Analytics, Latvia, Legislation

Andris Berzins and Einars Repse. Riga, 23.07.2013. Photo: president.lv

"We agreed that we will have another meeting, where we will discuss education, healthcare, economy and manufacturing matters," Repse told reporters after the meeting.

During today's meeting, Berzins and Repse discussed ways to make the government a "responsible and strategic policy shaper" and to ensure stability, as well as to prevent the frequent government changes. They noted that at the moment, it is practically impossible to have an "under-performing" minister replaced, because this inevitably is followed by problems within the coalition and various ultimatums. The prime minister is the one who invites candidates to join his government, but in essence it is the coalition that determines the government makeup, therefore in practice the head of the government cannot take responsibility for the entire government's efforts, they added.

Repse said that the prime minister should be given more powers so he could build a team that would indeed be his or her team, meaning that the premier would take full responsibility for the government's performance and also be able to replace a minister without "shaking up" the coalition. It would be very well if such reforms were implemented before the next Saeima elections, so the new government could work according to new principle, added Repse.

Repse stressed that many of the proposals offered by his and the president's task forces were "very similar", which is why he and Berzins agreed that the constitutional experts would have a joint meeting so they could come up with harmonized solutions that could be implemented via the parliament.

The President's Press Office informed LETA that Berzins and Repse agreed today that the two task forces should have a meeting to exchange views about the best solutions to improve the public administration system, as well as legislative amendments necessary to bring this about.

The President's Press Office said that Berzins was prepared to also hear about other proposals from the association. Likewise, Berzins is prepared to discuss proposals that other political forces have to offer if they do wish to discuss such proposals with the president. So far, Repse's association is the only political organization that has turned to the president in order to discuss reforms to the public administration and improvements in the government's work.

Berzins' task force was set up two years ago.

This fall, the task force will release a report on the opportunities for improving the relations between the various offices in public administration. The president wants constitutional reforms to make the executive power stronger, which he hopes will make the government's work more effective.

On the other hand, "For Latvia's Development" is planning to become a political party and participate in the next Saeima elections in 2014; it does not rule that it could participate in the European Parliament elections too.

The association says that its priorities include fostering enterprise in Latvia and altering the public administration model, where the premier would have greater powers as well as the option of calling extraordinary elections should the parliament become destructive or if decisions of national importance are impossible to make due to political differences.