Despite public dissatisfaction (possibly artificially induced) with the expansion of bureaucracy in the Riga City Council, the capital’s municipality, in the name of coalition stability, decided today that the Mayor of Riga will once again have three deputies or vice-mayors. The third vice-mayor’s position will cost tax-paying residents of Riga 167.22 thousand euros per year.
Before the City Council meeting, the municipality addressed city residents about the reinstatement of the third vice-mayor’s position and invited them to express their views on the municipality’s website. In the two-week-long survey, despite the lack of widely available information about its existence, 496 people took part. Excluding 21 entries written in a foreign language or containing offensive content, only one respondent voted in favor of introducing this position. The remaining 474 did not support the idea. In response to opposition questions about why public opinion was being ignored, representatives of the municipal executive power replied that this was a political decision.
The vice-mayor and former mayor of the previous Riga City Council, Vilnis Ķirsis (JV), who today was elected to one of the three vice-mayor positions and will henceforth be responsible for education, culture and family affairs, explained to Inc. that the vice-mayor posts create the preconditions for the city to more easily reach agreements with the government and foreign partners. “Vice-mayors have to go to ministries, fight for various issues, go on business trips where they must represent the city, but no one either abroad or here will understand if the city is represented, for example, by a committee chair. Those epaulettes are necessary,” says V. Ķirsis.
Another – possible – reason why the objections of Riga residents were not taken into account is that the technical implementation of the survey allowed not only residents of Riga, but anyone who happened to come across the survey online, to express their opinion. Representatives of the City Council opposition used this shortcoming, thus possibly deliberately creating a false impression of the mood among Riga residents. At least one opposition deputy acknowledged this. Vjačeslavs Stepaņenko himself admitted during the council meeting that he had helped “Tom Cruise” to write down his opinion “in the correct language”. “Lady Gaga” had also taken part in the survey.
Representatives of the municipal executive branch did not deny that there had been shortcomings and revealed that a process has already been launched to ensure that in future Riga City Council survey participants will be identified.
The coalition’s determined move and the reinstatement of the third vice-mayor’s position were sharply criticized by “Suverēnā vara” and Apvienība Jaunlatvieši representatives, who accused the coalition of greed and inflating bureaucracy. The leader of “Latvija pirmajā vietā”, Ainārs Šlesers, tried to slightly smooth things over, reminding that “it is only normal that the ruling side comes with its own proposals on how to organize the work of the municipality over the next four years.” However, he also offered a version more appealing to taxpayers: that vice-mayors would also simultaneously serve as committee chairs and would not receive a vice-mayor’s salary, but this idea, too, was rejected by the coalition.
The three vice-mayor positions in the Riga City Council were introduced after the snap elections, when, after the dismissal of Nils Ušakovs (“Harmony”), power in the capital was taken over by the coalition led by Mārtiņš Staķis (then “Development/For!”). When that coalition collapsed and V. Ķirsis became mayor, only two vice-mayors remained.
The need to reinstate the third vice-mayor’s position is explained by many as a desire to secure the coalition formed by four electoral lists – “Jaunā Vienotība”, “Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”, “Apvienotais Saraksts” – Latvijas Zaļā partija, Latvijas reģionu apvienība, Liepājas partija” and the Progressives. Specifically, “Apvienotais Saraksts”, which gained only four out of 60 seats in the council, was given the vice-mayor and other positions in order to cement coalition stability. With the inclusion of “Apvienotais Saraksts” in the coalition, the municipality gained a majority – 34 votes. Coalition politicians explain this agreement as follows – “so that no one feels like the younger brother.”
Originally published at https://inc-baltics.com/galvaspilsetas-domes-uzturesana-ridziniekiem-klust-dargaka/
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