Due to the holidays, the next coalition council meeting will take place today, just before the Cabinet of Ministers meeting. As can be expected, the politicians will discuss the provision of a short-term loan to airBaltic.
According to rumors, the Prime Minister will personally persuade the leaders of the Union of Greens and Farmers to abandon their initial position and not to obstruct the provision of a €30 million loan to the airline. As a compromise, the leaders of airBaltic will be forced to sign strict guarantees for the loan repayment.
However, first, the 'green farmers' will separately invite the Minister of Transport, Aitis Švinkus ('Progressives'), to their parliamentary faction and will ask him a number of uncomfortable questions about the real financial situation at airBaltic and whether the minister and the airline's management have a clear, realistic plan to stabilize the situation.
The partners will also continue discussions on the proposal by the Minister of Economics, Viktor Valainis, to introduce a 100% windfall tax in case fuel retailers attempt to increase fuel markups. At the last government meeting, it was decided... to postpone the consideration of this bill.
It is likely that the ruling parties will discuss the timeline for preparing amendments to the Public Media Law in light of the Constitutional Court's decision, which will undoubtedly lead to a complete cessation of broadcasting in Russian on public media.
It cannot be ruled out that the ruling parties will also discuss the idea of the Minister of Economics to supplement the memorandum with retail representatives in order to achieve a reduction in prices for basic food products.
As expected, the power partners will return to discussing the provisions of the revolutionary Procurement Law, which provides for a significant increase in the procurement cost threshold. Some experts fear that this will increase the risk of corruption and other abuses.
