Political parties Combined List (AS) and National Alliance (NA) are not in a hurry to announce whether or not they have plans to attend the five-party negotiations organised by PM Krišjānis Kariņš for a possible expansion of the ruling coalition.
The negotiations that were held last Friday, the 16th of June, were not attended by AS or NA.
Only New Unity (JV), Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and Progressive Party.
This week’s planned negotiations will not be moderated by Kariņš personally, as he is currently away attending the conference dedicated to the restoration of Ukraine currently held in London.
Kariņš said on Monday after a meeting of the coalition that he maintains his earlier invitation to his coalition partners to come to the five-party negotiations to discuss topics important to the country’s development.
NA member Jānis Dombrava said that “an odd situation” has appeared,
because negotiations regarding a possible expansion of the coalition still continue even though last week there was a no-confidence vote aimed at the PM and his government, and it is during this vote that parties from the coalition and opposition had a clear difference of opinions.
On Tuesday, the 22nd of June, the Saeima plans to hold votes on requests for four minister that are representatives of all three government parties.
As the politician said, there aren’t any indications of any opposition party voting “against” these requests.
According to NA, one important topic is whether the organised discussions are related to the expansion and reformation. The party wants a clear answer to this, said Dombrava.
AS Saeima faction leader Edgars Tavars said during the meeting of the coalition they heard a compliment from the PM in regards to the quality of work done by the government. The politician also said that from what he understood from the PM, the upcoming meeting is not related to any changes to the government.
Answering the question whether AS has plans to attend Kariņš’s five-party talks, Tavars explained he will be able to give his answer “after discussions with parties in the coalition”.
Also read: Saeima speaker sees no reason to negotiate with ZZS and Progressive Party on a government level