Parties of the ruling coalition in Latvia do not expect Minister of Foreign Affairs Krišjānis Kariņš to step down over the special flights scandal, because he had used them when he was still Prime Minister of Latvia and has since stepped down from this post.
At the same time, parties forming the ruling coalition expect the State Chancellery to develop clear and unambiguous regulations that would govern the practice of using special flights.
When asked about the opposition’s demand for Kariņš to step down, Prime Minister and one of the leaders of New Unity Evika Siliņa stressed that he has already stepped down as prime minister, adding that the use of special flights took place during his term as the head of the government.
“In a certain sense his political responsibility for this ended with his PM’s term,” said Siliņa.
New Unity politician said that Kariņš will provide explanations. According to her, he is expected to provide an explanation about the day-to-day activities of a prime minister.
Siliņa also asked State Chancellery to develop clear and unambiguous regulations that would govern the use of special flights by members of the government. Currently the use of EU funds to attend meetings of the Council of Europe is clearly defined. However, it is necessary to provide the same clarity for conditions on the use of state budget funds for the same purposes.
The State Audit will look into the special flights used so far and will provide its report, said the PM.
Progressive Party member Antoņina Ņenaševa raised this issue at a meeting with party members. An agreement was reached to develop specific criteria that would apply to the use of special flights by the current and next governments.
According to her, it is necessary to define criteria that would ensure special flights can only be used in special and justified cases. It is also necessary to “ensure transparency” or information availability for residents about these flights, said Ņenaševa.
Progressive party politician joined Siliņa’s opinion that in Kariņš’s case this is about his term as prime minister, which he has already left.
Minister of Economy Viktors Valainis similarly mentioned that Kariņš was approved as minister of foreign affairs in the current government. Nevertheless, institutions will look into the situation before then.
There have to be criteria developed “to keep living”, more specifically – in which cases special flights will be allowed to be used in the future, said Valainis. On top of that, after every trip society should be provided with information as to why each trip happened and who used it, said the politician.
Also read: Latvian PM delegation’s private flights cost state budget EUR 600 000
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