Siliņa: No Sense That New Unity Is Part of the Future Coalition

Evika Siliņa, a politician from the New Unity party (JV), said she currently has no sense that JV is part of the future coalition of Latvia's next government. Her remarks concern talks on forming a new cabinet after the parliamentary elections, which were won by the United List (AS).

Siliņa said JV is ready to work in the new government. So far, she said, the party has respected that the election winners need time for internal processes and coalition talks. In her view, however, the current pace can no longer be explained only by the time needed to make decisions. She said she has the impression that the outlines of the coalition may already have been drawn up and that JV is not being fully involved.

Talks lacking concrete content

Commenting on Tuesday's talks with prime minister candidate Andris Kulbergs (AS), Siliņa said JV had heard nothing categorically unacceptable. Still, she said the discussions lacked concrete substance, and there had been no in-depth assessment of the proposed measures or their financial impact.

One of the most important issues will be putting the state's finances in order. Siliņa acknowledged that significant budget commitments have been publicly discussed for a long time, and the new government will have to take concrete decisions to address them. JV has its own view of possible solutions, but the talks have not yet reached a level of detail at which specific fiscal and political solutions could be discussed.

What has happened so far

As reported earlier, in the first official round of talks with JV and the National Alliance (NA), Kulbergs reached conceptual agreement on several directions for change. These include making public administration more efficient, reviewing the functions of ministries and putting state finances in order. Also discussed were reducing bureaucracy, centralising public administration processes and promoting economic growth.

On Friday, Kulbergs is scheduled to hold talks with the party "Progressives", and early next week meetings are planned with the party "Latvia First". The next round of talks is set for after 4 November.