The government has a lot of work ahead of it and it has to work, Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (JV) told reporters on Tuesday, commenting on the statement previously made by President Egils Levits that if a minister does not understand his task, the Prime Minister should ask the minister to “step aside”. .
Kariņš did not comment further on what Levita said, but only acknowledged that the primary responsibility of each minister is to take care of his industry, including managing his industry in times of crisis and not to allow his industry to get into a crisis.
“We now have a lot of work ahead of us. We have to work,” Kariņš emphasized.
On Monday in the Latvian Television program “Today’s Issue”, the President stated that the government is like a team, and if a minister does not understand his task, the Prime Minister must ask that this minister “step aside”.
“We are in a storm and the ship is being taken out of the sea by a team. The team is led by the captain or the prime minister. We all rely on the team and its captain,” the President emphasized, stressing that this team must work together as a unified system. It is not acceptable that the ministers “tweeted” after the decision was made in the government, that it could have been different, and that the desired result was not achieved for the sector represented by the particular minister.
“This points to a lack of oral discipline among ministers. Everyone needs to be aware that they are part of the same team and will all be responsible together. Everyone has a role to play and the prime minister’s job is to make and work together,” Levits said. , in his opinion, Kariņš has done it to a large extent. So far, he has led this “complex coalition” quite successfully and has done what he needs to do.
If a minister does not understand his role in this team, the Prime Minister should ask him to perhaps “step aside”. Asked if he thought Kariņš should demand the resignation of a minister, Levits said that if the ministers did not observe parliamentary discipline, then yes. But he hopes that ministers will realize that there is a team and will respect it from tomorrow.
Asked whether, if the government did not comply, there were fears that the government would fall, Levits replied that it was difficult to say. According to him, the prime minister sees his role in ensuring that this discipline is respected, and the president reminded that the prime minister has the right to demand the resignation of ministers if this is not observed.
“We expect the government to receive and continue the turnaround,” Levits said.
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