MP Edgars Tavars: Minister of MEPRD abused his power and took revenge on Mayor of Ikšķile

Conversation with Edgars Tavars, chairman of the Latvian Green Party (Latvijas Zaļā partija).

Minister for Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (MEPRD) Artūrs Toms Plešs (Development/For! - Attīstībai/Par!, AP) has suspended the chairman of Ikšķile Regional Council Indulis Trapiņš (Latvian Green Party, Latvijas Zaļā partija) for several violations. You are the leader of this party. What does this suspension mean?

Mr Plešs has engaged in classic political revenge on the principle that "I have power, but you do not". And "as long as there is a person, we can find the necessary article" can also be seen here.

Because in the spring of 2019, Ikšķile was the first to oppose the administrative-territorial reform, which was promoted by the Minister of MEPRD Juris Pūce together with the then Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry Artūrs Toms Plešs. It was already clear at that time that it would not end well for Ikšķile. The people of Ikšķile conducted a survey, which was stopped with an administrative act by Pūce, even threatening Ikšķile political persons with police and criminal proceedings. AP is now seizing the opportunity at its disposal to dismiss the mayor. They have also found relevant articles on issues that have long passed. Earlier, the ministers did seek to not punish for them, apparently because Trapiņš was in another, correct, power party at that time.

I don't think people will believe that their mayor is a monster. AP party should remember - "you reap what you sow"!

The Ministry of Education and Science has proposed strict requirements for HEIs to receive the university status. For example, at least 65% of the academic staff must have a doctoral degree, at least 15% of students must be foreign, and the number of students must not be less than four thousand. According to the conceptual report of the Ministry of Education and Science, Daugavpils University does not qualify as a university due to the number of students, which means a possible reorganization of the university into just a regular higher education institution in the future.

The situation with Daugavpils University is absurd. After all, we want to have higher education, we want it of the highest quality. The ruling coalition has set itself the goal of reforming all sorts of things, including higher education. It would be great if we realized that all of our universities together have the same budget as the University of Tartu in Estonia. Now that is a problem! But they start from the other end - it needs reforms. They look not just at the quality criteria, but also at the quantitative criteria. Where did they get that we need to assess quantitative criteria? In addition, it is primarily aimed directly at Daugavpils University. This is because some people from political circles do not like certain people at Daugavpils University. Similar to how the New Era Party (Jaunais laiks) did not like the people of the Police Academy, and the educational institution was liquidated.

Who are "they"?

The ruling coalition with the Minister of Education and Science Ilga Šuplinska (New Conservative Party, Jaunā konservatīvā partija) in the lead.

The government decides, changes, re-decides various restrictions to reduce the spread of Covid. Are you satisfied with the government's work in this area?

I see that the society is no longer even surprised and does not care what Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (JV) and his team, if it can even be called a team, says. On a hill with fresh air, you need 70 square meters per person. Maybe the virus is particularly contagious there? It is less contagious in stores where a person needs 25 square meters. But it is not contagious in public transport, where you have to sit in a traffic jam on Čaka Street and where there is a half-square meter per person. People understand that this is an absurdity in a square meter and idiocy in a cube. But the police have been tasked with making control purchases in civilian clothes to catch where someone is buying an extension cord from a small businessman. And they feel proud that they have set fines for a million euros. Who does that? It's hard to even comment on.

But I see that most likely the coalition has already decided that Kariņš's government will fall.

President Egils Levits said that it had not exhausted itself yet.

Well, as an opposition, we would very much like this government to work as long as possible. Then in the next Saeima we will get a very large representation. However, it will not be easy and we will have to work hard to fix all the issues.

But when thinking about the country, it must be said that the sooner this coalition ceases to exist, the better. The sooner there is a capable prime minister, the better.

Ventspils Mayor Aivars Lembergs has been arrested in a courtroom and taken to prison. What is your opinion on this?

We take note of the court ruling. In a state governed by the rule of law, the court tells whether or not a person is guilty. The case is currently pending and will continue to be heard at a higher instance.

But we all saw how Lembergs' opponents, both directly and indirectly, pointed to their desired outcome of the court case. We saw how the same politicians reacted in another recent case, when the Vidzeme District Court declared an undesirable result for them in the Magonis-Osinovskis case. There was a lot of noise.

The pressure on the court has been enormous - Lembergs' opponents wanted for him to be arrested immediately after the first instance verdict. I have no evidence that the court was influenced by the pressure, but the pressure was enormous.

May Mr. Lembergs have the strength and health to fight for his justice further!

Is the current vaccination rate in our country satisfactory?

At a time when there is no vaccine, the state sets up a Vaccination Project Bureau and gives it a huge amount of money to organize the vaccination. 1000 - 1500 people are vaccinated per day. At least for now, it's a pathetically slow pace.

The bureau office space is empty, most of the clerks work remotely, sitting at home with laptops, but the Ministry of Health allocates 20 thousand euros to the Vaccination Project Bureau to buy tables. What for?

Apparently, the Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts (AP) needs it to remove political responsibility from himself and for everyone to laugh at the "general headquarters" of vaccination. All due respect to Eva Juhņēviča, who previously organized a great Song and Dance Festival, but the responsibility has been passed on to her and her office will be the scapegoat. Kariņš does not have the courage to tell what he truly thinks about Pavļuts, so he will tell what he thinks about Juhņēviča.