Puntulis said in an interview on Latvian Radio's "Labrīt" program that he does not accept the current policy regarding the Corner House and the communication with the now former rector of the Music Academy, Guntars Prānis. "But this is a policy made by the minister, and it is her choice to make it. And so does every minister," Puntulis said.
However, the reason for the resignation request is related to the National Security Concept, which foresees that from 2026 public media will only be able to produce content in Latvian or other languages of the EU Member States or candidate countries.
The Minister of Culture, Agnese Logina, has said that public service media should also provide content in Russian. Several media have expressed the same view.
"After long discussions, we think that the Minister should understand what the National Security Concept is. But given that her statements have not changed in recent times, we decided to take this step," Puntulis said.
He sees no contradiction between the concept and the law on public media, which allows content in minority languages. "It is quite clear that public media do not provide content in the 150 minority languages that exist in Latvia. So the choice of which ones to provide content in and which ones not to provide content in is already taking place. This selective approach is already in place," the politician said, adding that the public media should "focus more on the Livonian language, the Latgalian language, the English language".
The Saeima vote of no confidence in Logina is scheduled for Thursday, April 18.
