Latvian Political Monitor

Stepaņenko publicly accuses Bite of arrogance, Bite accuses Stepaņenko of demagoguery

@nezinu46 @AndrisKulbergs @ivchix In the ministries work about 3500 people, more precisely 3700. The salary budget is around 140 million per year, average gross salary 2.5k.

LIVE. Interview before the 15th Saeima elections. National Alliance's candidate for Prime Minister Ilze Indriksone: https://t.co/OFtRk43POZ

Although the FM working group has not yet issued any negative opinion on the planned state administration ICT procurements, as a result of its work, expenses of 21.2 million euros have already been prevented. Upon receiving the working group's information requests, some applications for permission to conduct procurements have been withdrawn https://t.co/18cEN9QPTn

They have accepted Leščinskis, Rosļikovs, Jūlija, Smanas, even though clearly knowing that they are Kremlin-funded parties, but have filled their pants with 500 nationally and patriotically minded people from ASL? Do we ourselves realize what our strength is and how afraid they are that we will come to power? Otherwise they would be silent, as they are silent about JKP, Gobzema list, etc., and would not try to intimidate the public, unjustifiably marginalizing ASL as a political force and making up all sorts of nonsense about Austošā Saule Latvijai. Small parties, after all. 🙂 Uncomfortable for the power - needed for Latvia! List No. 12

In TV24's pre-election debates, politicians are tasked with quoting Sprīdītis today

The European economy remains resilient to economic shocks caused by geopolitical turmoil, including rising energy prices related to the conflict in the Middle East and Russia's aggression in Ukraine, European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification Valdis Dombrovskis (JV) said on 'Morning Panorama'. 🖥️ https://t.co/kk0SsDFQY6

Why does Latvia need a new criminal procedure law – a conversation with Justice Minister Edvards Smiltēns (AS), Saeima deputy and former Justice Minister Inese Lībiņa-Egnere (JV), and the head of the Latvian Sworn Advocates Council Saulvedis Vārpiņš: https://t.co/Kfn1mIMM2W https://t.co/bX6Pqm29lQ

Society is taught to rely on facts, but populists show that one can be successful by ignoring facts. Facts are not needed to become prime minister and move towards victory in elections. So many numbers are being manipulated that it will be difficult to refute them all. That is a method which, as can be seen, is successful.

Yesterday, at the Saeima election Riga list leaders' debate organized by LSM, the main choice of these elections became clear. Politics as a loud performance or politics as responsible work. Three insights after the debate. 1. Latvia does not lack loud promises. It lacks politicians who honestly say how they will finance and implement what they promise. The state is not a television show. After the elections, someone must take responsibility and achieve results. 2. @suvajevs showed that @Progresivie has a concrete offer: opportunities for young people, clear energy policy, freedom of art and culture, as well as an efficient state administration whose work is assessed by achieved results. We can be proud of our candidate for prime minister. 3. In these elections, we will also decide what kind of country we want to live in. Will Latvia remain a democratic, European, and solidary state, or will we allow fear, hatred, and the promises of one "strong master" to replace democracy. @Progresivie's choice is clear! Modern economy, fair society, and a democratic Latvia in Europe. Not back to the past, but forward.

@JurgisLiepnieks And the United List pushed exactly the mixed electoral system contrary to what Kulbergs said. https://t.co/w3UXmLZT7d

"airBaltic" bondholders will decide on the terms of bridge financing up to 257 million euros.

Pilot project has succeeded. Now the routes must be maintained. For more than a year, two cross-border bus routes connect Latvia and Estonia: Valka-Valga and Ikla-Ainaži-Salacgrīva. Together, the two routes have carried more than 24,000 passengers. People use them to get to work, to the doctor, to the store, or to transfer to other public transport. However, EU pilot project funding will end at the end of the year, and the future of the routes is still unclear. Maintaining one route requires approximately 50,000 euros per year, and these costs could be covered jointly by Latvia and Estonia. That is not disproportionate funding for a service that provides daily necessary mobility for border residents. The pilot project's task is to test whether the solution works. If people use the service and both countries recognize its necessity, the trial should be followed by a permanent solution, not a funding gap. In talks with Estonia's transport minister, I shared the vision that closer ties and mutually integrated public transport connections should be developed between Latvia and Estonia. The Baltic states must increasingly become a single home market. A person should be able to move easily between Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, using coordinated timetables, convenient transfers, and connected ticketing systems. Therefore, Latvia must agree with Estonia in a timely manner on funding both routes next year. At the same time, timetables and passenger information should be improved so that even more people can use these connections. A single public transport ticket across Latvia would be the first step. The next goal should be joint Baltic public transport solutions. The borders of the Baltic states should not be a dead end for public transport. https://t.co/e2VlmxGbUG

National Defence Service in the State Border Guard We have initiated the official further progress on the introduction of the National Defence Service in the State Border Guard. The introduction of NDS in the State Border Guard would be a significant change in the development of the service, allowing to strengthen border protection capacity and at the same time give young people the opportunity to perform national defence service by practically engaging in the defence of Latvia's border. We trust that this issue will reach the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration as soon as possible, so that we can move forward with the introduction of NDS in the State Border Guard.