This Thursday or possibly even tomorrow afternoon, the Saeima will approve the new government.
So, today after 3:00 PM, the preparatory process for the establishment of Kulbergs' government has been completed. Specifically, the composition of the new Cabinet of Ministers has been determined, the government declaration and coalition agreement (the cooperation agreement of government political forces) have been agreed upon. After the government is approved - apparently, within the next few weeks - a list of priority tasks for the government will be compiled, which has been allocated a very short time - 4 months until the elections and some more time until the next government is approved by the new Saeima.
There will be as many as 5 newcomers in the government - that is, politicians who have never before worked in the highest executive power of the country. This includes the Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, the Minister of Justice Edwards Smiltenis, and the Minister of Smart Administration and Regional Development Edgars Tavars (all from the United List), the head of the Ministry of the Interior Janis Dombrava (National Alliance), and the non-partisan Minister of Defense Raivis Melnis. The most experienced politician in the new government will be the Minister of Finance Maris Kucinskis, who has already served twice as a minister and also as Prime Minister! Two representatives of the Union of Greens and Farmers have retained their ministerial posts from the Silinie government - the Minister of Economics Viktor Valainis and the Minister of Welfare Reinis Uzulnieks. Another “green farmer”, Uldis Augulis, who was previously removed from the position of head of the Ministry of Welfare by Evika Silina, returns to the executive power as the Minister of Agriculture. Richards Kozlovskis from “New Unity” is also moving from one ministerial chair to another - he will now lead the Ministry of Communications. The head of the Ministry of Health Hosam Abu Meri and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Baiba Braže (both from “New Unity”) have retained their positions.
All the new ministers have already stated that during their time in the government, they will resign from their parliamentary mandates. This means that there will again be significant personnel changes in the Saeima - 9 deputies will come to parliament with temporary (soft) mandates. The full list of new servants of the people is still unknown, as certain politicians entitled to a mandate may not agree to leave their main job for a 5-month term in the Saeima. Notably, a mandate is also due to former Riga City Council deputy Ieva Brante, who has long left the ranks of the United List and plans to work as an independent deputy.
