Last week, the Union of Greens and Farmers (UGF), part of the government, played a new card against its coalition partners, further escalating the situation in the government, public media report.
The Union of Greens and Farmers (UGF) began accusing the "Progressives" of insufficient care for the residents of the regions, and two deputies even joined the opposition, expressing distrust in the minister from the "Progressives". Most members of the UGF do not wish to remain in the current government but state that they will not overthrow the cabinet of Evika Silina themselves. The UGF now attributes such intentions to the "Progressives".
The government still primarily relies on the necessity to adopt the budget for the next year, which does not foresee significant defense expenditures. And despite numerous disagreements, the adoption of the budget is possible, concluded the program "De facto".
On the first working day after the public holiday, ministers gathered for a government meeting to consider more than five hundred proposals with potential impacts on the state budget for the next year amounting to 1.7 billion euros. None of the ministers from the UGF arrived on time. And this is not the only stunt by the UGF that has shown the instability of the situation in the coalition. Although on Wednesday, ministers, having rejected almost all opposition proposals, agreed on amendments to the budget, the next day, two UGF deputies - Uldis Augulis and Janis Vucans - voted for a vote of no confidence in the opposition against the minister of transport, Atis Shvinkis from the "Progressives".
The minister retained his position by a narrow margin of votes. Both members of the UGF faction linked the demand for Shvinkis' resignation to problems in regional bus services.
"In Ventspils, there are cultural centers such as 'Jūras vārti', the concert hall 'Latvia', but if you look at whether residents of Kuldiga and Talsi can come to evening performances or events by bus and return home, my answer is no," Vucans justified his distrust in Shvinkis.
Andris Shuvaev, the chairman of the "Progressives", linked the voting of the two UGF members "exclusively" to the non-write-off of debts of the Ventspils port. UGF politicians had previously proposed to write off the debts of the Ventspils port in the State Treasury, as well as refinance and repay the port's loans in private banks, which the transport minister did not agree to.
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