The Ministry of the Interior will now be headed by Development/For! (Attīstībai/Par!) Marija Golubeva - the second woman to head this relatively conservative ministry. She promises to continue some of the cases started by the now-dismissed Sandis Ģirģens and is convinced that she will be able to be an equal conversation partner to the heads of the institutions under the Ministry's supervision.
M. Golubeva promises that her keywords will be humanity, reform and cooperation. Prior to the Saeima's vote to approve her as a minister, the politician pointed out that her task would be to increase respect and trust between the society and the internal affairs system, as well as work on the introduction of competitive remuneration.
Her priorities will be to increase civil protection and police response capacity, the quality of pre-trial investigations, the prevention and investigation of hate crimes and domestic violence, and the prevention of juvenile crimes as an alternative to punishment. The new minister also promises to work on combating other topical crimes, such as cybercrime.
As usual, when ministers change, the public discusses the adequacy of their education for the position to be held. What would you say to convince the skeptics that the knowledge gained in your studies of philology and history is relevant to leading the Ministry of the Interior?
It is not the determining factor, as I have not worked in the fields of philology or history. I have worked in the State Chancellery, in public administration, I have also been a policy analyst in Brussels. In all those places, I have not worked as a historian or philologist, but have analyzed the activities of public administration. Therefore, in this case, I think that is not the main aspect.
You will be the second woman to head the Ministry of the Interior. Given that it oversees institutions with highly conservative people, are you sure that you will be able to win their trust?
Here are two theses. First of all, I believe that in Latvia all services are run by professionals, people chosen for their qualifications. I think that quite a lot can be achieved by working respectfully with managers and working together to solve all problems.
At the same time, the fact that there is a certain culture, partly left over from the Soviet era, that there are some serious jobs for men that women cannot do, that I do not agree with. I think women can do anything in public administration. I see it both in Latvia and elsewhere. We have already had women in the posts of Minister of Defense and Minister of Interior.
I really think it is time to leave these prejudices behind. Of course, people's attitudes cannot be changed in five minutes, and I respect that. I will be the kind of conversation partner people will want to talk to.
Is there any work started by Sandis Ģirģens that you will definitely continue?
I know that since 2018, reforms have been implemented in cooperation with the European Commission, which concern both the structure of the police and others. I look forward to continuing this change and hope that the police will become more efficient. I will also continue to improve working conditions in both the police and the State Fire and Rescue Service. Another thing - the issue of police education and training. I will work hard on this issue, definitely.