| Emsis's cabinet resigned Yesterday, the Latvian parliament refused to approve the draft state budget for next year in the first reading. According to Latvian law, this is considered an expression of no confidence in the government, which automatically resigns. The tenth government of independent Latvia since 1991 was formed in March. It included the People's Party, the Union of Greens and Peasants, as well as the Latvian First Party. The government relied on 47 of the 100 deputies of the Sejm. Since Latvia is a parliamentary republic, the coalition was actually ineffective.
Until September, the opposition pro-Russian Party of People's Accord (PNS) provided the government with a majority in voting in the Sejm. The PNS hoped that in exchange the government of Indulis Emsis would soften the education reform and abolish the requirement to teach in the upper grades of Russian schools primarily in the Latvian language. The government did not make this concession, and in September the PNS demanded the resignation of the cabinet. Emsis's team held out, but remained in the minority in the Sejm.
Before the current vote on the state budget, the prime minister was forced to negotiate with the PNS again. The party agreed to support the draft main financial document if it included its amendments regarding the allocation of funds for the social sphere. But yesterday, the head of the People's Party faction, Aigar Kalvitis, said that Indulis Emsis negotiated with the PNS behind the back of the coalition, and his party will vote against the budget. Latvian Finance Minister Oskar Spurdzins is a protege of the People's Party, that is, the “populists” voted against their own budget.
Deputy Chairman of the PNS faction Andrei Klementyev believes that the negotiations between the prime minister and the PNS are just a pretext for the collapse of the government. The real reasons for his resignation lie in the contradictions between the People's Party and the Latvian First Party, which did not divide ministerial portfolios. The People's Party demanded the posts of Minister of Economy and Minister of Transport. The Latvian First Party refused, and the Populists provoked a government crisis in the hope that they would seize the post of prime minister in the next government.
The candidate for prime minister, who will be tasked with assembling a new government, will be named by Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. The configuration of the future government is still unclear. The first round of party negotiations will take place today, but yesterday it was clear that the People's Party had seized the initiative. Danuta DEMBOVSKAYA, Riga |
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