The United List (AS) will choose as its next coalition partners those political forces that agree to implement changes, Prime Minister and candidate to continue in the post Andris Kulbergs (AS) told journalists on Wednesday at Riga Castle following a meeting with President Edgars Rinkēvičs.
Kulbergs said the coalition must be capable of implementing changes with full commitment, without fearing them, while also explaining them to the public. He acknowledged that the changes would not be comfortable for everyone but stressed that they are necessary for the country.
In the prime minister’s view, voters have clearly voted for change, and willingness to implement it will determine the choice of coalition partners.
Speaking about the structure of the government, Kulbergs said the number of ministries should not be an end in itself. In his view, the focus should be on achieving the greatest impact and economic benefit while using as few resources as possible. As examples, he mentioned governments consisting of 14, 12 or 11 ministers.
President Rinkēvičs, meanwhile, stressed that he had not drawn any red lines during consultations with the political forces but had instead set out three key principles.
The first is an unchanged course on national defence, security and foreign policy, including spending 5% of gross domestic product on security and defence and continuing support for Ukraine. Rinkēvičs said he had heard fairly broad support for this course during consultations, with the possible exception of one political force, which he did not name.
As his second principle, the president highlighted effectiveness rather than the size of the coalition. He stressed that the candidate for prime minister and his political force, the United List, had been given a strong mandate.
Rinkēvičs said the public would primarily hold the prime minister accountable because a large part of society had placed its trust in him. How that mandate is implemented is now a task for the prime ministerial candidate, the president noted.
As his third principle, Rinkēvičs said he wanted the coalition to be formed with the aim of governing for the full four-year electoral cycle.
The next elections will take place in 2029, when European Parliament and municipal elections are scheduled, followed by the Saeima election in 2030.
Rinkēvičs stressed that there are effectively two years until the next election cycle in which much can be accomplished without worrying about how social media, experts, journalists or particular groups in society might react.
The president also acknowledged that changes may initially be unacceptable to certain sections of society or professional groups. He said he had heard from the parties that they were prepared to work on such changes.
Speaking about the formation of the coalition,
Rinkēvičs also referred to Kulbergs’ list of priorities and whether political forces would agree to them.
The president said that when he met Kulbergs and the United List on the first working day after the election, they discussed their vision for the work ahead. He said he had heard proposals from AS aimed at putting public finances in order and creating a more efficient state administration.
Rinkēvičs stressed that this would require a broad package of measures.
He acknowledged that reducing the number of ministries is currently seen as a symbol of efficiency, but increasing the efficiency of public administration is a much broader process. Rinkēvičs explained that ministries themselves are not the largest institutions, while the systems under their supervision are often extensive. Therefore, subordinate institutions and their functions must also be reviewed.
In his view, merging ministries will only be effective if accompanied by a review of functions and the entire administrative system.
At the same time, Rinkēvičs noted that, from the perspective of the political distribution of posts, merging ministries or reducing their number would also reduce the size of the Cabinet and therefore have political consequences.
The president stressed that other parties had also expressed readiness during consultations to begin by merging ministries. However, there are differing views on what the future structure should look like, and more specific solutions will have to be found through political negotiations.