova reminded during the meeting that the question was addressed to the PM, not Kronbergs.
The latter said during the meeting that he arrived to explain the situation, because serving coffee to the ministers was his initiative. On top of that, he said Siliņa was not present at the meeting that featured a “waiter”.
The head of the State Chancellery repeated what he had previously said on the matter – that participants of meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers have access to a coffee machine.
“To avoid a situation when members of the government interrupt the meeting to make coffee, I personally implemented a practice used in EU institutions, one in which members of the meeting have their coffee brought to them,” Kronbergs mentioned in his statement.
He reminded that he and his colleagues prepared and served coffee at the meeting to prevent the meeting, which was already going on for too long, from being interrupted.
Kronbergs said that, because of the negative response from residents, this practice will not continue.
Saeima deputies voted at the end of the meeting to discontinue the request for the PM. Instead, the final decision will be made by the Saeima.
In the request from the opposition it was mentioned that it was clear that members of the Cabinet of Ministers were served by a waiter at the 27th of August meeting of the government.
“For Stability!” asked the PM come to the Saeima and explain what really happened.