Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with Prime Minister Eviks Siliņa (JV) on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming budget and potential reforms to public administration.

The President emphasized the need for a thorough review of public authority functions and a reduction in bureaucracy when preparing next year’s budget. He noted that the prime minister presented several optimization ideas that could affect various ministries.

Rinkēvičs clarified that optimization should extend beyond ministry civil servants to include subordinate institutions and municipalities. he acknowledged that while “linear cutting” might seem easier, a deeper assessment of function usefulness and bureaucracy reduction is necessary.

The President also suggested freezing salaries, not only for elected officials but across the entire salary fund, to demonstrate solidarity within the Saeima and self-reliant institutions.

“This is a matter of discussions on the budget in the Saeima. It woudl be strange if the political parties, especially next year’s elections, do notolidate with the rest of the public.”

Rinkēvičs further proposed evaluating potential restrictions on state funding for political parties. He argued that if public administration institutions are asked to reduce their budgets, it would be fair for political party funding to be similarly affected.

“This is a matter of discussions on the budget in the Saeima. It would be strange if the political parties, especially next year’s elections, do notolidate with the rest of the public, the institutions that will have to reduce the budget and some kind of programs,” said Rinkēvičs.

Siliņa acknowledged that politicians face difficult choices but stressed the importance of agreeing on savings to allow for additional funding decisions later.

Regarding future mergers of state functions, Siliņa anticipates that while some staff from reorganized institutions will retain their jobs, others will require retraining. She suggested that retraining in digital skills and artificial intelligence could lead to even higher pay for some individuals.

The Prime Minister recognized the potential for employee optimization within public administration and encouraged municipalities to explore this avenue. She indicated that a meaningful number of employees are located directly within municipalities, a fact that is sometimes “forgotten about”.

Siliņa believes that digitizing the functions of several institutions could lead to staff reductions and cost savings.

However, detailed discussions will only be possible once clearer budget proposals for next year are available. She assured that proposals to seek additional resources from pay expenses would be forthcoming.