Ex-communist Europe
Latvian politics
A long hot summer for Latvia
Jun 3rd 2011, 8:37 by E.L.
LATVIA is in danger of producing more news than it can comfortably consume. This week's print edition carries a brief analysis of the latest shenanigans, in which President Valdis Zatlers has called a referendum on the dissolution of the Saeima (Parliament) in protest at its vote to block an investigation by KNAB, the country's anti-corruption agency, of the three most powerful oligarchs (tycoons). I wrote a rather longer piece here in European Voice on the same topic.*
But both pieces went to press too late for Thursday afternoon's news of Mr Zatlers defeat in the presidential contest (held by the current Saeima), which has elected Andris Bērziņš as the new president by a 53-44 vote. Anti-corruption protestors greeted this with a demonstration outside parliament. The previous president, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, said [link in Latvian] that the country was heading back to the era of dependence on oligarchs. It was greeted with gloom in neighbouring Estonia too.
The good news is that Latvia's financial position is no longer precarious, so the political crisis is containable (Citadele, which used to be the troubled Parex bank, has just retired €200m in eurobonds--link in Latvian).
But the stage is set for a long messy summer. Mr Zatlers is president until July 7th. On July 8th Mr Bērziņš is sworn in. The referendum on dissolving parliament will be on July 23rd. If that passes, then a general election will take place in September. The best coverage of all this comes from www.ir.lv, unfortunately only in Latvian. However google translate gives a surprisingly good rendering of the main points.
*I am actually on book leave so I apologise if postings to this blog are scantier than usual. I've also removed an anonymous quotation about a "failed state" which on balance I think is overly alarmist.
Eastern approaches deals with the economic, political, security and cultural aspects of the eastern half of the European continent. It incorporates the long-running "Europe.view" weekly column. The blog is named after the wartime memoirs of the British soldier Sir Fitzroy Maclean.
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@ abols
The sooner one wakes up and smells the coffee, the better. Too many yet in Latvia refuse to face reality. Face it, and a day of reckoning then could come. The country's class political badly needs surgery. Who will be the surgeon? It is better to find one from within.
It is clear to me that the first three comments are from Latvians. One of the main obstacles to Latvia's development is the exaggerated, self-fulfilling negativism of a large segment of its population, which still expects too much of the State and too little of itself. How would these doomsayers react if they were living in Bangladesh or Zimbabwe? No doubt words would fail them.
There are only two parties in Latvia (pro-corruption and anti-corruption) and many affiliates of the core parties to suite different tastes of the ignorant voters.
In that respect Juris_LV is right, this site is anti-corruption.
www.ir.lv is tool for one political organization just like every other newspaper. We don't have independent journalists...
It was a brave move by Zatlers. Apparently, he is in for a long haul in the Latvian politics. In substance, he was right as well, although this yet remains to be seen. The Latvian State remains rotten to the core.