Dombrava: It Would Be Strange Not to Invite National Alliance Into the New Government
Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava says the National Alliance should be invited into Latvia's new government given its cooperation with the United List, though the decision rests with that party. Prime minister candidate Andris Kulbergs plans a third round of talks after the national holiday.
Jānis Dombrava, a politician from the National Alliance (NA) and Latvia's interior minister, said after Monday's government formation talks that it would be strange if his party were not invited to join the new government. He cited its previous cooperation with the United List (AS), whose representative Andris Kulbergs is the candidate for prime minister. Dombrava stressed, however, that the final decision lies with AS.
According to him, NA is now waiting for the next round of negotiations, and unofficial talks are also taking place. He suggested the next official meeting could happen next week.
Saeima committees
Dombrava said it would be desirable for the committees of the Saeima, Latvia's parliament, to start work now, and that reaching an agreement within a week would be "very good". He called it too early to say which committees NA would like to chair, noting that this is closely tied to the process of forming the Cabinet of Ministers.
Kulbergs' assessment
On Monday Kulbergs met with New Unity, the Progressives and NA. He criticised the first two for not being sufficiently prepared and for failing to offer concrete enough austerity measures. He singled out NA as a partner that had prepared well and come with a number of concrete proposals on the economy and national priorities. Even so, after the second round of talks Kulbergs gave no clarity on the future coalition, and the AS proposal, including the areas of planned savings, has not been publicly set out in detail.
Kulbergs has said the third round will most likely take place after the national holiday, and that AS still has to assess which partners are most ready to take responsibility for complex reforms. He promised more details later this week.
President Edgars Rinkēvičs entrusted Kulbergs with forming a government after the 15th Saeima convened. Kulbergs hopes to present a model for the new Cabinet by mid-November. Three scenarios are currently being mentioned: AS cooperating with New Unity and NA, an AS–NA government, or an AS minority government.
