'Moment of truth' about government's functionality expected after summer break - Rinkevics

RIGA - 'The moment of truth' about the government's ability to function is expected after the summer break, President Edgars Rinkevics said Monday in an interview with TV3 channel.

In the president's words, the key to a successful government work is not the number of votes in parliament, but the ability to make decisions, and at the moment the government is able to make them. However, the "moment of truth" about the government's ability to function is expected in the next month or two, when after the summer break the government coalition will have to tackle many difficult issues - agree on next year's budget and tax policy changes, deal with the Rail Baltica situation, etc.

The biggest immediate challenge will be next year's budget, as its adoption will be challenging due to Latvia's limited finances, the president said.

Speaking about the possible expansion of the government, Rinkevics understands that such an option has been discussed informally, but nobody has talked about it with him as president. "Once a year, drama around and about the government is inevitable", the president  said ironically.

Asked to assess his own job performance during the first year in office, Rinkevics said that he still had three years to go and a lot to do. He reiterated that security issues require a lot of work and that dialogue with the judiciary, especially on issues related to national security, has been more demanding than expected.

Until the end of the year, the president hopes to focus more on national competitiveness issues, including three major visits with business delegations to California, Germany and South Korea, which are slated before the end of the year. The visits are expected to focus on defense industry  and IT cooperation and export promotion.

On the issue of cutting red tape, Latvia has not yet gone beyond slogans, the president said.

Rinkevics said he would be ready to decide in 2027 whether he would be ready to run for a second term as president. However, calls for a popularly elected president does not seem to him to be an important issue at the moment, as people are concerned about other issues, mainly related to security and future prospects.