Ilona Bērziņa, BNN
Government-formation negotiations should not take place in dark rooms behind closed doors. This process is nearly as important as meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers, which, except for the closed portions, anyone interested is able to observe online.
New Unity’s (JV) strategy when it comes to government-formation and choice of ministers is odd. During the creation process of his second government, Krišjānis Kariņš put his partners in an uncomfortable situation by publicly announcing which ministries were offered to parties before they had a chance to agree. In November 2022 JV representative Evika Siliņa did not hide during her interview to Delfi TV programme Kāpēc that JV did, in fact, distribute ministries on its own – without consulting with coalition partners.
Now it seems that with the announcement of former judge of the Constitutional Court Gunārs Kūtris as a candidate for the post of Minister of Culture of Latvia,
JV is testing residents – will they swallow this toad?
Or would it be nest to offer the culture sector to the Progressive Pary?
The pre-election programme of the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) contains two declarative phrases in regards to culture: “We will promote the development of the Latvian language, Latvian culture and traditions, art and creative industries” and “Let’s promote the strengthening of cultural education and preservation of cultural heritage”.
Progressive party’s proposal for culture is not exactly any better. The part’s programme has only this to say about culture: We will ensure wide access to culture by supporting the cultural sector and promoting digitisation.”
It is unlikely that the ZZS’s interest in the cultural sphere will have arisen only in honour of the arithmetic division of ministerial portfolios. Concerns have already been expressed in the public sphere that the ZZS’s sudden desire to take up the management of cultural processes is related to the upcoming reform of public media or the possible merger of Latvian television and Latvian Radio next year. The Saeima has already conceptually supported this idea.
If the Ministry of Culture does end up in the hands of ZZS, then this party, whose baggage also includes cooperation with the US-sanctioned Aivars Lembergs and his party For Latvia and Ventspils, along with responsibility for theaters, museums, libraries, cinema, folk art, visual arts and others, will also be entitled to social integration and media policy.
Latvian Association of Journalists, explaining why ZZS is not the best choice of management for the culture sphere,
references of the scandalous “negotiations in Rīdzene Hotel” that were recorded more than ten years ago.
What requires attention the most in this context is what Lembergs possibly told Ainārs Šlesers after the 10th Saeima elections: “You what sucks? We never did resolve… What I said once – we need to merge with public media. We did sort out television here and there, state television in particular, bu the state radio remains as it was”.
It should be mentioned here that the concept on the merger of public media has been wandering from office to office for more than ten years. It is entirely possible it would have been implemented by now, had Valdis Dombrovskis’ government not stopped it. Ir Magazine wrote in the context of the oligarch negotiations – one of the reasons for halting the project was political stiffening, who exactly put an end to it – Unity, ZZS or nationals.
Therefore, it will not be difficult to imagine how important the emerging capital company Latvian Public Media occupies in the rosy dreams of the existing and future power parties.
In general the government-formation process does not bring any surprises. As expected, residents in Latvia can expect another three-legged stool. Only instead of the Combined List and National Alliance we have ZZS and Progressive Party. These parties’ memory turned out longer than JV’s memory – both in regards to cooperation with ZZS influenced by Lembergs and ideological controversy with Progressives.
The refusal from AS and NA to participate in the new government’s formation was nothing surprising. It was clear from Krišjānis Kariņš’s failed attempts to expand the coalition. NA refused to work with Progressive Party and the last straw for the Combined List may have been Kariņš’s public announcement that the party was given the opportunity to select Uldis Pīlēns as their candidate for the post of Minister of Economy.
Pīlēns said this was manipulation by JV, claiming that he was never given such an offer. This is reminiscent of Kariņš’s tactic employed during his second government’s term – making a public announcement about another political party in hopes of them taking the bait.
Looking at all of this, it is likely political observers’ predictions about Krišjānis Kariņš becoming the next Minister of Foreign Affairs or land a job in Brussels may come true. When the chaos with the expansion of the government had just started, there were lies voiced in political corridors that the possibility of Kariņš becoming a candidate for the post of European Commissioner from Latvia is very real. Now his bright image has dimmed. There are just ten months left until the next European Parliament elections.
His chances are reduced even more by the fact that Valdis Dombrovskis is committed to continue working in the next European Commission. Because the candidate to work in the European Commission is delegated by the prime minister,
there is now a risk of intense infighting within JV for this post.
There are many in the JV who find the decision to break the promise of not working with ZZS while the party remains under Aivars Lembergs’ influence hard to swallow.
Because the one who initiated this friendship is none other than Kariņš, and that Dombrovskis’ conscience is clear in this regard, the party will have to decide which of the two political heavy-weights to sacrifice in the name of maintaining their popularity.
So far JV remains “in the saddle”. Unless Lembergs’ interests are lobbied unexpectedly, they may remain in the saddle for a long time. Clarity could appear soon.
On Wednesday, the 6th of September, Aivars Lembergs, in an interview to TV24 programme Dienas personība ar Veltu Puriņu, said in regards to what Edvards Smiltēns publicly said – that by including ZZS in the government it would bring in Lembergs’ massive influence, said the following:
“I won’t be in any government, and there will be no Lembergs’ government at all. It’s a fake. I cannot realise my policy if I’m not the PM. Let someone else name Lembergs’ interests, let them say what I want from the government and the Saeima!”
In an ironic turn of events, he did answer the question during his interview to Delfi TV programme Nākamais, lūdzu!, when he stressed that the US sanctions imposed against him are sanctions of Latvia’s government (Kariņš’s first government).
“Kariņš’s and Bordāns’ government asked to have sanctions imposed on me, but my government will ask them to be removed,” said Lembergs. It will be interesting to watch how and if ZZS decides to distance itself from their prime minister candidate. Even more interesting will be observing the chaos that will rise when politicians start dividing influence over Latvian Public Media company, which is still being created.
Also read: Combined List political party’s founder criticises New Unity for weak leadership and ambivalence