In the context of coalition negotiations in Riga City Council, political party New Unity (JV) suggests “giving away” Riga’s City Development Committee to Par/Progressive (PP) as a compromise move, as journalists were told by acting mayor of Riga Vilnis Ķirsis on Monday, the 31st of July.
This committee is currently under JV Riga City Council deputy Inese Andersone. She told journalists that she is ready to work on Riga’s development in a different post.
Ķirsis noted that JV will wait until Wednesday for PP’s response. The politician hopes PP will accept this offer.
If the party refuses this offer, Ķirsis said it will serve as a signal of PP wanting to go with snap elections.
JV faction politician explained that in previous talks PP mentioned that they are left on the losing side. This is why today JV presented this compromise offer, which offers PP four out of eight sectors of responsibilities in Riga City Council. This is a very big compromise, said Ķirsis.
PP faction chairman Mārtiņš Kossovičs and PP member Laima Geikina told journalists that the faction will consider this offer from JV.
Kossovičs added that the proposal is not an answer to PP’s question or the invitation to drop having three or more vice-mayors. One mayor and one vice-mayor would ensure more efficient management, said the politician. At the same time, Progressive party will consider New Unity’s proposal very seriously, said Kossovičs.
Geikina said JV’s solution will be considered by Movement Par! as well. The question isn’t about posts, but the management model, which contains various hidden risks and is not efficient, said the PP faction politician.
This compromise variant was proposed by JV because PP objects to having three vice-mayor posts in the city council. Kossovičs also said the three-party bloc should offer an equal opportunity model that would include the interests of his party.
As previously reported, all parties of the existing coalition are interested in snap elections. This is why all parties have decided to engage in negotiations to settle the matter, agree on how to move forward and avoid shaking Riga City Council even more than they already have.
Also read: Kods Rīgai and Par/Progressive party have different views on why Riga’s last mayor “fell”