RIGA - If the current government is unable to work, perhaps it should step down to make room for somebody else, President Edgars Rinkevics said Wednesday after a meeting with Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity).
The president believes that lawmakers should put their harsh rhetoric aside and focus on tackling issues in key areas: security, demography, healthcare and education.
"I would urge though to drop the harsh rhetoric that is heard from time to time in both the parliament and the government and focus on security issues. We have a lot to do there," Rinkevics said.
He stressed that the assessment of the government's performance will be largely linked to next year's budget, which the government is due to deliver to the parliament next week. Rinkevics noted that the way the discussions will unfold and the final decision on the budget's adoption will show the government's willingness of or unwillingness to work together.
The president underlined the importance to maintain the commitment to increase defense spending in line with the NATO Summit's decisions, as well as to focus on demography, education and healthcare. He also warned that public debt cannot continue to grow indefinitely and noted that the deficit in public spending is already high.
Rinkevics said that he did not see any reason for emergency consultations on the government's performance, as he had recently met with all parliamentary groups, as well as with the Saeima speaker and the prime minister.
"We are not in a situation at the moment where we can afford to watch a drama every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on matters that are not always clear to the public," the president stressed.
As reported, at the end of September, the Union of Greens and Farmers, a partner in the government coalition, unexpectedly sided with the opposition in a vote on a bill on Latvia's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, causing instability in the coalition.
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