Latvija in brief

Struggling Straujuma

According to Latvian political research Filips Rajevskis, Latvia’s Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma is the weakest link in the country’s government.
He said that Straujuma became the prime minister while working as a civil servant, not a politician.
He also said that Straujuma is constantly making mistakes when voicing her opinion on various issues.
“Communication mistakes have become her trademark,” he said.

Rajevskis also said that Straujuma’s government has exhausted itself. When the government was adopted, there were discussions circulating that it has been set up just for Latvia’s Presidency of the EU Council which ended in June 2015.
Rajevskis also said he does not expect any radical changes in the coalition should the Straujuma government collapse.
Should it do so, he still believes it will be made up of the three current parties - Unity, the National Alliance, and the Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS).
               
Latvian troops to Mali?

Latvia has received from France a request for assistance under Article 42 of the Lisbon Treaty and is considering the ways how it might help, including sending more troops to the international missions in Mali or the Central African Republic (CAR), Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics told BNS on Tuesday in Brussels where he was attending a meeting of the NATO foreign ministers.

But participation of Latvian soldiers in the military operations against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group is not among the options that are being considered, he said.
“The request does not give a specific geographic location. It is a request to help France by sending replacements to the EU military missions, relieving the French soldiers so that they could fight the IS. It could be Mali or the CAR. We have experience in both those operations,” the Latvian foreign minister said.