Government restructuring on hold

Feb 13, 2009
From wire reports

The prime minister said the number of ministries in the country would not be reduced. (Photo courtesy of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia)

RIGA – Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis has said that the ruling coalition agreed to put plans to reduce the number of ministries and expand the coalition on hold.

"We have agreed on the following -- we will not introduce changes in the number of ministries today and now... We are not discussing expansion of the coalition and redistribution of functions among the existing ministries," he prime minister told journalists on Feb. 13. 

The prime minister highlighted the importance of solving the country’s economic problems, saying that the economy should take precedence over political restructuring.

He also said that the plans should wait until after the local and European Parliament elections are held this summer. 

"It is important for us to hold the municipal and European Parliament elections in an undisturbed and organized way," said Godmanis.

The coalition has agreed on restructuring of state administration institutions. The government next Tuesday will adopt a plan for audit of functions and decide about restructuring of which agencies will be discussed first. 

"The political situation will be the following that I as the prime minister will ask the ministers responsible for their agencies whose functions overlap to hold political discussions on that and then the government can make decisions," the prime minister said.

The coalition on Friday discussed Godmanis' model for reorganization of the government by reducing the number of ministries from current 16 to 12 ministries. Ministries in the plan had been allocated to parties, and thus each coalition party would lose one minister. 

The ruling People's Party has voiced the most critical attitude to Godmanis' plan. The Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS), and the nationalist alliance For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (TB/LNNK) generally supported the model, but objected to merging the Welfare, Health and Family Affairs Ministries in one.

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