On Tuesday, the 4th of July, Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš invited coalition partners to “put aside personal ambitions and concerns about the security of their positions”.
The PM said New Unity (JV) political party’s initiated party talks are interesting every time a meeting is held, but the problem is that only opposition parties attend them – the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and Progressive Party (PRO).
So far JV’s coalition partners Combined List (AS) and the National Alliance (NA) have expressed no desire to participate.
Kariņš believes this does not indicate a spirit of cooperation. He compared it to the time before elections, when parties held onto rather categorical positions, and this, he says, is “not very helpful”.
The PM reminded that all elected politicians work in the interest of voters and the country.
“Putting heads together, two heads are better than one, three are better than two, etc.,” he said, inviting parties to come together and look for the best solutions.
As it is known, the ruling coalition currently consists of JV, NA and AS. However, following the presidential elections, during which the coalition failed to agree on a single candidate, Kariņš initiated talks about a possible expansion of the coalition with ZZS and PRO. The two other coalition parties – NA and AS – object to these talks.
Latvia’s PM previously mentioned wanting to see the coalition expand in order to speed up the re-organisation of the school network, improvement of healthcare, labour force affairs, the movement of state capital companies to the exchange and settlement of various social affairs, including the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which would be “a symbolic, but deeply important gesture from the Saeima”.
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