On Friday, the 11th of August, Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš rejected the counter-offer from coalition partners National Alliance (NA) and Combined List (AS) to preserve the existing coalition, said NA politician Jānis Dombrava and AS politician, Saeima speaker Edvards Smiltēns after their meeting with the PM.
Dombrava and Smiltēns also described the two parties’ offer to the head of the government.
As previously reported, in an effort to make the government’s work more dynamic, Kariņš proposed making NA politician Rihards Kols Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, giving AS the Ministry of Economy and New Unity (JV) the Ministry of Environment Protection and Regional Development.
He also proposed for his party – JV – to take over Saeima’s National Security Committee from NA.
The two parties rejected his offer.
Previously the PM said that if the two parties rejected his offer, he would approach the Union of Greens and Farmers and Progressive Party as potential coalition partners.
Kariņš told journalists that the two coalition partners have rejected his offer.
The prime minister explained that he offered coalition partners an option in which they would exchange one responsibility for another.
Kariņš also stressed that such a response from AS and NA does not leave him with any other option that “to start working on a new coalition”. This means continuing negotiations with ZZS and PRO. He also said he will invite AS and NA to attend negotiations about the new government.
He also said he is not ready to step down as Latvia’s PM.
Previously the prime minister made it clear that his goal is expanding the coalition in order to achieve smoother work on the arrangement of the school network, improvement of the health care situation, labor issues, promotion of state-owned companies to the stock exchange and social issues, namely, the ratification of the Istanbul Convention “as a symbolic but deeply significant gesture of the Saeima” and implementation of the decision of the Constitutional Court related to the regulation of cohabitation are necessary.
Currently the ruling coalition in Latvia consists of New Unity, National Alliance and Combined List. However, shortly after the state president’s elections, during which parties had difficulty agreeing on a single presidential candidate, Kariņš commenced coalition-expansion negotiations with the Union of Greens and Farmers and Progressive Party. The National Alliance and the Combined List are against the coalition’s possible expansion.
Also read: Backstage rumours suggest AS and NA are sceptical about Latvian PM’s offer