Latvian Saeima’s Rail Baltica project parliamentary inquiry committee has officially approved its final report. The document is not yet publicly accessible.
Four members of opposition parties voted in favour of the final report’s approval – Andris Kulbergs, who is in charge of the committee, Artūrs Butāns (Combined List), Amils Saļimovs (National Alliance) (For Stability) and Kristaps Krištopans (LPV).
Representatives from coalition parties Skaidrīte Ābrama (Progressives), Atis Labucis (New Unity) and Ģirts Štekerhofs (Union of Greens and Farmers), on the other hand, abstained in the vote.
Kulbergs told LETA that an editor will have a look at the report. After the report is approved, it will be published on Saeima’s website.
Kulbergs said the report lists people responsible based on their level of responsibility. Red colour is for persons the committee believes to have committed serious mistakes, orange – for persons who were expected to act accordingly during the project but didn’t, and yellow – for persons who did not take a sufficiently active position during the project’s implementation.
“This is not a trial, we’re not lawyers or police officers. This is a political evaluation,” said Kulbergs, adding it was necessary to add these people to the report to promote transparency.
According to information published by Kulbergs, the “red” section includes ex-Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, Transport Minister Kaspars Briškens, as well as once the Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits.
The “orange” section of the report mentions once the Chairman and CEO of “RB Rail” Agnis Driksna, once the Minister of Transport Anrijs Matīss, current Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens, state secretary to the Ministry of Finance Baiba Bāne, former manager of “RB Rain” Baiba Rubesa, former deputy state secretary to the Ministry of Transport and current head of the Road Transport Administration Dins Merirands, former state secretary to the Ministry of Transport Ilonda Stepanova, former state secretary to the Ministry of Transport Kaspars Ozoliņš, former acting state secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Chairperson of the Council of “RB Rail” Ligita Austrupe, former Deputy Director of the Ministry of Transport Railway Policy and Infrastructure Department Olita Bērziņa, as well as former Minister of Transport now Minister of Welfare Uldis Augulis.
The “yellow” section of the report mentions once the Minister of Finance now Saeima deputy Jānis Reirs, former Chairman of the Board of “European Railway Lines” Kaspars Vingris, and former prime ministers Laimdota Straujuma and Māris Kučinskis.
Ābrama mentioned at the meeting that the report does require several appendices. “I don’t see my proposals in the proposals section of the report,” added Ābrama. The committee’s consultant Krišs Lipšāns said all of the proposals the committee had agreed upon were all added to the report.
Labucis said he was unable to review the latest corrections within 2.5 hours and would abstain from voting because of the list of those responsible. He said he will add his separate thoughts to the report before the Saeima meeting.
Ābrama added that the committee did a good job overall. Still, she proposed excluding the list of persons from the report. “Don’t do anything foolish,” she urged her colleagues. She added the assessment is subjective and may cause damage to reputation. “This is a spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey,” Ābrama said about the addition of the list of people to the report.
Her represented political party mentioned in a statement to the media that the committee’s applied method “overshadows the valuable conclusions reached on the historical course of the project, the mistakes made and the recommendations made so that they do not repeat”.
“Progressives” believe the “traffic light system” is deeply subjective, opinions-based, not evidence-based. “This method is politically dubious and raises concerns about the impartiality of the commission,” the party stated.
The party mentions that it does support the work of the parliamentary inquiry committee but adds at the same time that this process should have been based on evidence, not subjective interpretations or unjustified approaches up until the very conclusion.
Prosecutor Armīns Reinis invited by the committee said when previous parliamentary inquiry committees had named those responsible, it had caused a public resonance. “I believe that naming such persons does not entail legal liability, but it is a question of political responsibility, which the commission set as a goal,” he said.
On the 13th of June this year, following the proposal of 34 deputies, the Saeima decided to compose a parliamentary inquiry committee to look into the mistakes made in the progress of the Rail Baltica project.
The purpose of the committee’s activities was to identify the mistakes made in the implementation of the project, at the same time ensuring that it becomes a priority issue for the government, “so that decisions are taken transparently and in a timely manner, as well as taking into account the interests of the state and society, the impact on the Latvian economy and state budget”.