Tavars: Merging Ministries Currently Impossible Without Paralyzing Their Work

Edgars Tavars, the Minister of Smart Administration and Regional Development and a leader of the "United List" party, stated that at present there are no viable options to merge multiple ministries into a single Ministry of Economy without hindering or paralyzing their work.

He emphasized that such initiatives need to be discussed, but objectively evaluating the priorities and workload, now is not the right time. Tavars generally supports the idea of merging ministries but argues that a proper economy ministry should not be limited to the Ministry of Climate and Energy (KEM), the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development (VARAM), and the Ministry of Economics (EM). It should also include parts of the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for forests and timber exports, as well as the military industry.

The minister believes the most realistic step now is to liquidate KEM and divide its functions back to EM and VARAM, and only then discuss further changes. He noted that there are many ideas for optimization, also concerning the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Welfare.

As previously reported, the National Alliance has proposed that the ruling coalition make a decision before the Saeima elections to merge KEM, VARAM, and EM into one Ministry of Economy. Representatives of other parties have indicated that the idea is debatable but requires evaluating the overall state governance model.