22 January 2014

Latvia's parliament approves first female prime minister

As reported by Reuters, Valdis Dombrovskis, 42, who steered the country through the economic crisis, resigned as prime minister last November, taking responsibility for the collapse of a supermarket in Riga which killed more than 50 people. Laimdota Straujuma, 62, a veteran civil servant who held a post of agriculture minister in Dombrovskis' cabinet since October 2011, promised to stick to the policies of the outgoing (Unity) government. The parliament has already approved a budget for this year and parliamentary elections are due in October.

The Baltic Course further reported that Straujuma told members of the press after the vote that she understands the responsibility that she has undertaken. Commenting on the fact that several Reform Party MPs did not participate in the vote, Straujuma said that this was most likely due to objections having the Union of Greens and Farmers become a part of the new coalition, as well as Daniels Pavluts (Reform Party) being turned down as economy minister. She added that she was not surprised by this.

At the same time, the new prime minister emphasised that the Reform Party's board made the decision to be a part of this government, thus she believes that the Reform Party will be a constructive partner. Straujuma said that it is ''important to work and look for compromises, instead of arguing and doing nothing at all''. She promised to do everything in her power so that coalition partners could come to agreements, and not allow disagreements to delay the work of the government.

The new government is made up of the current coalition parties – Unity, Reform Party, All For Latvia-For Fatherland And Freedom/LNNK (VL-TB/LNNK) and six independent MPs – plus the Union of Greens and Farmers, formerly an opposition party.

Council President Van Rompuy published a statement in which he congratulated Laimdota Straujuma on successfully forming a new government and on becoming the first female Prime Minister of Latvia. "I am confident that Prime Minister Straujuma will continue the determined efforts made by Latvia that paved the way for the country to become the 18th member of the eurozone on 1 January this year. Furthermore, I look forward to working together with Laimdota Straujuma on a number of other important European issues of common concern, including on the preparations for the upcoming Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first semester of 2015."

Similarly European Parliament President Martin Schulz made the following statement to congratulate Laimdota Straujuma on forming a coalition government in Latvia. "I congratulate new Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma on winning a confidence vote in parliament for her coalition government and becoming the country's first woman to hold the post. I wish her all the best in efforts to meet the challenges she rightly identified in her policy speech to the deputies in the Saeima. Those challenges include sustaining Latvia's accelerating economic growth while reducing social inequality, curbing unemployment and avoiding the past boom and bust cycles.

I welcome Prime Minister Straujuma's plans to continue the reforms launched by her predecessor Valdis Dombrovskis that allowed Latvia to become the 18th member state of the eurozone this year. I am looking forward to cooperating with her, notably in preparations for Latvia's presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2015."

The President of the European People’s Party (EPP) and Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Joseph Daul, also congratulated Laimdota Straujuma (Unity, EPP): "I warmly congratulate Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma on her confirmation as the Prime Minister of Latvia by the Saeima. I am confident that PM Straujuma and her government will continue the successful policies of Valdis Dombrovskis, keeping Latvia on the right track for economic growth and as an example of successful economic reform. I personally had excellent cooperation with Ms Straujuma in her capacity as Minister of Agriculture and I look forward to working with her for the good of Europe and for Latvia. I also look forward to personally congratulating PM Straujuma at the EPP Congress in Dublin and to wish her and Unity success in the upcoming European and national elections."

Seperately, the European Commission issued a press release on Latvia’s "smooth and successful" changeover from the lats to the euro. "No major problems were encountered and banks, post offices and retailers coped well with the extra workload caused by the changeover process and the parallel handling of two currencies.

According to a Commission survey, on Wednesday 14 January 2014, more than nine out of 10 citizens made cash payments in shops in euro only. All customers were getting their change in euro. Nearly three out of four citizens polled said they carry only euro cash in their wallets. Lats banknotes and coins can be exchanged at the official conversion rate (1 EUR = 0.702804 LVL) and free of charge at post offices until 31 March 2014 and at commercial banks until 30 June 2014. Thereafter, lats can be exchanged for euros without a service fee at the Bank of Latvia for an unlimited period of time.

Dual display of prices in euro and lats will continue until 30 June 2014."