Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and former Prime Minister Valdis Birkavs stated in Olga Knyazeva's program "Accent" that we cannot create a single political nation and establish an economy because hatred has already been sown in our hearts for two generations ahead.
The former prime minister noted that Latvia needs to change the entire system.
"The planning horizon at the level of 2035 is not enough; it needs to be set for 2050 because we need to change everything! In 30 years, we have missed the opportunity three times to become a country with a sustainable economy. We are a developing country, and a lot has already been done, but look at what we have experienced over these 30 years. We have gone through three banking crises, the collapse of four major banks, an expansion of credit and overheating of the real estate market, a pandemic, and the proximity of war. I could go on listing, but all these events are external risks that will haunt us until we move from a convergence system to structural formations," explains Birkavs.
Convergence is when a less developed country adopts everything from more developed countries, Birkavs explains, noting that this approach was correct for some time, but it had exhausted itself by 2007.
"We had three opportunities to carry out serious structural transformations; politicians should have refrained from just increasing salaries and benefits; instead, they should have created economic structures that would be sustainable," says the former politician.
Birkavs notes that structural transformations require a complete overhaul of the education system, a complete change in banking advantages, and a complete reconstruction of public administration. He also points out that state bureaucracy needs an audit.
Birkavs states that a successful, sustainable economy is not possible in the conditions of such a fragmented society that Latvia has become today.
"How can we talk about a political nation today when hatred is being sown all around? We have already sown hatred for two generations ahead. (...) We are creating an atmosphere of some incomprehensible, dark country by adopting some incomprehensible laws," he laments.
Birkavs warns: the hatred sown today will have long-term consequences, affecting the life of society for at least two more generations.
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