Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis resigned yesterday – taking political responsibility for a supermarket collapse that killed 54 people last week – plunging the Baltic state into turmoil just weeks before it joins the euro.
The departure of Latvia’s longest-serving Premier brought down its centre-right government, a measure of the scale of the poli-tical uproar triggered by the tragedy in Riga.
I announce I am resigning
President Andris Berzins said in a statement he planned to appoint a new government this year. Poli-tical analysts said that would stave off the chance of a snap vote earlier than the national elections that were already scheduled for October 2014.
Economy Minister Daniels Pavluts this week partly blamed the store collapse on a lack of government oversight of construction projects. The government abolished a national building inspectorate as part of austerity measures that helped pave Latvia’s way into the single currency.
“I announce I am resigning from the post of prime minister, taking political responsibility for... the tragedy,” Dombrovskis told reporters.
He called for a continuation of centre-right government under a new leader as Latvia, which was bailed out by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in 2008 but fought its way back to competitiveness with stringent austerity measures, prepares to adopt the euro on January 1.
“Political parties should forget about their mutual grievances... and should agree on working together,” he said.
There is no clear successor to Dombrovskis, who had been in office since 2009 and led the country through sweep-ing spending cuts and out of its worst economic downturn since independence.
“It is absolutely unclear who could succeed Dombrovskis, because he has dominated the political stage to such an extent that there is no number two,” said Daunis Auers, professor of political science at the University of Latvia.
He said the new government would be composed of ethnic Latvian parties which have a majority in Parliament. The centre-left, pro-Russian Harmony party, which represents much of Latvia’s large Russian-speaking minority, is unlikely to be part of any new coalition. “Basically they will continue the policies of the past couple of years. They will be pro-market, pro-European and be for a balanced budget,” Auers said.
The cause of the collapse of the Maxima supermarket remains unknown, though police have opened a criminal investigation focusing on the construction of the building.
Local media said workers had been building a roof garden on the supermarket, a single-storey building about a 30-minute drive from the centre of the capital.
President Berzins called the disaster “murder”.
Analysts said they did not expect Dombrovskis’ exit would disrupt Latvia’s euro entry, though polls suggest most voters oppose joining the single currency.
The Baltic state has the highest economic growth rate in the EU after a deep recession during the 2008 financial crisis, when it kept its currency pegged to the euro.
Latvia pursued a policy of spending cuts coupled with redundancies and wage cuts that initially wiped out a fifth of its GDP. Its public debt is now around 41 per cent of GDP, far below the EU average.