Even those who are not very deeply interested in politics understood that the hysteria around leaving/not leaving the Istanbul Convention is not only and not so much about the issue of domestic violence, but about... power.
It is clear that the opposition, as is customary, used the "convention issue" to rock the government boat and attempt to create a new future ruling coalition. "New Unity," with the help of the president, repelled this attack and, at least for a while, retained its government. But the next challenge is ahead - the adoption of the 2026 budget.
A very difficult budget...
Those who called the process of adopting this budget the most difficult in recent years are right. This is, of course, related to the need to direct huge funds to defense - mainly borrowed money, leaving all other areas underfunded, and, of course, it is also related to the proximity of elections.
Moreover, the saga of the Istanbul Convention has severely damaged relations within the coalition, and the "green farmers" decided to strengthen their role as internal opposition. They bombarded the budget draft with dozens of proposals, including those that are guaranteed to irritate government partners.
The government will ruin... the Society Integration Fund?
More precisely - they have already caused irritation. The Prime Minister and her party members have already expressed their outrage over attempts to take part of the budget allocations from the Society Integration Fund. The Union of Greens and Farmers "demonstratively" proposed to redirect the "seized" 1.2 million euros from the Society Integration Fund to cover the shortfall due to the VAT reduction on... pork.
Reduce VAT on all basic products!
It should be noted that the 2026 budget draft includes an experiment to reduce VAT to 12% on bread, milk, and chicken meat. The tax reduction is currently planned from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. The "green farmers" want to extend this reduced tax to pork as well. And for this, they are desperately looking for whom to take from to compensate for the tax losses in the treasury due to the VAT reduction on meat. Along with the budget of the Society Integration Fund, the "green farmers" proposed to use part of the profits from "Latvijas valsts meži," which comes to the budget as dividends, for compensation.
Interestingly, the "green farmers" also initiated the... liquidation of the Society Integration Fund. Moreover, they proposed to start this process quickly - on April 1 (which is symbolic) and finish by June 1. It will be interesting to see if government partners can persuade the "green farmers" to withdraw this proposal. Otherwise... it will be adopted - and it will surely be supported by the entire opposition! And this could hasten the demise of this government.
By the way, speaking of the opposition. Traditionally, they came up with a number of initiatives to reduce taxes - including a proposal to lower VAT from 21% to 12% on catering services and hotel services, and to establish a preferential VAT rate of not 12%, but 5% on the aforementioned bread, milk, and chicken meat, as well as to expand the list of products with a reduced VAT rate to all dairy products, as well as fresh and chilled meat and fish, chicken and quail eggs.
Prevent discrimination
Some opposition deputies are trying to prevent the discriminatory initiative of the Ministry of Culture to deprive Russian media of the preferential VAT rate of 5%. Opposition politicians believe that if the state has decided to support the media, then it should support all Latvian media, without dividing them by the language of publication.
However, it is unlikely that this voice of reason will be heard. Interestingly, deputies from the Union of Greens and Farmers proposed to find funds to compensate social tax for media workers, but only in publishing houses "mainly producing media in Latvian and the official languages of the EU."
Notably, a deputy from the Prime Minister's party "New Unity," Gatis Liepinš, also dared to submit an amendment to the budget, but not about tax reductions, rather about a more rapid increase in excise tax on strong alcoholic beverages.
Deputies from the National Alliance have traditionally called for increasing salaries for employees of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, as well as providing subsidies for their loyal voters - activists of the Latvian Society of National Warriors, the Officers' Association, the Association of Politically Repressed...
And reduce the number of positions
A number of changes to the 2026 budget were proposed by the Speaker of the Saeima, Daiga Mierinā (Union of Greens and Farmers). She proposed to redistribute EU funds so that the reconstruction of the Latvian Oncology Center could be completed quickly, granting this facility the status of a national significance object. The Speaker also proposed not to pay bonuses to state and municipal officials next year and in 2027.
The Speaker of Parliament also initiated a 10% reduction in the number of bureaucratic positions in state and municipal administration in 2027.
A peculiar greeting to public media was sent by Mierinā's party mate, Uldis Augulis - he proposed to cut public media allocations by 5.6 million, redirecting that money to reduce the budget deficit.
And money for the telescope!
Another representative of the Union of Greens and Farmers, Janis Vucans, decided that funds for unforeseen expenses could be used to "support scientific activities using a radio telescope in Irbene."
Several amendments from deputies are aimed at increasing funding for medical services in university clinics, increasing subsidies for rural doctors, and creating an emergency medical assistance point in the Indrāni parish.
Will it withstand or fall apart?
Rumors from the corridors of power suggest that even if the coalition manages to find a compromise on the budget and adopt it, the Silina government will not last long...
Although, as is known, nothing is more permanent than temporary. "They will suffer until the elections, but they will not disperse," predicts Saeima deputy from the United List, former Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis.
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