Rinkevics does not support EC idea about restricting funding to countries with rule of law problems

RIGA – From the point of view of rights and democracy, the European Commission should not suspend funding to countries where, according to the Commission, the rule of law is not sufficiently independent, said Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics (New Unity) in an interview with LETA.

The minister said that Latvia will be understanding of the positions of Poland and Hungary in relation to the Article 7 proceedings. “Still, we cannot support this or another thing happening in those countries, while Latvia’s position is very simple – we call on Poland and Hungary to enter into a dialogue with the European Commission and the European Parliament to solve the problems so that Article 7 is not applied,” said Rinkevics.

The Latvian government will disucss this issue when Latvia has to define its national position and it will be closer to the discussion on the EU multiannual budget, when countries negotiate not only the budget, but also ideas and mechanisms in the context of the new budget.

“I do not support the idea and solution in the way it has been proposed now. Even though I understand the authors of the idea and the sponsor countries who do not wish to invest in countries where there is no confidence that spending of money is controlled,” the minister said.