After more in-depth discussions with potential coalition partners it became clear New Unity (JV) has similarities and differences with each potential partner party. After the meeting held on Thursday, 14 October, National Alliance (NA) leader admitted that the future coalition should consist of three parties and that it is a «clear cut» issue.
New Unity and the National Alliance have cooperated for a long time, including in the last four years. The recent talks affirmed the parties have similar views on foreign policy, state security, economic development and energy topics, said New Unity leader Krišjānis Kariņš.
According to him, New Unity sees opportunities to work on development of a specific programme if the two parties manage to agree on working in the same coalition. «We have to wait for details, but we do have similar view on topics,» said the PM.
He mentioned that his party and NA have different views on the Civil Union Law.
New Unity believes the rulings of the Constitutional Court must be met, and the best way to do it is by passing the aforementioned law, which is ready for the third reading. All that’s left is passing it. However, NA things otherwise. JV believes it is necessary to pass the Istanbul Convention because it is a widely adopted, international convention, which Latvia should adopt as well, said the head of the government.
But in this topic as well NA has a different opinion.
After more detailed talks parties found topics they can agree on and topics on which they disagree, said Kariņš. Potential coalition partners will continue mutual discussions.
NA leader Raivis Dzintars admitted after talks that his party sees no options to form a four-party coalition with Progressive Party.
At the same time, Dzintars does not sees problems with letting JV continue talks with Progressive Party in parallel to official three-party coalition talks.
He mentioned that his party will stick with its approach and will not criticize JV for the rate of coalition formation talks. It is in the competence of JV leader Krišjānis Kariņš to list which parties will participate in talks, added the NA politician. He explained that his party is prepared to adapt and continue mutual talks or engage in trilateral talks with representatives of the Combined List.
It is critical for coalition talks to progress, because the deadline for 14th Saeima to convene is 1 November – and it is approaching rapidly, said NA leader.
The National Alliance offered New Unity to meet again in the fame format to discuss the issues presented by the party, said Dzintars. After that it will be possible to organise more in-depth talks on topics if need be.
When asked about possible future talks, the politician said he does not exclude the possibility for future consultations between NA and the Combined List (AS).
Dzintars said NA informed its «colleagues in AS» that his party will not be able to support their proposal for a mixed election system.
As for the proposal from JV to form a new ministry that would be responsible for energy and environment protection, he said this needs more discussions, said NA member and Minister of Economics Ilze Indriksone.
Also read: New Unity and Combined List disagree on different topics in second round of coalition talks