BNN offers “an opinion from tribunes” provided by Conservative Party’s leader Gatis Eglītis, who was Minister of Welfare in PM Krišjānis Kariņš’s previous government.
“If we truly want to fix problems in healthcare, education, science and state administration, the government needs to work, not just imitate work. This is why I would like to share in ten points my vision how Krišjānis Kariņš’s second government has worked so far. Where are ideas, initiatives and solutions?
I believe Krišjānis Kariņš and Unity will have a much harder time working in this government. Because they won’t be able to use the same tactic they used in the previous government. Resolutions were created for ministers – go and do this and that. Kariņš could have stayed on the side lines.
But now the situation has changed, and coalition partners ask: “But Mr. Kariņš, you’ve been in power as prime minster for four years! You should know everything that needs doing in education, healthcare, state administration and European fund-related matters. What are your ideas, initiatives and solutions?”
This causes a great deal of discomfort for him. What were the mistakes?
An unnecessary ministry has been created. Usually we hear the opposite before elections – we need to reduce the administrative apparatus! But now, now we have a Ministry of Climate and Energy, and no one knows what it’s supposed to do. No one knows where it is located. Recently there was Jānis Domburs’ programme about the energy policy – no one from the ministry had attended it.
About deputies’ and ministers’ wages. We have a difficult time with the budget, and residents have a difficult time with energy resource prices and inflation. Increasing their own wages by 40% or more was a bad move. Even our so-called opposition parties in the Saeima failed this time, because we heard not a single against from the Progressive Party or “green farmers”, not even Šlesers. Where were their proposals and law amendments to prevent this? Let’s not forget that the conservatives in the 13th Saeima made sure deputies’ wages would be frozen for the entire four-year term.
The 220 million procurement from the Ministry of Defence. Very said, because the defence ministry had the highest level of trust among residents. After such scandals the level of trust will go down. This casts a shadow over more than one party! The Party that organises torch processions, but is unable to control very important and large procurement projects.
The budget is like and old, heated up soup. The often mentioned economic transformation is fiction. As an economist, I’m trying to understand what economic transformation even means: what are its activities, what Krišjānis Kariņš, New Unity and coalition partners plant to do to make our economy stronger and bring us closer to Lithuania’s and Estonia’s levels.
In this budget there isn’t a single thing that would differentiate it from previous budgets. Why is that? This is why
the high levels of the Ministry of Finance have not changed in more than ten years.
The same ladies still work there. Most of them have no interest to change anything. Every year they have a new example that is later left for he next year with certain details corrected. With this kind of attitude we cannot accomplish an economic breakthrough! The Ministry of Finance is the most important ministry of all, I’m telling you thins as a politician and economist. This potential is not used.
Finances from the Recovery and Resilience Fund are stuck. Over the past many years we have established awfully long and incomprehensible decision-making processes. Krišjānis Kariņš’s New Unity is responsible for the Ministry of Finance. The ministry is responsible for the management of EU funds in the country. Up to two years can pass since the moment when decisions about projects are made. It should be added that the value of money keeps going down every year. There is a risk that we may risk losing the EUR 5 billion from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, which have to be invested until 2025-2026.
About the healthcare budget. I said in the beginning of January that EUR 85 million will not be enough, because it is clear the problems in the healthcare sector have been left unattended for a long time. The sector needs reforms. We’ve put EUR 1.5 billion into the system, but our healthcare indexes are very poor, and this means we’re doing something wrong. Once again – where are ideas from the PM, who was in charge of the government for the past four years? Please, tell us what we have to fix, don’t just issue resolutions. Now ministries will have to spend two months to look for EUR 100 million. This is nonsense – no one will find that much. We could potentially scrounge some EUR 8 million.
Education is like the medical sector. Education in state language is very important – this was one of the biggest accomplishments of the Conservative Party in the previous Saeima. We accomplished what our predecessors could not in 30 years.
The state administration and civil service are very slow. There are many processes and work groups that pointlessly discuss Cabinet of Ministers rules and legislative coordination, sometimes for years. This means decisions come very slowly. This is New Unity that is responsible for the civil service through the PM’s office and the State Chancellery. This is beneficial for them in a way. They don’t want to torture the civil service to speed up their work. There is no efficiency, no results – nothing. It’s more important for people to come vote for New Unity.
Banks. New Unity has been responsible for the financial sector for four years. Through the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Latvia. Finally we can loudly announce that our lending is very weak. Lending is very expensive – the second most expensive loans in the European Union. In this context, the governor of the Bank of Latvia Mārtiņš Kazāks is focused on increasing interest rates even more. This means all loan payers, both businesses and mortgage loan takers, have to pay more every month. How does this benefit us? There is no benefit! Imagine – a young family that took a mortgage loan a year ago, their loan payments will increase by EUR 300! This is tragic!
And another thing! No one in the government knows where Lembergs’ money, his assets have gone. This is more than EUR 200 million. No one knows where this money is. Maybe the PM knows. Maybe there are some secret documents? This is indicative of the general situation in state administration. I would say – a mess!”