Few politicians doubt that the 2026 budget will be adopted this week. The main intrigue is what happens next? How will the three current ruling parties work together, considering the recent personal attacks, that is, the personal animosity of certain ministers towards each other.
A Partner Is Recognized in the Prosecutor's Office
Let us remind you that just over a week ago, the ministers of agriculture and communications had a quarrel during a live broadcast, and prior to that, the Saeima deputies from the "Progressives" filed a complaint against the Minister of Agriculture (who is from the Union of Greens and Farmers) with the Prosecutor General's Office. "Are they our partners?!" – ironically reacted veteran of the Union of Greens and Farmers, Augusts Brigmanis, responding to a journalist's question about what his partners – the "Progressives" – think.
The most logical way out of the current situation would be... the creation of a new government – after all, there are still 10 months until the elections, and the country can hardly afford to "hold" an ineffective government during such a long period, where ministers are resolving personal issues instead of working.
It cannot be ruled out that instead of forming a new government, Silin may attempt a second restart of the current government – in particular, applying, as political scientist Philip Raevsky put it, the signature move of "New Unity" – the replacement of one minister from each of the three ruling parties. However, according to rumors, the "Greens and Farmers" are determined not to allow the replacement of any of their ministers.
"After the budget is adopted, where we expect 52 votes, all three coalition partners will have to sit down at the negotiating table and say whether they are ready to continue working or if everything has turned into pre-election rhetoric. In the last two weeks, it has been evident that both partners are exchanging public insults, and this does not benefit either the government or the team spirit. 'New Unity' is ready to work if both partners are ready to work and not engage in political rhetoric," stated Edmunds Jurēvics, head of the parliamentary faction of 'New Unity', in an interview with TV-3.
There Is Plenty of Work!
It is naive to think that the budget is almost the main, if not the only important issue ahead of the elections. The idea that the government can work as a "technical" one for the remaining 10 months until the elections, that is, practically not making important politically sensitive decisions, is frankly very harmful to the country.
In fact, there are many important issues that the current or new government needs to address as soon as possible – at least definitely before the elections. These include the issue of financing Rail Baltica and the fate of the "golden piles" on the Daugava and in the vicinity of Riga Airport, the completion of the controversial deal for the buyout of shares of LMT and Tet by the state with subsequent attraction of a strategic investor, and the listing of the national airline airBaltic on the stock exchange...
All government efforts to activate stock transactions in the country, which could realistically attract investments, have so far not led to any tangible results. More precisely – the result is completely zero! And this issue will still have to be addressed after the budget.
The fight of the Silin government against rising food prices has also ended in complete failure. "To the surprise" of politicians, in a market economy and under the dictate of retail chains, the government’s "medicines" against inflation do not work.
The ruling parties also need to decide on the fate of... the railway gauge in the eastern direction. As is known, some security officials insist on dismantling the rails towards Russia!
Sooner or later, the port reform needs to be completed – disagreements over this reform between the current coalition partners have not been overcome.
It is clear that the current model of managing state enterprises is ineffective and a new one needs to be devised.
Reassess All Expenses
To realistically reduce administrative costs, it is necessary to launch the process of "zero budgets" – that is, to form the budgets of ministries anew, from scratch, evaluating each budget item, each priority.
Functional audits also need to be conducted in ministries and agencies – for example, in the Society Integration Fund, which "miraculously survived" during the discussion of the 2026 budget.
Since the required funding for medical services was not allocated in the 2026 budget, the current or new government will face a sharp shortage of funds for paying medical services under quotas closer to summer.
This is far from a complete list of pressing problems and challenges facing the authorities. Therefore, it is hard not to agree with Rinkēvičs, who recently noted that if this government is not ready to work effectively, then there is no point in suffering, and it should make way for a new one.
