Legal wrangles over bid to sack Rīga city council

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The bill prepared by the Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry on the dismissal of Rīga City Council has no legal basis to sack the municipal government, Prime Minister Maris Kučinskis' (Greens/Farmers) press secretary Andrejs Vaivars told the LETA newswire December 8.

However, legal experts from the State Chancellery point out that the environmental protection and regional development minister does have the right to unilaterally dismiss the Riga City Council without a Cabinet decree to sack the Riga mayor.

As Vaivars explained, Kučinskis has met with legal experts from the State Chancellery, the Saeima's Legal Affairs Bureau and constitutional rights expert Edgars Pastars to discuss this matter.

''These attorneys and legal exerts have concluded that the dismissal of a local government can only be ordered in extreme cases, when all other options have been exhausted and specific facts have been presented. In this specific bill, no violation has been established with which the current Riga City Council could be legally dismissed,'' Vaivars said.

At the same time, Vaivars pointed out that Regional Development and Environmental Protection Minister Kaspars Gerhards (National Alliance) does theoretically possess the right to unilaterally sack the mayor of Rīga without a government decree.

As previously reported, Environmental Protection and Regional Development Minister Gerhards (National Alliance) has submitted to the government a bill to dissolve the Riga City Council.

The bill has been based on a number of violations in the work of the local government, including in supervision of its companies. The Environment Protection and Regional Development Ministry has assessed the responsibility of the Riga City Council in the criminal case on Rigas Satiksme municipal transport company and also other violations, inaccuracies and inactivity in the work of the local government.

Whether Gerhards would be willing to make such a dramatic move unilaterally while part of what is effectively a caretaker government remains to be seen. According to a plan currently being discussed by potential coalition partners, he is set to move to the Agriculture Ministry in a new administration with Juris Pūce of the For Development/For! alliance taking over his current portfolio.

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