Smiltēns said that the political force represented by him entered the 14th Saeima with a clear desire to form a coalition, “change things to good, do things a little differently in order to go off the beaten path”.
“At every step, Mr. Kariņš' negotiating leadership style has been – either accept my terms or there will be no coalition. We are a little skeptical about it, because it is used as a method for us to move along with what Kariņš offers without any compromise,” Smiltēns said.
According to Smiltēns, Kariņš should listen to the partners when conducting these talks and agree on compromises.
“The government is always established in the old way: each party takes a chair, ministries are separated by a fence, do not cooperate with one another, and those are the issues that leave our country behind, they are not properly addressed and the situation does not improve significantly,” said Smiltēns.
Consequently, AS has encouraged that in the new government all members should be responsible for the development of all sectors.
“We are lagging behind our Baltic neighbors, we have many other crisis problems. We need all partners in the coalition to deal with these problems jointly and in solidarity,” Smiltēns said.
As reported earlier by LSM, government-building talks have been ongoing for over a month. Current Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš is awaiting a response from the United List regarding ministerial offices, whereas United List objects to this approach.
