Labor union opposes cutting the Latvenergo pie

RIGA - Opposition is mounting in the form of a possible referendum against a decision passed by passed by the Latvian Parliament stating requiring Latvenergo be restructured into four subsidiaries and 49 percent of its thermoelectric heating plants sold to private enterprise. Government opposition parties, the Social Democratic Peoples Party, the New Party and the trade union, Energija, is behind the protest.

The New Party's deputy, Jevgenija Stalidzane, who is also Energija's deputy chairman, will start collecting petition signatures this week and hopes with the help of the Latvian people that the energy law will be amended.

"This gives the opportunity for the citizens of Latvia to voice their opinions on the matter concerning the privatization of Latvenergo and participate in parliamentary functions," said Stalidzane. "Most likely a referendum will not take place if we can get the Parliament to pass the amended bill signed by the citizens stating that Latvenergo will stay a wholly government owned company.

"This will not cost Latvians any money and will be solely funded by the trade union," said Stalidzane.

Latvia's Way Chairman, Andrejs Pantelejevs, said a referendum will cost taxpayers' money and should be called for only for an issue of importance, and to throw about the word "referendum" too often will be destructive.

" A referendum is a democratic experiment, and unless it is an issue of importance, holding one will prove costly," said Pantelejevs. "People will get sick of hearing the word referendum used by the government opposition factions, and when a referendum is truly needed the electorate will not participate."

Janis Garaissils, the Energy union's chairman said the amendments to the energy law on which the trade union is working will have not only the backing of energy experts but that of the people. Citizens of Latvia can not afford the mistakes that have happened in Eastern Europe with privatization, Garaissils said.

Stalidzane said after experts finish the technical work on the amendment, the union needs to collect 10,000 signatures from registered voters in Latvia. The next step is to file the signatures with the Central Election Commission to verify the voters. After this is completed, one-tenth of all Latvians have a period of one month to vote if they want the amendment to Article 20 of the energy law. A 50 percent "yes" vote is needed to continue the process.

The New Party deputy is very confident that 10 percent of Latvian citizens will join in the trade union's call not to privatize Latvenergo. The amendment will then be handed to the Latvian president, who has then to submit the amended bill to Parliament. If Parliament does not pass the bill, all Latvians registered at an electoral office can take part in a referendum to decide the issue. If the amendment to the energy law is passed by Parliament, it will become law and Latvenergo will stay in government ownership.

Government ministers are sceptical that if a referendum were held on the energy law amendment, it would result in a waste of taxpayers' money. A referendum was held for the citizens to decide if pension payments should increase for the elderly and had no result because fifty percent of the nation's electorate did not participate.

Government opposition parties have already tried to halt the bill in Parliament but could not get enough support to stop the privatization and restructure of Latvenergo.

Latvenergo is strong enough not to rely on private capital, said Stalidzane, and to divide the thermoelectric and hydroelectric energy resources is ludicrous.

"What happens if the government owned hydroelectric system is low on water?" asked Stalidzane. "Latvenergo will have to buy energy from the partly-privatized thermoelectric heating plants and will probably have to pay more."

An aid to Stalidzane said that Latvenergo is the only monopoly in the Baltics, and there is nothing stopping it from using its own capital resources to buy into other foreign energy resources and to reap the benefits. Latvenergo is powerful enough, only when 100 percent government owned, to buy parts of the rest of the country's electroenergy.

The government stands by the privatization of Latvenergo and proponents in Parliament said Latvenergo cannot survive as a government owned company in a free European power market.

The ball now is in the court of the Latvian people to participate in their right to change Parliament legislature if they do not want Latvenergo restructured and privatized, a hope that the trade union Energy has and the government hopes will not result in a waste of taxpayer's money.