Latvian PM Evika Siliņa to Resign After Coalition Partner Withdraws Support

Latvia’s center-right Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said Thursday she would resign, after her left-wing coalition partner withdrew its support for her in response to the firing of one of its ministers. “I am stepping down, but I am not giving up,” she said on X. The government will continue its duties until a new Cabinet of Ministers is approved. Siliņa had been serving as Prime Minister since September 2023. The left-wing Progressives party said Wednesday it would no longer support the coalition after Siliņa dismissed Progressives Defense Minister Andris Sprūds on Sunday, over an incident in which two stray Ukrainian drones hit the Baltic state’s oil facilities. Siliņa then appointed Latvian army Col. Raivis Melnis as a replacement, but the Progressives’ withdrawal left Siliņa’s New Unity alliance without a parliamentary majority. Latvia, like its Baltic neighbors Estonia and Lithuania, has been on high alert since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, warning that spillovers from the war could test NATO’s eastern flank. “At this moment, political jealousy and narrow party interests have taken precedence over responsibility,” Silina said Thursday, adding that “political windbags chose not a solution, but a crisis.” Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs previously said he would meet with all parliamentary parties on Friday, “given the political situation of the country.”