Kulbergs: Attendance fees for council members scrapped; wider spending review promised

Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs has revealed that one of his first surprises after taking office was the remuneration paid to members of the Memorandum Council for attending meetings. In an interview on TV24’s “Nedēļa. Post scriptum” on August 3, he said he initially could not believe that people were paid simply for showing up to a session.

Asked whether he had anticipated the public backlash, Kulbergs said no, describing his reaction as one of natural confusion and shock. He stressed that this was his only criticism of the council’s work and that it concerned solely the payment. The practice has been scrapped, halting the use of approximately €200,000 from the state budget.

The prime minister said the work is not finished, as Latvia is running a large budget deficit and continues to borrow. In his view, the country borrows too much, money is expensive, and in many places it is simply wasted. Therefore, it is necessary to check whether funds are being spent efficiently.

He cited funding for non-governmental organisations as an example, amounting to approximately €204 million per year. Kulbergs emphasised that he does not want to simply cut this funding, because NGOs handle well functions the state cannot perform itself. However, certain figures and line items raise questions for him.

He announced that a Cabinet meeting with representatives of the Memorandum Council and regional NGOs is planned to jointly assess the allocation of funding. Kulbergs said there is “a pile of chaff” that needs to be separated from the grain.