Parties forming the ruling coalition in Latvia consider reinstating the preciously harshly criticised “Saeima deputy quotas”.
The “Saeima deputy quotas” concern state budget money reserved for projects chosen by deputies.
Chairman of Saeima’s Budget and Finance Committee Jānis Reirs told journalists that the budget plan for 2025 does not include “Saeima deputy quotas”. Nevertheless, the coalition will discuss this topic soon.
Reirs also said he doesn’t see anything bad about these quotas. According to him, when meeting with residents, Saeima deputies see public needs in a “slightly different light”.
According to him, more than 90% of all “deputy quotas” are diverted towards the non-governmental sector.
“I don’t see anything wrong with giving extra funding like Apeirons. The government works at the macro level and we [Saeima deputies] have the opportunity and the right to work at the micro level,” said Reirs.
As previously reported, today Saeima speaker Daiga Mieriņa received from Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens the budget plan for 2025.
The speaker of the Saeima stated that this is a budget for the support of national security and the least protected groups in Latvia. “There is a lot in the budget to make our people and citizens feel better, safer and protected,” said Mieriņa.
Mieriņa admitted that this budget does not cover all needs, because, for example, insufficient funding has been outlined for healthcare. There are also plans for education reform, which are currently without a clear funding plan, with the government committing to looking for it.
In her opinion, when adopting this budget, it is necessary to agree on amendments to the law, which would impose the obligation to create the state budget as a “zero budget”. This is important in order to reduce bureaucracy and review all expenditures on the merits, stressed the Speaker of the Saeima.