RIGA -- Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks has formally called on Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis and members of the government to review their decision on the dismissal of Aleksejs Loskutovs as head of the KNAB anti-corruption bureau by publishing a statement to that effect on the Foreign Ministry's own website.
"The Foreign Minister noted that taking into account the rapidly increasing distrust towards the government, the parliament and judicial authorities, as well as growing international concern over justice and democracy in Latvia, the government must give careful consideration to this matter again when all the commissions will present their conclusions," the statement reads.
Pabriks' very public U-turn comes less than a day after he appeared on TV and strongly defended the decision to sack Loskutovs. What is extraordinary is that Pabriks is now using a government website to voice criticism of the government itself.
Some will say that Pabriks is making a belated attempt to do what he feels is the right thing or, as the statement implies, is responding to public opinion in an effort to show that the government is not as out-of-touch as its critics would believe.
A less charitable view would be that he has come to the conclusion that the government is doomed and is attempting to distance himself from it in the hope that his own career will be less damaged than his colleagues' once the dust has settled.
The Foreign Ministry job is widely held to be the most glamorous government position of all and Pabriks clearly relishes the position.
