Another year has passed. Some may feel nothing much has changed and 2021 was like 2020 but longer, however, looking back at this year in more detail, it turns out this is not the case at all. Medals from Tokyo, Aivars Lembergs finally in prison, replacement of multiple ministers and, of course, the never-ending restrictions with all kinds of consequences – this is but a small portion of all events that transpired in Latvia in 2021. BNN has compiled a list of the most important and notable events of 2021.
A heap of medals from Tokyo
Photo: Paula Čurkste/LETAThe Tokyo Olympic Games brought Latvia a great deal of joy. Latvian athletes brought back a whole pile of medals. Although the Olympics had to be postponed for a year and no one was allowed to watch live from the stadium, this did not stop most countries from following the Nr.1 sports event.
Latvia’s name was mentioned the loudest when the country won gold in a discipline that was a newcomer to the Olympic Games: 3×3 basketball. Gold medals were won by Nauris Miezis, Kārlis Pauls Lasmanis, Edgars Krūmiņš and Agnis Čavars.
Weightlifter Artūrs Plēsnieks won bronze in weightlifting category under 109 kg.
Two silver medals were won by para-equestrian Rihards Snikus with his horse King of Dance in the individual and freestyle discipline at the Tokyo Parapympic Games.
Latvian athlete Diāna Dadzīte also won two medals: silver in discus throwing and bronze in javelin throwing. After minor problems Latvian discus thrower Aigars Apinis also won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
The Beijing Winter Olympics are just around the corner and have already ended up in a complicated political mess. Several countries have declared a diplomatic boycott to the sports event in China. Athletes, on the other hand, will participate in the winter Olympic Games of 2022 in any case. No live audience this time either, however.
Read also: Great troubles and their solutions. BNN’s summary of 2021 in global and Baltic news
The end of the Lembergs Era in Latvia
Aivars Lembergs. Photo: Edijs Pālens/LETAThe Aivars Lembergs trial, as we all know, has been delayed using every trick in the book these many years. However, the number of crimes listed in more than 200 volumes of this criminal case was too large to ignore or quietly sweep under the rug.
«Guilty!» This verdict was announced for Aivars Lembergs by Riga Regional Court on 22 February 2021 – after 12 years of court proceedings.
Lembergs was found guilty of numerous crimes. The court also confiscated his owned properties. About a year prior to this monumental event for Latvia Lembergs also ended up in the sights of US authorities, «earning» him sanctions from the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control.
Lembergs’ son Anrijs Lembergs and his one-time business partner Ansis Sormulis were also declared guilty.
Lembergs is currently listed as a deputy of Ventpils City Council. He writes «letters with advice» to the city council from his prison cell. Aside from that, he is trying to appeal the security measure imposed on him – an arrest. He has not succeeded yet. He remains behind bars, waiting for the final verdict.
Fallen ministers
Photo: LETA/BNN collageEach member of Latvia’s Cabinet of Ministers is politically responsible for their respective sectors and actions. Unfortunately, multiple Latvian ministers lost their posts over the course of 2021. Multiple members of the government were forced to leave following major scandals.
Minister of Health Ilze Viņķele’s removal was one of the biggest events to have happened at the beginning of the year. Following Prime Minister
Following Krišjānis Kariņš’s proposal to remove Viņķele from the post, accusations such as political weakness, recklessness, violation of the rule of law quickly were quickly voiced on the political backstage. The official reasons for her removal were related to the slow vaccine procurement rate and how lightly the situation was taken, which, according to many officials, was the cause for the rapid spread of Covid-19 infection in Latvia. Viņķele did apologize to Latvia’s residents, describing the situation as «human error».
A new minister was then appointed within three days. This person was Daniels Pavļuts.
With KPV LV political party breaking at the seams, the ruling coalition in Latvia decided to continue without it. This resulted in then the Minister of the Interior Sandis Ģirģens. He did manage to say that under his management the ministry had commenced historically neglected reforms. For example, it was during his term that the ministry developed the Concept for the Academy of Internal Security. At the same time Ģirģens name is also often mentioned as one having ties with one Sergejs Lomakins, who is blacklisted. Throughout his term, Ģirģens was criticised on multiple occasions for having no experience and meeting in public with people who are very close to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Ģirģens also received a major bashing for running candidate for the post of chairman of Latvian Football Federation. After he was removed from his post, Marija Golubeva was picked as the next Minister of the Interior, becoming the second woman to hold this post in Latvia. Her biggest challenge so far was and remains the ongoing migration crisis along Latvia’s and Europe’s external borders.
Although rumours about about Minister of Welfare Ramona Petraviča being replaced at some point continued for some time, the morning call from Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, in which he told her that she would have to step down, was came as a surprise to her. Petraviča believes she has done more for Latvia’s welfare during her term than the previous ministers did in the last decade combined. However, generally people discuss her political accomplishments less than her figure. And so the post of Minister of Welfare went to Gatis Eglītis.
Jānis Vitenbergs, on the other hand, managed to lose the post of Minister of Economics and be reinstated in this post in a span of a week. The only thing that changed about him, it seems, is his political affiliation – first he was with KPV LV and now he is with the National Alliance.
Following the dismissal of other KPV LV ministers, the same happened to the Minister of Education and Science Ilga Šuplinska, who was a representative of the New Conservative Party. Her post was taken by Anita Muižniece from the same party. Šuplinska’s replacement was quiet and hidden from public eyes. According to Kariņš, «it was a political agreement». As for Šuplinska herself, she believes, it was a strategically planned decision. Party members, meanwhile, blame her low ratings.
Entrepreneurs fight for a place under the sun. The Sea Port Reform
Publicity photoSea ports, transit, capital associations, model change, Ministry of Transport and the poor entrepreneur who just wants to continue operations in Latvia in the middle of all this.
At least this is how the changes aimed at transforming Latvia’s three biggest sea ports into capital associations seem if you glance at the sea port reform. Initially the reform, which had no actual economic evaluation, seemed nothing more than «a reform for reform’s sake». Sea port entrepreneurs and businessmen were not involved in the reform’s development. On top of that, as part of the reform it was even allowed the state would be able to engage both in tugboat and stevedoring services «if need be», which is something that would spell death for competition in Latvia’s largest sea ports. Amid all this Latvia’s Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš even said the transit sector does not benefit Latvia’s economy at all. This is not true, because this particular sector brings in millions in taxes and provides jobs to thousands of people in Latvia.
After many discussions, attempts from entrepreneurs and explanations, the Minister of Transport and other decision-makers finally gave in and decided to change several proposals in the reform. First of all, Liepaja Special Economic Zone will be left along for now. First officials will observe the changes and how beneficial or harmful they turn out for Riga and Ventspils. Secondly, the state decided to drop the idea of engaging in entrepreneurship. Thirdly, entrepreneurs were provided at least advisory functions for the sea port management process. However, they still have no decision-making power. Generally business associations are satisfied with the agreement. However, there are still many things unclear, including land, rent contracts, etc. While things are good, they can always be better.
Emerging criminal case and a pointless political party presented by Šlesers
Ainārs Šlesers. Photo: Evija Trifanova/LETAFor years Ainārs Šlesers was absent from the public. However, a day after the office of the prosecutor initiated a criminal procedure against him and Andris Šķēle over illegalities committed during the introduction of digital television, Šlesers decided now is the best time to restore his political career.
Maybe he hopes for people’s short memory. Unfortunately for him, his political ratings are not very high – about as low as they were in the previous Saeima elections, when he failed to enter the parliament. Even getting popular digital content creator Elīna Didrihsone to help or Linda Liepiņa’s singing had no effect on his rating. People, meanwhile, still remember how badly Šlesers (together with Lembergs and Šķēle) had damaged public trust in political processes in the country.
The surfacing of the criminal case is believed to be related to the replacement of the prosecutor general. After Ēriks Kalnmeiers’ replacement, it turned out there is plenty of evidence in the so-called digitalgate criminal case to commence a criminal procedure against Šlesers and Šķēle.
Šlesers and his so-called political rival Aldis Gobzems, it seems, are using rather cheap tricks in their political campaigns. They claim they are «fighting for people’s rights for power» and «democracy». They also use different abstract comparisons, such as the holocaust, to demonstrate how the government’s approach towards the covid crisis is «unlawful».
Quality of life is going up – just like the bills
Photo: Ieva Leiniša/LETAAlthough the average wage in the country is up and the child benefits have been changed, fuel, gas and electricity prices continue reaching new heights, which causes tension and dissatisfaction among residents, because increasing prices of these resources echoes in the increasing prices of products and services. Energy resource prices reached historically the highest levels in December.
Experts claim gas and electricity price rise was caused by a number of conditions – covid and dry and windless weather observed in summer.
Weather has turned very cold in Latvia. Similarly to Nordic countries, this increases consumption of electricity. With that the electricity volume produced in Latvia is not enough to cover consumption. Tet electricity business manager Viktorija Ķirsone has said that to cover this loss it is necessary to import energy, which makes Latvia too dependent on electricity prices in other countries. Latvenergo stresses, however, that at the end of the year Latvia managed to satisfy its domestic consumption and even export some of its produced electricity.
To make wintering a little easier for Latvia’s residents, Saeima added amendments to covid prevention legislation. These amendments state that from 1 January 2022 until 31 May 2022 the state will be providing grants to municipalities equal to 50% of costs of housing benefits. Additionally, vaccinated pensioners are paid a monthly benefit of EUR 20 to help cover bills.
Caught in the act. Punished construction cartel
Photo: PixabayAnother major story that shook Latvia’s society was the construction cartel case, in which prominent construction companies in Latvia were punished with major fines. It turns out multiple construction companies decided to ‘divide’ major construction contracts in Latvia. After a long and careful investigation the Competition Council punished all members of the construction cartel. Only one construction company admitted its guilt, however.
Among the major public procurement construction contracts were the Mežaparka Concert Stage, New Riga Theatre, Ventspils Musical School and Latvia Concert Hall, Latvian National Museum of Art and Culture palace Ziemeļblāzma.
Among the ten punished construction companies are LLC Skonto būve, LLC Latvijas energoceltnieks, LLC Velve, LLC Arčers, LLC Rere būve, LLC Re & Re, LLC RBSSKALS būvvadība, LLC Abora, JSC LNK Industries and LLCMerks.
Companies divided into two groups in order to coordinate contracts and divide profits from procurements more or less equally.
The rules of the cartel were dictated by three construction companies: Skonto būve, Re&Re and Velve.
During the investigation Velve cooperated with the Competition Council, provided information and admitted its guilt. The company also promised to not appeal the decision. This is why the fine amount for Velve was reduced by 10%.
Unfortunately, multiple construction projects in which cartel members were involved also used financing provided by European funds. This means Latvia may have to pay this money back because of the cartel.
Border stories. Migration crisis
Photo: UnsplashOne of the biggest domestic policy and state security challenges of this year was the migration crisis on the Latvian-Belarusian border. This time, however, it’s not a problem for just one country. This summer a large number of migrants, mostly from Iraq, tried to illegally cross over to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland from Belarus.
Lately the number of detained migrants in Latvia has increased. Minister of the Interior Marija Golubeva believes Latvia’s State Border Guard has the situation under control. This autumn a temporary fence was set up along the border. To raise the State Border Guard’s capacity, bonus pay of up to EUR 300 may be paid. It is planned to serve as a motivator for officials to come to work or stay in service to the State Border Guard. It is also planned to improve the capacity of staff engaged in border protection and control.
The influx of migrants over the Baltic border is believed to had been orchestrated by Aleksandr Lukashenko. The EU, meanwhile, promises and tries to help strengthen Europe’s external border.
Vaccine is hope but Omicron is the reality
Photo: UnsplashCovid. No one wants to hear any more about this topic. However, it is so deeply ingrained in our lives, it’s impossible to sweep it under the rug.
If we look back at the start of 2021, Latvia had access to a couple of thousand vaccine doses. Most of those doses went to medical workers. Countries fought over vaccine supplies, some made mistakes with orders. Doctors, in the meanwhile, were fighting for people’s lives. At the beginning of the year hospitals were overloaded and mortality was high. People had to live under severe restrictions. Residents were not allowed to meet with people outside their respective households and there was a wide list of ‘banned goods’. People were basically forced to learn to purchase clothes online.
For entrepreneurs, cafe owners in particular, this was close to a complete collapse, because the state aid was not enough to cover the growing costs. On top of that, all kinds of flaws in the system slowed the provision of support to all those who needed it.
When vaccines became available to most residents in the second half of spring, some rushed at the opportunity. However, conspiracy theorists became even more active, and disproving their «theories» proved difficult. The ruling elite in Latvia did try to deny vaccines had side effects worse than increased body temperature or light pain in the injection spot. Later, however, this rhetoric changed.
Arguments in favour of vaccination did not go further than ‘you need to, and that’s final’. However, conspiracy theorists used people’s exhaustion from restrictions, the government’s poor communication and people’s poor judgement to organise a couple of protests and started forming so-called anti-vaxxer parties. The most well-known of them are represented by Ainārs Šlesers and Aldis Gobzems, who currently have less than 5% of support each. They have no real goals. All they do is promise «freedom and power to the people», regardless of what it means in reality.
At the beginning of summer Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts said vaccination in Latvia would remain voluntary. However, around autumn a lot of people queued for vaccination because they didn’t want to lose their jobs. In reality, this unpopular decision was necessary. It was late, however, because this decision to make vaccination compulsory for certain groups of residents could have helped make the situation easier for hospitals and doctors in general.
It’s also no secret Latvia has lost many talented people to the virus this year.
Right now the future doesn’t seem all too bright, considering the arrival and spread of Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Latvia. And it is especially eager to visit all the people who are rather reluctant to vaccinate.
Although all of us had to overcome with many challenges, there was some good as well this year, wasn’t there? BNN wishes all of our readers to have the strength to recall and be grateful for everything good that happened to them this year! We wish you a truly happy year 2022!
Curfew and prison. The most notable events of the year 2021 in Latvia
