Latvian Political Monitor

@JanisIkstens With the method proposed by MMN, he would have entered the Saeima as a non-partisan and would not have wasted energy trying to squeeze in and intrigue with all those party-losers.

#KulbergsIRrisinājums @AndrisKulbergs #7saraksts https://t.co/TQ8KiQXpxt

💯 @partijaMMN https://t.co/RNyeFyyh3k

Kulbergs' energetic activity is convincing proof that Latvia must switch to the election model proposed by MMN, where one votes not for parties but for individual personalities. Because Kulbergs is not even a member of any of the parties (that make up AS). He is independent of parties and acts on his own. Even more – AS without Kulbergs are the same stagnants who have been sitting there for years. The 'Irish' election model would guarantee that the next Saeima would have at least 50 Kulbergs and even more powerful ones than him, because MMN proposes to also remove office restrictions for candidates and give non-partisans the opportunity to be elected. So, it's not a forced matter – think for yourselves.

Dombrava on technical problems at the border: Cameras were not connected to the border guard unit.

Two coalitions

PRO rank-and-file members for the second day in one breath are proclaiming that @JanisDombrava is a 'threat to Latvia's security' and that he is unjustifiably 'lecturing Spain,' that they feel 'ashamed on behalf of others' and that any moment now Spain's NATO contingent will leave Latvia. It is precisely their hysterical tone that is why I will comment on this at all. The only difference is that, unlike PRO & co, I have not merely heard of some letter from 'Panorāma's' account without content or references - I know the letter's content and context. First, about the method that must be eradicated from Latvian politics. Every time the adoption of some political decision turns out to be disadvantageous or unpleasant for someone, the same card is played - 'the allies will take offence,' 'the allies will leave.' We heard this when we considered Latvia's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention - the same characters who today cry over Dombrava's letter to Spain threatened that Canada would reconsider its NATO presence in Latvia. Now - the Spanish. This rhetoric is not any concern for security; it is discrediting allied reliability to score political points - as if our NATO partners were frivolous and capricious dilettantes who determine their commitments to Latvia by how much they like one minister's letter to another minister. If anyone really thinks that about Spain or Canada - that is an insult to them, not to Dombrava. On the content, which none of the shouters has read, yet they know everything well enough to comment. The letter is not an ultimatum and creates no new obligations for Latvia - on the contrary, it expresses solidarity with Spain over the victims in Ceuta, offers technical assistance and the experience Latvia has gained in five years of hybrid war conditions on the Belarusian border. This aligns exactly with what government representatives said in January during the Saeima foreign policy debate: Latvia is ready to share experience within the solidarity mechanism, but we will not accept new migrants and will not pay for them. The letter also names the core of the problem - the legalization of more than half a million illegal migrants in Spain, which Latvia rightly does not consider merely a Spanish internal affair, because the consequences of this decision will affect the entire Schengen area. Latvia has just also joined a letter from 22 EU leaders calling for coordinated action to address this crisis - at the same time as Italy, Finland and Denmark openly demanded Spain's exclusion from the Schengen area. The 22 EU leaders warned about exactly the same thing - that the legalization of illegal migrants has sent a signal that illegal entry can turn into legal residence. By itself, a letter from one EU member state's minister to another country's minister is nothing unusual - interior ministries in Europe regularly communicate and coordinate with each other - that is daily practice, not a scandal. And last. This letter arose on the basis left as a legacy by the previous government - the question of the migrant solidarity mechanism within the EU migration pact, unresolved at the political level for nine months. It is a direct failure of former interior minister Kozlovskis. Most likely in autumn Latvia will have to make payments precisely because Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain have not wanted the alternative (technical) support Latvia offered - because this issue was never raised at the political level. Dombrava finally did that with the help of this letter. I will remind that in international diplomacy such mutual working correspondence between officials is not usually published. Unless it has been deliberately politicized or leaked. Here everyone can speculate about the reasons and how this information reached the media. This way PRO will not succeed in washing their own ugliness with the Rasima affair into oblivion.

Friends, in Latvia all problems are finally solved! Now the time has come to roll up our sleeves and also lift poor Spain into the sun! Latvia can! https://t.co/HfQUkRaOlQ

As I promised, changes will be made and the proposals of the Riga Heat investigation commission and the State Control will be put into use to reduce the heat tariff in Riga. Thank you @JanisVitenbergs and KEM VS @LigaKurevska for a very well-developed plan with clear deadlines and responsible parties to make the necessary changes in the short and long term.

On July 27, @AndrisKulbergs committed to initiating the removal of the restricted-access status of the prosecutor's protest in the timber industry support case, as well as the government's response to it. August 5: @prokuratura_LV has not received such a proposal. We continue to wait for @Brivibas36 to act.