Minister of Finance Arvils Aseradens (New Unity) has expressed hope that work on Latvia’s 2026 state budget will soon move forward in the Cabinet.
Aseradens admitted that talks with coalition partners were taking longer than usual, but said this was understandable given the very limited resources available for new political initiatives. According to him, these constraints are making the negotiations more complicated, but he still sees a willingness among partners to reach a compromise.
Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity) commented after the September 15 coalition cooperation meeting that resolving difficult issues forced more creative decision-making.
She recalled that last year the coalition managed to agree not to raise salary caps across the public administration, and also decided that board members of state-owned companies could have their pay cut if their results were poor.
“In my view, such discussions only strengthen and temper our political will to find solutions that are neither routine nor easy,” Silina said, adding that longer negotiations were pushing the government to think about how to modernise and make the public sector more efficient.
Minister for Transport Atis Svinka (Progressives) said that the Progressives maintained respectful talks and relations with coalition partners, and intensive discussions did not mean there were problems.
He also noted that the Progressives’ parliamentary group has invited Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze (Union of Greens and Farmers, ZZS) next week for in-depth talks about forestry policy.
Krauze added: “If there’s a budget, there will be a government,” stressing that ZZS had no major disagreements with New Unity, though there were significant differences with the Progressives, as ZZS was a more conservative and centrist force.
Minister of Economics Viktors Valainis (ZZS) said earlier on LTV’s Rita panorama that ZZS currently saw no way to move forward with the next year’s budget because no satisfactory agreements had been reached on lowering VAT on some food products and on maintaining small rural schools.
Meanwhile, New Unity’s Saeima faction leader Edmunds Jurevics told LETA that coalition partners should not throw around ultimatums: “We are ready to discuss, but I urge everyone to be responsible and not toss around ultimatums,” he said, emphasising that there was already agreement that the priorities for next year’s budget were internal and external security, support for families, and education. (BNN)