The ruling coalition in Latvia has pushed itself into a stalemate with the confusion surrounding the selection of the next head of Latvia’s central bank. Two partners of the coalition – “New Unity” and “Progressives” – support the current Governor of the Bank of Latvia Mārtiņš Kazāks, whereas the third partner of the coalition – “Union of Greens and Farmers” – decided to propose its own candidate: Chairman of the Board of “Altum” Reinis Bērziņš. Will the election of the next head of the Bank of Latvia become that rake that will trip the entire ruling coalition? BNN asked politologist Filips Rajevskis for his opinion about this situation.
“Previously, it did not seem like an issue problematic enough to cause the government to collapse. However, it does seem like it very much become just that. The mere fact that people, one after another, come up and say the election of the next head of the Bank of Latvia will not influence the coalition is a sign that there is a split within the coalition. The more our politicians say the coalition will not be affected, the more it seems to me there will be an effect, and it will not be simple,” said the politologist.
When asked if there could be a situation when a surprise candidate suddenly appears on the 21st of December, Filips Rajevskis said no, adding that such a situation is unlikely purely from the perspective of proper procedures and deadlines. “If no one is elected, everyone will propose candidates for approval again,” explained the politologist, stressing: “A situation in which a candidate from the ruling parties that also has votes from “Progressives” is not elected, simply cannot pass without any consequences.”
Filips Rajevskis believes that by proposing Reinis Bērziņš as their candidate, the Union of Greens and Farmers did not have the collapse of PM Evika Siliņa’s government in mind. “I think they wanted to play a little bit, get something out of “Unity”. It’s a game moment of sorts. I don’t think they predicted the situation to escalate to a split forming between them and “Unity”. And opposition parties will use this opportunity to stretch this split as much as possible”.
So why did the Union of Greens and Farmers decided to play such a dissonant note in this seemingly harmonious ensemble?
“The general sense is that the Union of Greens and Farmers had not properly calculated just how far the situation with Reinis Bērziņš’s candidacy could go. I think they wanted to demonstrate their position – we have our own candidate. What they didn’t think about is just how much this could get to the opposition. I don’t think they wanted to end up in the same boat with “Latvia in First Place”, because this created an uncomfortable situation for them. However, “Latvian in First Place” immediately voiced support for this candidate, and a number of people then asked – are the two parties together now? Now other opposition parties are signalling they might support Bērziņš as well. It’s not like they like him personally – they just like splits in the coalition more. If we look at the recent discussions about the coalition’s reorganisation, I don’t think the Union of Greens and Farmers specifically planned to cause a crisis in the coalition from all this,” said Filips Rajevskis.