One of the most prominent issues of the outgoing year was the fight against bureaucracy. Residents hoped that bureaucrats would finally be knocked off their pedestal, while the government set up task forces to reduce red tape — the latest one was created on the 22nd of October. The public would now like to know what its head, Jānis Endziņš, has actually accomplished so far. Are hopes of reining in bureaucracy realistic at all? BNN asked Filips Rajevskis, political scientist and co-owner of the company Mediju tilts.
“At the beginning, a working group was established under the leadership of State Chancellery Director Raivis Kronbergs and President of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Aigars Rostovskis. It came up with 21 proposals to reduce bureaucracy in public administration. Opinions differ on how much of this has actually been implemented, but it was the first attempt,” Rajevskis explained.
“This is now the second attempt to move the issue forward. If I’m not mistaken, Jānis Endziņš has said that in 2026 he wants to implement 120 small measures. That is quite ambitious, because small things are often the hardest to fix. Very often we don’t need revolutions — we need evolutionary solutions to small problems to achieve real results,” the political scientist said, stressing that it is still too early to evaluate Endziņš’s group and that concrete proposals must first emerge.
Another issue worth revisiting at the end of the year is the loudly announced government “momentum and restart” unveiled in February. How successful has it been? Rajevskis recalled that there was also a so-called 4×4 plan for the government’s momentum, but the “reset” ultimately ended in infighting within the coalition and a barely adopted budget.
“If we look at political party ratings, it’s hard to say that the public appreciates this ‘high-quality’ work.
Ratings have collapsed across the board, which means people are dissatisfied with the reset. Government parties in particular are in a very poor position. This reset cannot be described as a successful programme,” he said. “In essence, it came down to reshuffling ministerial figures. In the Ministry of Transport, Kaspars Briškens was replaced by Atis Švinka; in the Ministry of Welfare, Uldis Augulis was replaced by Reinis Uzulnieks; and in the Ministry of Education and Science, Anda Čakša was replaced by Dace Melbārde.”
“In the cases of Melbārde and Uzulnieks, it can’t really be said that their predecessors performed badly. These were more political decisions — it almost looked like a lottery when deciding whom to dismiss. As for Briškens’s replacement, the current minister gives a somewhat more adequate impression. Still, it cannot be said that he is very successful in fulfilling his objectives or that everything is proceeding as expected. As a result, there are no visible improvements in the Ministry of Transport either. The reset is what it is.”
Commenting on BNN’s observation that people experience bureaucracy through the lens of their own often unpleasant personal encounters, Rajevskis agreed that it is precisely the small issues that most strongly affect people’s quality of life.
“The hardest part is identifying those ‘small things’ that negatively affect large numbers of people.
Usually, these are niche problems — they trouble some groups deeply, while others never encounter them at all. That is why implementing 120 anti-bureaucracy measures next year will be extremely challenging for Jānis Endziņš.”
“It’s possible to satisfy many micro-audiences, but they first have to be identified, and results must be delivered. Given our sluggishness, our inability to make decisive decisions, and weak execution, 120 measures is a very ambitious figure,” Rajevskis said.
Asked whether 2026 — a year leading up to elections to the 15th Saeima — will bring a flood of populist, voter-friendly decisions, Rajevskis acknowledged that the ruling coalition will indeed try. “With this budget already — where nothing is cut, nothing is reduced, but money is borrowed and spent ambitiously — the government tried to please and ‘hug’ everyone. But the ratings show that it missed the mark. Society doesn’t see ‘eat now, pay later’ as a good deal. That’s why politicians will have to think very seriously about how they actually intend to win people’s favour,” Rajevskis concluded.
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