LDDK president grants Silina's government 3 out of 5 points for two-year work

RIGA - In the two years since Evika Silina (New Unity) became the Prime Minister, several good things have been achieved, but overall the government headed by her should be given the mark of three on a five-point scale, Andris Bite, President of the Latvian Employers' Confederation (LDDK), told LETA.

Today marks two years of the government led by Silina.

Meanwhile, in a Kantar poll commissioned by TV3, which surveyed around 800 people aged 18-65, the average mark for Silina's government was 3.9 out of 10, including 15 percent who gave it 7 to 10 points, 20 percent - 5 or 6 points, 47 percent - only 1 to 4 points, while the rest had no opinion.

On the positive side, Bite said that the Latvian government has not changed its position on aid to the war-torn Ukraine.

"This is good, because it is no secret that some countries in the western world do not think that what is happening there is a big deal," Bite said. Latvia, on the other hand, continues to make clear its support for Ukraine and is helping it financially and in other ways.

He also highlighted the work done on tax reform related to labor taxation.

However, the government of Silina has failed to mobilize the public in view of the threat. "The situation is much more serious than we are being told and reassured. A different regime needs to be switched on," stressed Bite.

He also highlighted as a negative the fact that under the Silina's government, neither of the two possible development paths to rebalance the economy has been chosen. One of them - economic breakthrough. However, Bite admitted that this was largely due to the current geopolitical situation. At the same time, austerity has not been switched on. "There is a lot of talk but little action", said Bite.

All the current talk about cutting spending is related to the base of next year's budget, Bite noted, stressing that "this is not austerity".

Thus, according to Bite, in order to balance the people's aspirations for a good life in the future and the security challenges, the public debt continues to grow. "This will create problems for us, for our children," said Bite, stressing that the cost of servicing the public debt is also rising.

The LDDK president noted that he believes this is because politicians are in power in Latvia, not statesmen and stateswomen. Nobody wants to switch on austerity mode because everybody wants to be elected in next year's parliamentary elections, Bite believes.

"It is about not taking unpleasant decisions in order to stay in power. It will cost us as a society a lot," said the head of the LDDK.

The government of Silina has been working since September 15, 2023.