A Saeima deputy from the ruling coalition believes that the country urgently needs a different Minister of Transport.
The Prime Minister's hopes that there would be a temporary lull in the ruling coalition before the budget was adopted have not materialized. As we reported yesterday, two members of the Saeima from the coalition party Union of Greens and Farmers - Jānis Vucāns and Uldis Augulis - supported the opposition's initiative to express no confidence in the Minister of Transport, Aitis Švinka (Progressives). Only because several opposition deputies were absent from the meeting did Švinka manage to retain his position. But it is too early for him to celebrate: the 'green farmers' have no intention of 'pitying' the head of the Ministry of Transport, who has angered government partners with his refusal to write off the debts of the Ventspils port.
As previously reported, an extraordinary meeting of the board of the Union of Greens and Farmers will take place today, during which the possible demand for Švinka's resignation will also be discussed. Before the board meeting, Saeima deputy Uldis Augulis made a statement calling for Švinka to resign.
"The collapse of the regional passenger transport system clearly confirms the inability of Minister of Transport Aitis Švinka to manage the sector. The current situation significantly threatens the mobility of the population, social security, and regional development. This is no longer just a problem for individual municipalities; due to the misfortune of the Minister of Transport, a state-level crisis has been triggered...
The problems are not only in public transport; they characterize the entire sector. The 'Rail Baltica' project, which was supposed to be the backbone of modernization, has turned into a chaotic, unmanageable, and vague process. There is no doubt that very soon we will hear again that 'airBaltic' needs tens or even hundreds of millions in state support, but still without a guarantee of results. This confirms the inability to manage strategically significant projects and indicates a systemic management crisis," the statement by U. Augulis reads.
The question now is not whether the Siliņa government will collapse, but when it will happen - before the budget is adopted or immediately after.
