Mandatory tax and property declaration (Updated)

FINALLY after two decades of ongoing debates and painstaking foot dragging the Latvian parliamentary majority has managed to pass thus significant law on mandatory tax and property declaration by unanimous vote! It happened exactly eighteen and seventeen years later than in Estonia and Lithuania. I will elaborate in detail on this important legal innovation during upcoming weekend, but until then Latvian Internal Revenue Service can finally start preparing to operate in an environment when they have a legal basis for prosecuting oligarchic or minigarchic crooks in earnest:)

P.S. Here is the latest Latvijas Fakti pollster about the popularity of the Latvian political parties

Updated

Gatis Šļūka

(Lady) "We are absolutely zeroes (nerds)...
(Man) "No. We do not have to submit the zero declaration (mandatory tax and property declaration).

Emergency elections over and referendum forthcoming (updated)

September 17, 2011 emergency elections are behind us and after rather eventful government formation process the new cabinet has managed to accomplish already quite some significant feats. Evaluation of the government work traditionally takes place after the first hundred days, thus proper assessment of the work of the government will come from the author of this blog during the first half of the February. Until then we will have to live through the metamorphosis of the Latvian political system due to the possible referendum (due to the signature collection campaign about the Russian as the second language in Latvia), because the Central Electoral Commission must announce their initial verdict during upcoming days. The effective travails of the government and the parliament will determine whether the structure of the outdated infrastructure of public services will be finally transformed. If it will give at least some tangible results then the newly opened disagreements on language policy would be probably mitigated.

Actually the outcome of signature collection campaign signifies that the 2013 March municipal elections campaign has virtually started. The political environment was unnecessarily shaken up and channeled into the national antagonism again. There were several factors at play, and one cannot deny that among major culprits for such a turn of events were actions of the National Alliance rushly initiating signature campaign during the Summer 2011, and which proposed overhauling the present policy of language instruction, and the Zatlers Reform Party puzzling behavior during the government formation process. It is essential now for the Valdis Dombrovskis government to focus on public policy issues and untangling the obscure Krājbanka ( Savings Bank), RVR, ABC & Antonov affair. The successful result of untangling this odious affair as well as embedding the rule of law and appointing the new head of the FKTK in the parliament will foster gradual recovery of trust in banks and also the democratic institutions among the Latvian public. Why do I sound thus optimistic during the times when the Eurozone is balancing on the verge of the brake-up, and there are many rogue regimes flexing their military muscles around the globe? Because I believe in rationality in of Europeans to solve their crisis, I believe that defense capabilities of the NATO provides enough deterrent to make the NATO and EU citizens to feel safe, and last but not least the Latvian citizenry are inherently willing to build their families in peaceful and happy atmosphere. Therefore, whilst following the precepts of Almond & Verba during the 1960-70's I believe that also Latvian politicians should spend more time on policy rather than polity issues, because too much tinkering about the democratic framework issues could create quite a political fallout...


Mme Latvia [handing over SACKING OF THE PARLIAMENT medicine]: "Those drugs you prescribed me doctor do not help because what I am feeling is, that I could even loose my [native] tongue"
The Doctor: "But we cured oligarch illness after all, madam!"

Gatis Šļūka

UPDATED

This morning IR announced that more than 170 000 signatures have been collected by the NGO "Native tongue" in order to proceed with the constitutional amendments and introduce the Russian as the second state language in Latvia. The signature collection campaign was supported by prominent opposition politicians, including the major of Riga, and it has reopened the animosity between the Latvian and Russophone speakers again.

For opposition populist politicians to galvanize their policies on language issue could be problematic, because legally to succeed in their efforts they have quite high hurdles established by the constitutional fathers of Latvia. After the Electoral Commission will announce official results of the signature collection campaign the constitutional amendments bill must go into the parliament, and knowing the balance between government and opposition forces the bill would definitely not pass over the 2/3 threshold. The Satversme (constitution) Art. 77 says that if articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 77 are proposed to be amended, then in order to take legal effect, any of them must be affirmed by a referendum. Because now the state language is Latvian (Art. 4), it means that such constitutional amendments could be adopted only, if at least one-half of those who have the right to vote have declared themselves in their favour (Art. 79). Today there are about 1,5 million eligible voters in Latvia, thus for the signature campaign organizers the task to overcome the 700-750 000 hurdle is simply insurmountable.

This makes me to conclude that the whole signature campaign and democratic activism of the opposition politicians was to went their frustration over the emergency elections results. The rush referendum of the National Alliance during the 2011 summer played its role and there have been several authors pointing to this fact, which triggered activism of the second signature campaign. It was not the only reason, however, because the Russian language issues are lately rather symptomatically popping up in the territory of the former USSR in concerted manner. Nevertheless, as I already stated the equivocal role of the ZRP party together with the ambivalent statements of the National Alliance party did not help to calm the situation down but quite the opposite.

After all I believe that the last signature collection campaign galvanized not only Russophone, but also Latvian speakers, and the referendum result shall deliver a clear cut result leaving the Article 4 unamended. And to conclude on this positive note I must quote Dmitry from today's Diena, who took the crux of the just finished signature collection campaign into the nutshell: "To tell you honestly I am against the second state language [Russian in Latvia], but I gave my signature against the initiatives of the National Alliance this summer, which would have forced all schools to instruct only in Latvian. In the forthcoming referendum he would not participate, because if he really thinks what matters, then there does not exist language problem in Latvia."

Volatility of the Latvian political system (UPDATED)

2011 snap elections are over and my first try to get elected into the parliament was not successful. The coalition negotiations are ongoing and tough and I will elaborate on the results of previously mentioned processes more in my next blog entries. This time I am republishing a chart which clearly outlines volatility of the Latvian party political system, because every elections since regaining the independence in 1991 undecided swing voters have been migrating to the new party:)


Source: Dienas Bizness

P.S. Here are my first and second takes about LV politics in Estonian.
P.P.S. And here is my week old piece for Maaleht (in Estonian)

UPDATED

Here is the composition of the 11th Saeima before the new cabinet is in place, which means that 13 ministers most probably would be replaced with the MP's with a soft mandate.

After the Latvian July 23 referendum...

The formative referendum dismissed the 10th Saeima, and the first ever emergency elections in Latvia will be held in September 17, 2011.

The time to prepare for elections is short and thus most political parties go with their old or slightly upgraded programs. Because among the Latvian populace most of the democratic institutions are dismissingly unpopular, and parliament being among them, thus many new faces have appeared on the party lists. And to make the situation even more intriguing also there is a new kid on the block, who shall try to squeeze into the Latvian party political spectrum.

Until now it is hard to predict the exact outcome of the Latvian elections, because the Latvian party political system has returned to the square one, and since the budgetary funding for the political parties will start only from 01.01.2012, we could finally start to project operations and what kind of system will be formed out from the ethnically divided and scarsely populated Latvian parties.

Because of the emergency character of those formative elections I have decided to run for the Saeima myself. This would make me to change my usual schedule and I have already started to participate in the month long election campaign sprint.




Other than that, my hunch is that the center right Unity, the center left Harmony Center (HC), the liberal Zatlers Reform (ZRP) party, the Union of Greens and Farmers as well as the conservative National Union party would get elected into the parliament. I am not sure about chances of the For Human Rights in United Latvia party as well as about the desperate maverick trying to do anything to get elected. Nevertheless, the fact is that until now about a third of electors are undecided and thus the campaign month (or better say the sprint!) will determine whether Latvian voters shall opt for the European of post-Soviet path of development. The European path would be defined by voters trusting the results of hard won reforms of the Valdis Dombrovskis government and allowing to form coalition with either the ZRP or the HC party. The opposite and hopefully non materializing path would foresee the populist politicans engineering an ethnically deterministic vote for the benefit of ''populous anarchy a'la lettica'', and thus opening Ms Latvia for uncharted waters...again:)

P.S. My latest piece in Ukrainian ''Tyzhden'' (in Ukrainian)

Formative referendum on July 23, 2011 (updated)

My usual weekend calm was interrupted by the Norwegian tragedy and flying down South to the shores of Bosphorus. Since my arrival to Turkey the Latvian Central Election commission has already sealed the official results and announced that the emergency elections would take place in September 17, 2011.

The July 23, 2011 referendum in Latvia finished the procedure of dissolution of the parliament started by the former president Valdis Zatlers with his ominous May 28 Decree No. 2. The legal pretext for dissolution of the parliament served the decision of HC party together with oligarchic Union of Greens and Farmers not to lift parliamentary immunity of an another oligarch and MP Ainars Slesers when the Corruption Prevention Bureau asked with the Riga District Court permission to search premises of ominous politician. Reasons for sacking the parliament since Latvia joined the EU have been ample however. Cynical misuse of power reached the equinox, however, in the October 2006 parliamentary elections. Those elections were plagued by misuse of illegal financing and the Supreme Court of Latvia in its November 3, 2006 verdict was slightly shy from proclaiming the 2006 elections null and void. Thus, the heavy weight of oligarchic parties misusing funds and poisoning the Latvian political culture fostered the embedded culture of alienation which has estranged Latvian voters from democratic institutions of governance. Thus, the July 23, 2011 referendum results with 44% of eligible voter’s participation rate and 95% agreeing to dissolve the parliament was not unexpected.
The sheer number who voted YEA was surprising, however, because 65% of them voted for the incumbent parliament less than a year ago in parliamentary elections. Latvian political commentators have been analyzing reasons behind such distrust of citizen’s vis-à-vis their own republic, and also why the smallest number of participants in plebiscitary voting came from Riga and Latgale electoral districts. The reasons for distrust lead us back to the early 1990’s when Latvia together with other Baltic republics regained its independence. Estonia and Lithuania had a new constitutional caucus, election law and subsequent upgrading of laws concerning public finance and governance issues. Latvian legislators rolled over the constitution of 1922 and has remained the only EU member state which neither has the mandatory tax and property declarations system nor it funds political parties with Malta from the state budget. Reasons for voters in Riga and Latgale being relatively inactive (38 and 34 % participation respectively) are twofold. First, the stagnated political culture has been embedded due to the existing oligarchic parties which have openly discouraged active civic participation during referendums last five years. Second, the majority of Riga and Latgale electoral district voters voted for the mainly russophone Harmony Center (HC) party. The latter governs Riga and most of Latgale municipalities but during the last twenty years they have metamorphosed from ethnic into social democratic party and have sat in opposition all those years.
The referendum set a unique precedent while empowering the somewhat dormant Latvian civil society. The amendment in the election law stipulates that political parties will be funded from the state budget as of January 1, 2012, and many other legal innovations since the May 28, 2011 presidential decree No. 2 have strengthened the rule of law in Latvia. The only concern is the fact that in terms of party political development Latvia has returned to square one or at the point where it started in the early 1990’s. The Latvian party political system was poisoned by the ethnically determined division in right wing Latvian and left wing Russian speaking political parties. Since last elections the trend is for parties to determine its policies on social and economic issues. Thus, while the consolidation of political parties took place the political unions were not so much based on pragmatic ideologically similar platform. Thus, we may witness the plethora of new political parties being formed and some older political parties trying to merge now on the identical ideological foundations.
Such process is welcome but just two months prior emergency elections it is hard to predict how qualitative the newly formed parties will be and how well they will be able to expose the ‘’hoppers’’ from the formerly oligarchic parties. Thus, former president Zatlers Reform Party has announced itself as liberal force and thus will have to compete with catch all mechanisms for the same voter as the Unity political bloc which should merge its three constitutive parts into the right to the center political party on August 6. It is positive that there are now distinct liberal, conservative and centrist parties, but what Latvian body politics is really missing is the social democratic or progressive political force. Thus, this open niche is filled by the HC party which uses populist slogans but has not established efficient relations with the trade unions.
Therefore, while stable and leading position of HC in polls continues probably the 35-40% of undecided or swing voters will determine the election outcome. Also, I must remind here that HC party has been leadind the polls both BY Latvıjas Fakti and SKDS firms for the last three years, but they became second during last year's parliamentary elections. The latest polls showed significant decrease of support from the HS, Unity, Nationalist Bloc and Union of Greens and Farmers. The Zatlers Reform Party (ZRP) has very good starting positions but the hard labor of creating party base and little monies for the campaign will probably determine their abılıties to hold a successful campaign.



IR

Initially the ethnically defined National bloc and HC are gaining strength from the dissolution of the parliament. Successful outcome of September 17 elections will be determined by the ability of the successful political parties to create jobs, decrease unemployment and embed the rule of law however. Neither of ethnically defined parties have been able to seriously compete on those issues so far. Therefore, the major contenders for the formation of government coalition will be the governing Unity, ZRP and HC parties, while National Bloc, Union of Greens and Farmers and maybe First and Latvian Way party union would have to compete among themselves for passing the required 5% threshold for entering into the parliament.

p.s. My previous statements from the interview in ERR were actually uttered while thinking that ceteris paribus nothing will change prior elections, but since May 28, 2011 Latvia has become ''richer'' with 3 new parties, and 2 former electoral unions merging into 2 distinct parties

p.p.s. Here are my latest articles for those reading in Latvian, and Ukrainian

After the 2011 Latvian presidential elections

Even though he is not a party member, he was elected on the Union of Farmers and Greens party list into the parliament and on June 2, 2011 Andris Bērziņš became the 7th democratically elected president of Latvia. More thorough analysis would follow in couple of days, but the overall mood in Latvia those days could not be better depicted by Gatis Šļūka.



[Oh my god! I have lost my way...]

June 2, 2011 presidential elections in the Latvian parliament

Its about couple of hours until the presidential elections in the Latvian parliament will start. Latvia is a classical parliamentary republic with 100 representatives electing the president once in four years. Today its time for reelecting the incumbent candidate, or choosing a new one after the last Saturday' s announcement which caused only small tremors until now, but hopefully would overhaul the whole Latvian governing edifice. Delfi has published historic review of how the presidential elections were taking place for the last twenty years. I very much hope that today's decision would be the last one with MP's politicking...:)

There is an ooutright war announced against self made minigarhic politicians and the Corruption Prevention Bureau is doing its job while the head of the bureau was on the leave, thus its time to pop this nuisance as well.

The optimal result of today's elections should help Latvia proceed with its structural reforms in economic and political system. While at the end of the year the IMF financial assistance should be terminated, Latvia could have a steely president, public cleaned of corrupt politicians and public officials, new parliament elected - a true RESET of democratic rule! Thus, the Latvian people could have a fresh start - and this is what I wish prior the outcome of today's vote in the parliament:)

p.s. Here are pieces 1, 2, 3, 4 for the Estonian readers

Politiskās partijas, vides stabilizācija un nākotnes skices (atbilde Alehinam)

Esmu pieķēries emuāra ierakstam uz kuru pamudināja mans vēstuļu draugs. Disertācija un darba pienākumi nav ļāvuši laiku veltīt emuāru pierakstiem, lai arī dažkārt radās sajūta, ka varbūt vajadzēja vairāk pievērsties rakstībai brīvā formā. Tomēr laiks ir ierobežots, un tāpēc ar šo ierakstu centīšos ne tikai izvērst aprakstu par virsrakstā norādīto tēmu, bet arī iespēju robežās centīšos atbildēt uz Alehina uzdotajiem jautājumiem.

Latvijas politisko partiju jeb interešu grupu attīstība 2007-2009 satricinājumu rezultātā ir tēlaini izsakoties nonākusi atpakaļ 1991.g. sākumpunktā. Rietumu tradīcijas kopš I. Pasaules kara noteikušas, ka politisku partiju no interešu vai spiediena grupas atšķir skaidra ideoloģiska nostādne un masveidīgums. Aukstā kara beigas, tehnoloģiju un izglītības ietekme ir mainījušas tradicionālas Rietumu sabiedrības, jeb kā R.Inglehart to apzīmēja, ir notikusi "klusā revolūcija". Individuālisms un salīdzinošais labklājības pieaugums ir mainījis ierastos uzvedības paradumus, samazinājis vēlētāju uzticību politiskajām partijām labējā kā arī kreisajā socioekonomiskajā flangā. Šīs izmaiņas ir ietekmējušas Austrumeiropas valstis, un to skaitā ari Latviju.

Īss ievads

1990.g. sākumā Tautas Frontes un Interfrontes politiskās apvienības bija noteicošie spēki Augstākajā Padomē (AP), no kuriem tad pakāpeniski izšķīlās LC, Saskaņa Latvijai, Līdztiesība, Zemnieku savienība, Demokrātiskā partija Saimnieks, Tautsaimnieku politiskā apvienība, TB, Tautas saskaņas partija un "nemanot" izzuda LKP(!). Bija pārstāvēta arī Zaļā partija un LNNK, un patiesībā tas ir nozīmīgi, jo tieši šajās kustībās (domāju VAK un LNNK) bija pilsonisko grupu pārstāvji kuri atšķirībā no kādreizējās LKP nomenklatūras veidoja vienīgo t.s. grassroots alternatīvu 5.Saeimā (lai arī Zaļie neguva pārstāvniecību un iekļuva 1991.g. dibinātie Kristīgie Demokrāti).

Politiskā vide bija kļuvusi sadrumstalota, sekojot AP divu lielāko pol. apvienību tradīcju inercei Latvijā izveidojās politisko kultūru turpmākos gadus indējošais dalījums etniski definētajās partijās. 1992.g. ar modifikācijām pieņemtais vēlēšanu likums ļāva nodrošināt zināmu sistēmas stabilitāti, jo ierindas Latvijas vēlētāju bija vienkārši mānīt ar 5. kolonnu un citiem mītiem. Bez tik nepieciešamajām disksijām sabiedrībā atjaunojot 1934.g. 15. maijā pātraukto Satversmes darbību, vienošanās par valsts turpmāko attīstību nebija notikusi, kura ļāva izveidot auglīgu augsni SIA Latvijas republika... Visam pa vidu likumdevējiem "aizmirsās" mantas un nodokļu sākumdeklarēšanās, tik nepieciešamās reformas policijā, izglītībā, veselības aizsardzībā, un sociālā nodrošinājuma sistēma tika atliktas (jo īstermiņa intereses prevalēja) un "tautiskā anarhija" varēja netraucēti turpināties līdz pat 2007.g., kad pilsoniskā sabiedrība atkal pamodās, un vienam premjeram nomainot otru, beidzot nonācām līdz Valdim Dombrovskim.

Dombrovska valdība|s un V

Pieņemu, ka nozīmīgākais iemesls, kāpēc V.Dombrovskis 2009.g. martā pārņēma varas grožus, bija apjukums Latvijas tradicionālajā politiskajā nomenklatūrā, kura vairs nemācēja izžonglēt sev optimālāko varas nepārtrauktības formulu. To ietekmēja starptautiskā finanšu krīze un ES līdzdalības paģērētās poltiskās pārmaiņas ar kuru dziļumu nomenklatūras pārstāvji iespējams nebija rēķinājušies. Tāpēc veicot valsts un pašvaldību pārvaldes aparāta un funkciju sanāciju visupirms no "kuģa nolēca" TP. Valdošajā koalīcijā viedokļu saskaņošana "sanācijas apstākļos" noteikti atšķiras no tautsaimniecības izaugsmes laika. Tāpēc skatoties uz 2010.g. 3. novembrī apstiprināto valdošās koalīcijas modeli, var teikt tik to, ka "sanācijas apstākļi" turpinās, partiju politiskajā attīstībā esam back in square one. Līdz ar to patiesībā partiju veidošana vienlaicīgi ar valsts pārvaldes sistēmas transformācijām nav tās pateicīgākās nodarbes skatoties no īstermiņa ieguvumu viedokļa, jo reitingi kritīs...

Neskatoties uz reitingiem Valdis Dombrovskis ar savu mieru palīdz kabinetam mērķtiecīgi turpināt pārvaldes sistēmas sanāciju, kaut arī ir sfēras kurā sistēmas attīrīšana nav notikusi tik ātri un dziļi, kā daži varbūt būtu vēlējušies. Reformu ātrumu un dziļumu noteikti ietekmē valdošo politisko partiju apvienību darbības principi un lēmumu pieņemšanas ātrums. "Vienotībā" (V) notiekošo vislabāk raksturo spīvās diskusijas parlamenta frakcijā, un, ja arī dažkārt V valdes vai vadītāja lēmumi nav skaidri, tad tos frakcijā vai valdes sēdēs ir iespējams izdiskutēt. Šis process ir laikietilpīgs, bet demokrātisks. V vēlētāji un atbalstītāji ir dažādu strāvojumu atbalstītāji, jo V pēc būtības ir centriska partiju apvienība kura apvieno ekonomiski liberālus, nacionāli konservatīvus un sociāli liberālus pārstāvjus.

Šobrīd diskusiju rezultātā veidojas platforma kuras rezultātā iepriekš minētajiem pārstāvjiem būs pašiem jānosaka - kāda tad būs centriskās V ideoloģija. Šis darbs notiek, un no sākotnējām diskusijām var noprast, ka centriskā V būs ar sociāli atbildīgu tautsaimniecības programmu un ne tik nacionāli konservatīva, kā piemēram LZS vai VL. Viedokļu saskaņošana nav no vienkāršajām, bet strīdos dzimst taisnība. Tikai no 2012.gs. partiju administratīvās darbības uzturēšanai varēs izmantot budžeta naudu, tāpēc šobrīd Latvijas partijām vai partiju pavienībām jāiztiek no biedru naudām un ziedojumiem. Kombinācija, kur uzticības zudums nozīmīgajām demokrātiskas pārvaldes institūcijām iet roku rokā ar iedzīvotāju nomācošo vairākumu, kuri nevēlas darboties ne partijās ne arī sabiedriskajās organizācijās, nav no labākajām. Tomēr, lai arī LV iedzīvotāju uzticība ir ļoti zema salīdzinot ar Skandināvijas valstu un Igaunijas uzticības rādītājiem pārvaldes institūcijām, tomēr pēdējais Eurobarometer pētījums ļauj izdarīt pieņēmumu par sistēmas stabilizāciju salīdzinot ar 2007-2009.g. graujošajiem uzticības rādītājiem. Sistēmas stabilizācija ir pozitīva un ļauj cerēt, ka no SIA Latvija republika evolucionārā ceļā ir iespējams nonākt līdz Rietumu pasaulē pieņemtas demokrātiskās konsolidācijas, kur pilsoņu līdzdalība ietekmē valsts salīdzinošo labklājību un pozīcijas starptautiskajā sistēmā. Tāpēc nobeidzot šo polemisko atbildi "epistulārajam līdzcīnītājam" centīšos ieskicēt tuvāko nākotni.

V un turpmākā ceļa karte

Gata Kokina iezīmētais scenārijs ir tikai viens no nākotnes redzējumiem. Ļoti raupji analizējot šodienas situāciju Latvijā mums ir izveidojusies situācija kur partiju politiskajā līmenī mums izveidojusies viena pilsētas un viena lauku latviešu partiju apvienība, krievu partiju apvienība, un vesels lērums sīkpartiju.

Šāda situācija nav optimāla jo turpina etnisko dalījumu kurš iepriekšējos gados ir indējis politisko vidi. Lai arī SC vidē ir ļaudis kuri fano par Somijas piemēru ar zviedru minoritāti domāju, ka viņi īsti neizprot Somijas vēsturi (Zviedru etniskās minoritātes loma atbalstot Somijas valstiskumu un vēlāk atbalsts Somijas iekļaušanai Ziemeļvalstu saimē), un nākotnes izvērsumā šodienas SC varētu cierēt, ja tad, uz RKP lomu. Tomēr SC loma un nākotne ir cits temats, un tāpēc atgriezīšos pie V.

Dibinot partijas un piedaloties Eiropas integrācijas procesā tiek izmantoti vēsturiski piemēri. Eiropas vecās demokrātijas zinām ar skaidri nepārprotamiem partiju nosaukumiem un tās var kalpot par gana labiem ceļa rādītājiem, lai arī ir pretēji piemēri:) Latvijas piemēri - LC, Saimnieks, Jaunais Laiks, Saskaņas Centrs, SCP, Atbildība - ir radījuši ne tikai neizpratni manu kolēģu vidū par partiju socioekonomisko orientāciju, bet tie ir dezorientējuši arī Latvijas vēlētāju un padarījuši tos imūnus pret Latvijas demokrātisko elitārismu. Tāpēc, piemēram, pirms SCP 2010.g. kongresa piedāvāju apdomāt vai nebūtu lietderīgi nosaukt SCP par Centra vai Liberālo centra partiju, tomēr pārāk neuzstāju uz šo risinājumu, jo tajā brīdī bija svarīgāki jautājumi risināmi. Šodienas Latvijas situācijā lieti der pārfrāzēt bijušo Krievijas premjeru Černomirdinu: "ka pēc PSRS sabrukuma veidojot jaunas partijas bijusi vēlme veidot ko savādāku, bet galu galā sanācis PSKP". Tomēr, vērojot šodienas politisko vidi Latvijā secinu, ka ne visi politiskie veidojumi ir "atsitušies 20.gs. goda un sirdzsapziņas partijā", lai arī partiju iekšējai demokratizācijai vēl darba pulka (domnīcas, ideoloģiski informatīvo materiālu sagatavošana, ētikas komisijas, vēlētāju izglītošanas pasākumi un tml.)

Veidojot V šobrīd neredzu tās ligas kuras vajājušas demokrātiskā centrālisma principu vadītas izbijušas partijas. Dažādu strāvojumu V cilvēkos redzu vēlmi veikt tās reformas kuras pēdējos 20.g. atliktas (0 deklarācija, progresīvais nodoklis, komerclikuma un vēlēšanu likuma izmaiņas utt. un tjpr.), jeb demontēt AAA komandas loloto SIA Latvijas republiku. Paredzu, ka iestarpināsi par V koalīcijas partneri, bet vienīgā atbilde šobrīd: "tiesiskas valsts dzirnas maļ lēnām, bet pamatīgi". Visupirms sagaidīsim Anglijas un Velsas Augstākās Tiesas lēmumu, un tad jau varēsim mērīt sadarbības temperatūru koalīcijā. Pēc šo likumu institucionalizācijas neizbēgama būs Latvijas politikas vides nostabilizēšanās un politiskās kultūras daļēja uzlabošanās. Tomēr tautsaimniecības izaugsmes tempu pieaugumu pieredzēsim tikai tad, ja iedzīvotāji turpinās iesaistīties sabiedrības pārvaldē, un neļaus valdībai un Saeimai gulēt uz sasniegtā lauriem, pieprasīs likuma varu un būs neiecietīgi pret korupciju un tml.

Tāpēc runājot par SCP un tās rīcību secinājums ir vienkāršs, SCP reitingi bija objektīvu iemeslu radīti. Lai arī vēlme bija ieņemt "brīvo sociāldemokrātisko|progresīvo nišu" tomēr politiķu ambīcijas, LSDSP implozija un Latvijas vēlētāju inerce saistīt progresīvu politiku ar etnisku piederību nepalīdzēja šo jautājumu risināt īstermiņā. Ja mēs tagad skatamies vēsturē uz SocDem partiju attīstību, tad tradicionāli tās izauga no arodbiedrību kustības, neapmierinātiem elites pārstāvjiem, vai vienkāršās strādniecības. Progresīvo politisko ideju pārstāvniecība šodien Latvijā ir sadrumstalota, līdzīgi kā konservatīvā vai liberālā pārstāvniecība. Tāpēc SCP, PS un JL lēmums par saplūšanu Vienotības partijā nav vērtējama vienkārši kā ilgtermiņa panaceja, bet galvenokārt kā stabilizējošs līdzeklis 20.g. atlikto reformu risināšanai un LV partiju politikas eiropeizācijai.

Demokrātiskās sistēmas konsolidācijai Latvijā būs nepieciešama ne tikai esošo politisko partiju darba pārvērtēšana, bet arī pilsonisko grupu aktivizēšanās zemākajā (grass roots level) līmenī. Vēl interesantāku šo situāciju padara LV dalība ES, jo neesam tālu no tā brīža, lai no Eiropas Parlamenta politiskajām grupām veidotos kaut kas līdzīgs pan-Eiropas politiskajām partijām. Tas gan ir jau cits temats, un pirms tam Latvijas 10.Saeimai un valdībai ir jābeidz virkne reformu, kurām būs jānostiprina likuma vara un jākalpo par socioekonomiskās ideoloģijās sakņotu pamatu daudzskaitlīgu liberālu, konservatīvu, progresīvu un centrisku politisku partiju attīstībai.

Dare to dream, Latvian citizen!

Time before elections is special and it cannot be truer in Latvia this year. The public opinion can be changed by internal implosion or endogenous pressure, and numerous events of the last three years facilitated reevaluation of some Latvian citizens’ comprehension about democratic citizenship. I am optimistic enough and believe that only if my compatriots would dare to dream better future could be ensured for Latvia. There have been several studies and ongoing investigations about the sorry state of the Latvian political culture. Analysis of past deeds requires looking back into the past, but already G.F.Hegel ominously concluded that: „the only thing we learn from history is that we never learn from it”. Thus, to avoid such propensity I have decided to look forward, and to paraphrase words from Martin Luther King I want to exclaim - dare to dream Latvian citizens!

I believe that the lack of humor in political discourse and artificial seriousness of the Latvian present political class in reality is a mask of inferiority complex. Those holding office would have to deal with their complexes themselves, and equally importantly it should not deter the rest of citizenry from joy of living, making fun, and dreaming!

Comfortable coach en route from Tallinn to Riga actually lulled me into a dream world a weak ago and I wanted to share it with my readers because of its positive undercurrent. Here goes: I saw the time prior to October 2, with all its major competitors. Predictions of sociologists and polls were right in predicting six major political unions contesting the battle, but at the end leaving only four largest winners. The campaign was fierce and there was plenty of mud slinging on Youtube and the TV brainwashing campaign was massive. Fortunately the festering cleavage between ethnic Latvians and Russians political parties became a nuisance and instead the political campaign centered on the second cleavage – the one between democratic and illiberal political forces.

September 2010 transformed the distrust among ethnic groups in Latvia because even though Union of Greens and Farmers was elected into the parliament Latvia got its first grand coalition consisting from Unity and Harmony Centre political unions. Opinions had to be reconciled within the Unity political group where traditional vision shortsightedly equated any leftist party with the Fifth Column of the former Metropolis. After that reciprocal statements from both political unions followed ensuring the wish to work for the benefit of all Latvians. Voters were convinced that for res publica to survive in long term and living standards to rise in foreseeable future Latvian middle class cannot support voracious lifestyle of self made oligarchic families anymore.

Major businessmen pouring ludicrous sums of monies into treasuries of the oligarchic parties gave a clear signal to Unity and Harmony Center voters about special interests and continued practice of state capture. However, without being elected their campaign financing disappeared into chimney of spin doctors’ mind boggling games. The agreement between two largest political forces came under leadership of Unity political group who entrusted Harmony Center government responsibility on equitable basis, and the head of the budget committee was entrusted to the representative of Greens and Farmers in order to break the antiquated tradition of emasculating opposition.

The coalition council served as a reform body which designed overhaul of antiquated Latvian governance and tax system. Thus, agreement right after elections was reached to introduce the mandatory tax declaration system and real estate amnesty law. Economists of two party groups agreed on rising real estate tax, and alleviating labor from excessive tax burden. The solution to the household debt was found and euro debts were converted into Latvian currency, and Latvian Development bank was founded to jumpstart Latvian small and medium size businesses. The cabinet returned to the principles of lean government, and comprehensive and universal remuneration system ensured corporate independence of the civil service system with principles of meritocracy finally institutionalized.

Political parties henceforth listened to academic representatives and ensured balanced development of body politics with timely legal amendments. Higher education reform established initially four public universities with later founding of the European center of academic excellence in Latvia with constantly increasing number of foreign students. Prosecutor General Office merged with Corruption Prevention Bureau and the new Prosecutor General after 2010 general elections after general reconciliation among political representatives issued arrest warrant to couple of most inconsiderate leaders of oligarchic clans.

Participation of Harmony Center in grand coalition allowed the Unity parties to discard unnecessary framing of Kremlin scare and pragmatically approach business opportunities in Russia. Eviction of obstacles to economic development fostered reconciliation among Latvian ethnic communities and the responsibility of being in the government made Harmony Center staunch supporters of the EU and NATO membership.

Latvia established not only its mediator’s role between the EU and Russia, but also became the world center of green energy and forestry studies. Passing the law on financing political parties from the state budget and establishing comprehensive campaign limits allowed think tanks of the political parties to pop up, and constitutive parties of the Unity and Harmony Center political unions gradually transformed into classical conservative, liberal, social democratic and green political forces.

And as for all the dreams also my bus from Tallinn had reached Riga bus terminal and I woke up to Latvian reality. But wait a minute, I contemplated again: “such dream scenario is actually possible only if Latvian politicians and voters would be courageous enough and dare to see alternative visions!”

P.S. Originally this article appeared in the Baltic Times September 9 edition
P.P.S. For Estonian readers here is my latest article in Postimees

Always Transforming but ''Permanent'' Governing Coalition in LV

Colleagues from Providus and Jurģis Bērziņs just published a splendid iconographic chart.



It analyzes the last 10 years in LV politics and calculates for how many days which party was responsible managing certain sector of economy, and for how long parties/party coalitions have had power. Excellent job!

LV October 2010 election campaign symbolism

Gatis Šļūka is prophetic and managed to capture symbolic meaning of the 2010 elections in Latvia!



[They are not going to step on this enormous rake AGAIN!]
[Oh my, they will! You just need to advertise it ENOUGH]







FOR [BRAIN]WASHED LATVIA



[Who is going to meet voters eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?]
[Otomārs should go, because he has neither teeth left nor good eyesight]



The Minister of Finance to the PM Dombrovskis [We put the new battery (IMF) in, but the van still does not start!]

Latvian development through the eyes of cartoonist - April 2010

While Latvia prepares for the ''hot'' summer electioneering campaign prior autumn elections the mood is country is sombre or some might say even desperate. Noticed today that some smart folks in Russia used my previous blog entries for depicting the mood in Latvia with the help of cartoons. Another commentator quite revealingly concluded that there is enough said about Latvia these days. I cannot agree more... and here you have again a chosen set of fantastically revealing cartoons of Gatis Sluka.

P.S. Because my last entry I finished with the cartoon depicting the theme of roadworks decided to start this set with the same topic. Why? Because while in neighboring Baltic countries the EU funds were used to upgrade their road network Latvian former transport supremo and transport ministers before him were negligent enough, and allowed the Latvian road system to turn into permanent state of disrepair...



[Driving school] And now the toughest task ahead - getting around the potholes!



OPTIMIZATION
1. [Red house] Vocational school for road workers and next to it [greyish house]Technical school
2. [greyish house] ''Pothole fixer'' evening school



Please be so kind - I need something for sclerosis!



CRISIS STAGE





Yiddish Proverb: Don't spit into the well - you might drink from it later...AND Latvian Proverb: Do not cut the tree branch you are sitting on...
[Passer by] It seems that he can do both things at the same time!



Unemployed and destitute folks in front of the Latvian Cabinet November 2009 [GIVE US WORK!]-[Policeman] According to the City of Riga regulations you are not allowed to pitch tents in green area, and you must get rid of them!
LATER GIVE US WORK!



TRANSIT thru Latvia...



And what about me as the youngest son, what would I get? DEBTS!



CASH WITHDRAWAL/DOWN PAYMENT Man with the hat - devaluation of the lat? Other man - illegal payments?



PAREX BANK [Excuse us, but this play shall be staged behind closed curtains!]



HOSPITAL [If you were able to crawl here on your own then do not waste our time!]



[Latvian Economy] or better use ominous term Latvionomics (first designed by Morten Hansen)



[Tax-Ax in ''flesh'' of an economy] But my shadow shall stay forewer!



What are you doing? Social cushion was designed for different purpose [Dombrovskis government prepared in 2009 so called social cushion to alleviate hordes of unemployed]



[Books] How to stay an optimist? How to find a job? Be successful!



1966 - what is going to hapen with you? Astronaut!
2006 - who do you want to become to? A banker!
2010 - interesting, what is going to be your future profession? Debt collector!



[Work] You first! No, you first! Story about the extention of the unemployment benefits...

Ignorance cannot get any better...

Instead of working the way out from the economic malaise the Latvian fragmented and corrupt political class continues playing reclessly dangerous games. While the trust in major institutions of representative democracy have literally evaporated, and economy stalled so called opposition politicans obstruct forming of wholesome Latvian Cabinet. After the Peoples Party (PP) left the governing coalition, it has played a nasty game. Since 2004 PP was continuously member of the government. Now the tactics of PP representatives, whose minds are poisoned with fancy and abstract models of public relations ''theories'', is to act oportunistically and blame all the wrongdoings on their former colleagues and incumbent ministers.

Yesterday it was announced that former prime minister has decided to hook up with the former transport supremo and that their campaign slogan would sound like insolvable arithmetic puzzle - (A+Š)². It is not a secret that one of the most lunatic PR specialists from agency MOOZ is behind all the ludicrous ideas of the Latvian oligarchic families. Last year the same PR ''specialist'' and his retinue achieved bad fame while organizing false campaign about fallen meteorite which allowed Latvia to circle in world media as a rather questionable state entity. It seems that former prime minister and transport supremo are resorting to all means possible, if they continue trusting lunatics, whose cynicism and smug behavior has surpassed limits of sanity.

Today, the former corrupt ministers Slesers & Skele, who became odiosly famous during Jurmalgate affair (which was partially solved and did not touch masterminds of this drab affair)), should announce their five point program to lead Latvia out from the economic malaise. The program is almost exact emulation of the program of incumbent Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (what about copyright laws in LV:)). It plans to rise taxes on capital earnings, stipulate taxable amount from real estate, delegate the right to collect personal income tax to municipalities (which should create havoc in Latvian unitary state tax collecting system) and to lower VAT on ecological food... These proposals in effect are smokescreen, because whilst following the best traditions of Latvionomics (thank you Morten Hansen for inventing the new term!)(A+Š)² lunatics want to eliminate excise tax on natural gas. The latter proposal is the CRUX of the whole five point program because it vicariously explains that Latvian dependency on the Russian gas supplies is to be embedded. The latter point is contrary to the present plan of the government, who wants to have Latvia using energy mix from green energy that is abundant in Latvian rivers, forests, and bogs, and nuclear energy together with other two Baltic States.

The plans of corrupt Latvian politicians or so called AAA team are gradually becoming public. Until now corrupt former ministers have relied on lunatic PR specialists, which does not add much credibility to anything they say. In the meantime the Cabinet must find new ministers of justice, foreign affairs and health. The malaice and distrust is thus owerwhelming that nobody really wants to become minister in order not to taint ones public image, as it happened with Messrs Razans and Ronis, who were offered the positions of the minister of foreign affairs. The biggest bone of contention is the post of the minister of justice, because the criminally indicted major of Ventspils is extremely interested to save himself from justice. Last week due to Mr Lembergs instrumental behavior Janis Maizitis election for the third consecutive term as the Prosecutor General failed.

Virtual emasculation of the justice system in Latvia would be complete if the post of Prosecutor General and Minister of Justice would fall prey to the ill famous AAA team. Just to remind you that the former head of the Corruption Prevention Bureau Mr Loskutovs was toppled with the help of PP ministers back in 2007. During the same year tenure of the former prezident V. Vike Freiberga ended and under extremely questionable circumstances the incumbent president Valdis Zatlers was elected. In 2009 the new head of the Supreme Court (he nominates the Prosecutor General for the parliament to be appointed) Mr Bickovics was elected, even though journalists discovered that he had lied about the procedure of getting Latvian citizenship. Last week Prosecutor general without ANY DISCUSSIONS in the parliament was not appointed for the third term because MP's resorted to vote with closed bulletins. I am not happy with the work of Janis Maizitis, because also due to his appeasing character the Latvian state law enforcement abilities are far from functioning. However, the way the majority of MP's acted and still continue to act makes me once again realize that this prliament SHOULD HAVE BEEN SACKED LONG TIME AGO.

We are stuck with disfunctioning parliament that poisons the work of the cabinet now, however. There are almost no rational discussions in public domain, because provincial calculations among incumbent political class reign supreme. Major calculation of the present MP's is about ensuring their own enrichment, because not only tens of thousands of Latvian households but also numerous MP's took mortgage and consumer loans, and without not being elected they would have to drastically change their lucrative lifestyle. Such situation embedds the system of short term thinking and acting, and there is virtually none to start acting about long term needs of the Republic of Latvia. First and foremost, the Latvian legal and law enforcement branches are thus weak that they cannot defend interests of the public against depredations of the well organized interest groups.

It sounds pathetic, however, this situation breeds idiocy or path dependency, which does allow neither comprehensive debate nor balanced further development of Latvian society. The following five month until elections are not promising for Latvian citizenry and other inhabitamts. Until now there is no debate between righ or left wing economic policies yet, and the idiocy and ineffectiveness still reign by inertia.

P.S. As if answering my contemplations newest cartoon of
Gatis Sluka perfectly discloses mindset of an average Latvian politician and administrator...



[Street sign ] EVEN ROAD
The official: ''It will save us money! We should use such street signs exceptionally''

Election process of the Latvian Prosecutor General and political ripples

This morning majority of Latvian MP's acted like clowns again. Instead of promises given by the heads of all political fractions in Latvian Saeima to vote for the incumbent Prosecutor General Janis Maizitis, this morning with 45 YEA and 47 NAY votes Janis Maizitis was not reelected for his third consecutive term. The present parliament is extremely fractional and 58 MEP's decided to vote with closed bulletins. The major culprit appears to be now the People's Party (PP) and Harmony Centre Party (HC), because differently from Union of Greens and Farmers and Latvian First and Latvian Way Party Union (LFLWU) who's members had free voting regime, PP yesterday promised to support incumbent prosecutor general.

Because the voting took place with closed bulletins it is rather impossible to discover who voted for and who against. It is useless to start investigation here because majority of the present parliament are simply crippled to perform their tasks due to intimate relations with their God-fathers... . The corrupt deals of God-fathers was supposed to untangle the same Prosecutor General who was not reelected this morning... .

According to Latvian Constitution it is the Head of the Supreme Court Mr Bickovics who nominates the name of the Prosecutor General. Mr Bickovics has not made official statements so far, but Mr Maizitis announced that he would be ready to continue his third consecutive term if he would be nominated and parliament would vote differently this time... .

Changes of election law and riddance of ill famous ''election locomotives'' that allowed about half of totally incompetent incumbent MP's to be dragged into parliament and the economic crisis has transformed the traditional political networks. It makes the political system sickly now, and it is clear that without certain further innovations in election law and the founding principles of internal revenue service Latvian democracy is insustainable. Creation of new political unions were first symptoms about remake of the Latvian political system. Today's voting officially ringed the electoral campaign in and it is essential now not only to have a new and competent prosecutor general, but also to have the stipulations in party financing law and finally pass the mandatory tax and property declaration, which is a way tooo long overdue!

The Southern Bridge follow up

While reviewing most used keywords in my blog I discovered (what a surprize:) that my blog is mostly visited in order to learn about the incerdibly expensive bridge in Riga. While the Latvian State Audit Office and Mme Sudraba have appeared powerless sofar, perhaps Duncan Wood's article (Thank You Duncan!) would help to refocus Latvian prosecutors attention to real culprits of this legal and political conundrum?

Today it was announced that the building of the bridge could be terminated indefinetly. And all this regardless of the protests of the inhabitants of the nearby areas who had to learn that promises the politicians gave them would not be fulfilled.

Lets see how this Latvian conundrum would be untangled, and I only hope that this corruption case would remind Latvian electors in forthcoming elections who made decision prior the Southern Bridge was started to be built! Also I expect that politicians would not use the bridge as populist campaign slogan. There are enough issues to be disucussed and SOLVED prior October 2, 2010 elections and the comprehensive remuneration system for civil servants is one of them. The latter system of remuneration was reported by the incumbent parliament as a done deal, thus the government could report to the IMF and EU financial donors that Latvian partners have fulfilled their task. However, increasing number of Neo reports continuously remind us that in terms of orderly public finances, as much the comprehensive Latvian public service remuneration system is concerned, anarchy still ruled supreme until the very end of 2009. In addition also informative article about astounding liabilities of top notch Latvian holders of public office makes one wonder, how those politicains with their official and relatively meagre salaries plan to repay their creditors in open and transparent manner?

Unfortunately, Latvian prosecutors office cannot work at full force, because Mr Maizitis must wait until the end of the month when Latvian MP's would decide whether incumbent prosecutor general would continue in his post. Lets see what else investigative journalists would find out, and then we could also see the playground of election campaign more clearly, because until now it is simply too muddled.

P.S. Here is the link to my latest the Baltic Times article

Latvian plumber ready to rule "LatVasjuki"?

Latvian former president and her supporters try to network support behind her nomination for the post of the European Council President next week. I honor Madam Freiberga and her team's efforts and would be happily surprised if she would manage to rally thus needed support behind her nomination for the post of the first president of the united Europe, even though I believe that more dynamic person should be needed for this newly created position.

While madam Freiberga continue her networking activities Latvian complacent and provincial politicians continue to play their games. Just in my last entry I used to mention about the zero sum game activities of the ill famous Latvian AAA team. While People's party (PP) "state capturers" are preparing for their congress in November 21, 2009 the junior member of the AAA team managed to bluff big style today.

There was annual congress of the Latvian Way Latvian First Party union (LWLFP), and also the Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church Mr Pujāts gave his blessing for the bunch on liberoreligious bunch of the LWLFP . The Cardinal rather symbolically pleaded the conservative party folks to "abstain" from morally corrupting activities. In the meantime the former co-chairman of the party was crying foul about his correct strategy of saving Parex, and thus avoiding the Icelandic meltdown of state finances.

As if this would not be enough LETA and Apollo reports that the newly elected LWLFP party chairman and Vice Major of Riga in the party congress openly called the government of Valdis Dombrovskis to step down after the 2010 budget would be passed in the parliament. Bluffing big style is the specialty of the Vice major of Riga and rather ominously he announced that he does not want to to run for the parliament. Now, the politician with his initial surname Lešinskis, who took his wife's "europeanized" last name [Šlesere], joined other two members of the AAA team. Neither the head of the PP state capturers Šķēle nor the sponsor of the Greens and farmers Lembergs want to run for the parliament, because they deem themselves to be omnipotent PM candidates for the upcoming elections.

Latvian minigarch's spin doctors strategy is robust, but unimaginative, and now the youngest member of the AAA team wants to earn his brownies from authoritarian chums outside Latvia as well... . The political game the AAA team retinue plays is exhausting, and I still stick to the idea that this game should be left for the AAA team to immerse into. It is useless to compete with the AAA team whilst playing according to their rules, thus after the party of democratic choice would finish its consolidation it is essential to start to get our volunteers on ground and running on grass roots level as soon as possible. The October 2010 elections should turn out like "to be or not be elections" after all. Latvian civil society should avoid Latvian plumber (translation of Šlosers/Šlesers in Latvian slang) getting too snobbish in his imagined premiership of Latvasjuki, to paraphrase symbolic description of Chess capital from the Ilf & Petrov novel. Lets wait and see how the Latvian Independence Day celebrations would be held, and after them one would be able to notice whether it is mere bluffing or there is also some substance behind the verbal diarrhea of the incumbent Vice Major of Riga.

p.s. Here is access to my monthly TBT column, and the full access to it would be provided next Monday.

Don't ask, don't tell

Google search engine gives most answers about the ''don't ask, don't tell'' expression in relation to sexual minorities in the US army, however, it is an old expression that allowed minority groups to survive throughout world history. I do remember hearing such expressions from my grandparents in the Soviet occupied Estonia, and now also among minority groups in Latvia. In this blog entry I do not want to delve thus much back into history as to describe the present Latvian government, because in its totality Latvian nomenclature actions perfectly reveal example of "don't ask, don't tell" governance system.

Almost everyone in Latvia would answer that major culprits of the present political and economic mess in Latvia - it is ill famous AAA team. And the same AAA team catering for their own gang of supporters have institutionalised hierarchical and corrupt governance system, that is hidden behind the facade of the Latvian constitutional democracy. However, the Latvian constitutional caucus did not take place in post - independence Latvia, because the former CPSU comrades and Diaspora members simply rolled over the 1922 Satversme. Such turn of events allowed gangsters from the AAA team not only to exert inordinate influence over decision making process, but to literally capture the state.

However, it is impossible to discuss it openly on governmental level because the Prosecutor General and Corruption Prevention bureau (KNAB) are powerless so far. To present you the latest example, I believe that almost every reasonable person in the Latvian public domain understand that the government dragging its feet while implementing structural reforms was mostly due to gross mistakes of Kalvitis (PP) and Godmanis (LWLFP) governments. The previous mistakes were never really evaluated, and today we are able to learn that nothing special minister is ready to be minister again (!). Today the major opposition to structural reforms is the whimsical PP and always changing their mind UGF "coalition partners" behavior.

Disappearance of business projects and giving up of power does not happen smoothly anywhere.

The AAA team gangsters are behaving strangely however. While they were endorsing Latvian accession to the EU and NATO it allowed them to earn handsome monies from this process. I believe that they somehow miscalculated the golden straitjacket that followed the EU membership. This probably explains why the AAA team does not legalize its activities, but fights for very survival of the Lettish crony capitalism! I also have a hunch that the AAA team are not even major play makers in their shady activities, because why the hell they would act thus irrationally and gangsta like? My hunch is that they do not really manage establishing business contacts in the West, thus staying intimately connected with authoritarian chums in undemocratically governed countries. It means that Latvian Western partners must play the "don't ask, don't tell" game because alternatively there would be an open confrontation. While the civil society members were trying to explain basic principles of democratic governance to the Latvian populace, the AAA team and their retinue with their deep pockets were rather successful in disseminating their conspiracy theories. Simply the political establishment never cared establishing europeanized democratic political and discussion culture. I do understand that my last two sentences were broad generalizations, but then how to explain flourishing of such notions as sorosīdi and liberasts in Latvian public opinion? I understand if Bedlam folks use such expressions, but those notions have entered into mainstream public discourse and also Latvian politicians ostensibly use them... . I have not heard such notions in Estonia and Lithuania for example, and would be glad if someone from Eesti or Lietuva would be able to provide me facts about such occurrences.

ECOFIN Commissioner Mr Joaquin Almunia or IMF are described in internet forums as evil forces in Latvian press, but media houses and their owners who portray IMF and EU as smth. foreign could better recall that it was the Latvian political establishment (PP, UGF, LWLFP and TBLNNK) that signed agreements with both the EU and IMF. Why the hell the EU representatives must explain that Latvian government was the one requesting the mega loan and understanding the need to implement structural reforms again and again, and that the EU did not force those reforms on its own member state? Why the hell the journalists do not understand thus simple facts and participate in this "don't ask, don't tell" game? Enough for this morning, and the president convenes the state security council today, and I leave my questions unanswered. Each and every one of you probably know the reasons for present rat hole Latvian state has painted itself in. However, the government must outsmart the corrupt AAA team players, and that game is heck of the complicated because AAA team gangsters are both in government, courts and civil service, and to pinpoint who is really who in the post Soviet Latvia is not an easy task after all.

P.S. Here is my weekly column for the Baltic Times

Latvian shaky governing coalition

Today there is a session of the Latvian Cabinet where the Minister of Finance would present cuts in the 2010 budget in order to meet the LVL 500million cut and structural reforms criteria promised to the international financial donors. This morning the deputy head of the People's Party (PP) parliamentary fraction Vents Armans Krauklis was talking in the Latvian Radio where he underlined again, that PP does not trust the chief negotiators (PM and Minister of Finance) with the IMF. Mr Krauklis very conveniently forgot that they are party of this very government he was criticizing this morning, and probably he also has bad memory, because he totally forgot who was Prime Minister from 2005-2007, and who was the Minister of Finance making Latvian politicians "famous" on Bloomberg TV. Rather boastfully he repeated again that PP is against introduction of the real estate tax, and with his traditional demagoguery juxtaposed New Era party led government to the country folks, thus trying to convince that in the government there is none to help the country people except the PP. The PP behaviour is not childish anymore and even the former president Vaira Vīķe Freiberga was vicariously pointing to that. The PP is simply destructive, but for how long?

Latvian parliament members are too tired to perform?

Parliaments in parliamentary democracies reign supreme. Latvia is a stellar example of parliamentary democracy in its extreme form. By definition parliamentary democracy enables all parts of society to be heard, but simultaneously the system is plagued by factionalism and weak governments. Latvian situation is aggravated by the fact that after regaining independence there was no constitutional caucus, thus the Satversme of 1922 was rolled over with minor amendments into 1993. Problems of parliamentary democracy in Latvia are multiple. About the Art. 59 I already wrote in the last blog entry, but also questionable quality of MP's, who are simply not up to their tasks, aggravate problems.

Obviously, those are Latvian voters who elected such representatives, and you may ask why are voters like they are in Latvia - the most Eurosceptic (p.15-17) and amongst whom 91% (p.22) do not trust their elected representatives as Eurobarometer SPRING 2009 public opinion survey clearly outlines? First, Latvian MP's (fifth of them sit there since 1993) have disoriented Latvian voters, and it is reflected by the 30-40% of voters who traditionally do not how to vote prior elections, and also political party membership in Latvia (1% of eligible citizens) is the lowest in the whole of the EU (average 5%). Second, Latvian MP's fostered stagnation of the electoral system by keeping questionable quality of neoliberal tax policies and election law intact the last 15 years. Latvian voters trusted their elected representatives from small interest groups (they cannot be called parties in traditional sense) who either screwed their voters (People's Party, Greens and Farmers, Fatherland Party, Latvian Way and Latvian First Party Union), or who happened to be in opposition (New Era, Harmony Center, Social Democrats) and had no influence upon legislative and executive process.

The EU membership and influx of billions of euros stagnated the governance system and made MP's even more complacent. There are several actors, musicians and even the power lifting world champion who are trying to innovate the best time killing techniques possible. I do not ask Latvian President to try to resemble members of the Finnish Eduskunta who called for vote of no confidence of the existing PM due to timber used for construction of his private home, and caused calls for snap elections to the parliament, or to be as resolute as Swedish PM sacking Mona Sahlin from her post due to Toblerone chocolate and pair of stockings paid with the SAP credit card.

I do understand that for the Latvian political culture to reach the maturity of Scandinavian participatory democracy there is still some time needed. However, I am asking the president to capitalize on his raising awareness about structural problems in Latvia and use the powers entitled to him in Art. 48 of the Latvian Constitution. Legally the president of republic is the only public person who can facilitate the Latvian state exiting the present rat hole. After all, president changed his mind last week and recognized the need to overhaul the system, of how the Latvian political parties are financed. Similarly, the president could refresh his memory and think about the performance of the 9th Saeima. After all amendments into the law of security organizations that were detrimental to the very existence of the democratic republic (2006) were made for someone, the loss of confidence in the Kalvitis government (2007) & Godmanis government (2009) did not fall from empty sky, faulty amendments in criminal law allowing to continue money launderers to thrive were passed for someone, failure to bring about rational constitutional changes during the summer of 2008 were meant to guard the structure of the inefficient system intact, and inability to pass the budget in due time every year is a chronic disease of Lettish parliament already. The list is pretty long already, and if its is not enough, then a year prior the end of their tenure (!) Latvian MP's have passed the legislature entitling those MP's who would not get into the next parliament with hefty compensations. After all the Republic of Latvia is officially called neither monarchy nor oligarchic republic, with entitlements being met just because you are member of the parliament! To paraphrase the old fairytale about the king who was fond of extravagant dress the Saeima is reigning supreme in Latvia while wearing exotic garbs, and only the biggest fool would not notice that in reality the sovereign is not wearing a garb at all and it is absolutely naked... .

P.S. And for those reading Latvian, here are my first and second blog entry in "Diena", and for Estonian readers here is my opinion for ERR.

Slow takeoff of structural reforms in Latvia

The need to overhaul Latvia´s outdated political, administrative and economic system is long overdue. The EU membership, instead of capitalizing on reforms that could have put Latvian governance system on path of sustainability, led the Latvian political system into the abyss of corruption (head of the Anti Corruption Office announced that it is becoming more subtle) and economic stagnation. The task of PM is titanic and instead of helping to steer the broken governing machine out of the recession coalition partners continue their backstabbing games.

Yesterday, Latvian Cabinet after long wranglings finally agreed (it had to present the same plan already for the May 15, 2009 deadline!) on the universal remuneration system for all the state employees. The new remuneration system stipulates that the highest paid state official henceforth would be the president of the republic, but the governor of the Bank of Latvia (BoL) and the Head of the Financial Capital and Market Commission (FCMC) were left out of the new system due to insistence from the European Central Bank and EU Commission.

While the governor of BoL has agreed to keep solidarity with the rest of the civil servants and to lover his salary, the head of the Latvian FCMC still receives her EUR10 thousand monthly salary. And all this after her odious pronouncements, and absolute inactivity to guard taxpayers interests after crash of the Parex bank, which now undermines already shaky stability of the Latvian Cabinet. The State Audit should publish its official evaluation of the Parex Affair tomorrow, but it already has made Prime minister and prosecutor general their statements made.

While some civil servants in Latvia are busy working on structural reforms other public persons are sinking deeper in their debts. The structural reform process is one hell of a haphazard process in Latvia. Without any discussions now the kids would start attending school at the age of six. Alright, then the government discussed all summer about the plans to emulate a good example of merging Competition Council with the Major Regulator in neighboring Estonia. Latvian Cabinet motley coalition yesterday started their obstructing games, and the whole process of merging those two institutions failed, even though it is long known that the head of the Latvian Regulatory Agency Ms Andrejeva is gambling addict , even though she believes that it is her hobby, and in addition her name is found also in the ill famous list of indebted officials....

The new system of public officials remuneration is a very wise move in a right direction, even though Roberts Zile (MEP) argued that such systems exist only in autocratic countries... .The reform process is too strained and inconsistent due to Latvian constitutional shortcomings (Art. 59). The previously mentioned article makes the PM constantly worry about the stability of the coalition government, because replacement of any minister needs approval in the parliament. Thus, in the Latvian present circumstances where parliament was illegitimately elected and PM cannot devote his full time to structural reforms there is no better and democratic cure than snap elections. This question is on agenda of the president however, because according to Latvian constitution he is the only power who can call for early elections. Involvement of former and present ministers and public officials in openly shady or quasi shady deals tarnish the honest members of the Latvian government. Thus, all in all, the whole Latvian governance system makes me to recall an old Turkish proverb about a person moving one step forward and two steps back...