“We began to create a bureaucracy that is now overfed, swollen, and occupies building after building” 0 3

The conversation shifts to the 1990s in Latvia, when Valdis Birkavs was at the height of power. In his opinion, no one fully realized that the foundations of how we live today were laid precisely in the 1990s.

“Those were years of great upheaval that could not pass without immense tension and suffering because there was a need to hurry. At the same time, it was a very creative time when Godmanis was like a plowman, so that others could sow. He uprooted old trees and stumps. And burned them. It was clear that there was smoke, it was clear that it stung the eyes. And there were mistakes.

The way the state functioned back then, how future officials worked, with what enthusiasm and zeal — they had a completely different motor skills. And, of course, there were mistakes. For example, we began to create that bureaucracy which is now overfed, swollen, and occupies building after building. It has outgrown itself and turned into a burden for the state.”