It takes surprisingly little to topple a government these days. In Latvia, it was a few stray drones. On Thursday, the country’s parliament, the Saeima, hastily approved a new centre-right coalition to patch up the mess, installing opposition lawmaker Andris Kulbergs as prime minister. He has exactly four months to prove himself before voters head to the polls. The vote wasn’t even close. Out of 96 lawmakers present, 66 backed the new four-party alliance. It is a marriage of convenience. Kulbergs’ United List is now bedfellows with former PM Evika Silina’s New Unity, the National Alliance, and the Greens and Farmers’ Union.
Do not expect a pivot in foreign policy. The rhetoric remains predictably hawkish. In a joint statement, the new partners promised to keep backing Ukraine while squeezing Russia. “Nothing is changing,” Kulbergs told reporters, stating the obvious. He wants the EU to fund the eastern front. It is a familiar refrain. Security is the only currency that matters in Riga right now.
The clock is ticking. October 3 is judgment day. That is when Latvians vote in the general election. Kulbergs knows this is a trial run. “People will very quickly tell us whether we have done well or done poorly,” he admitted to parliament. To keep things steady, some familiar faces remain. Baiba Braze keeps her job as foreign minister. Meanwhile, Maris Kucinskis takes over finance, and Colonel Raivis Melnis steps into the defence hot seat. The left-leaning Progressives got dumped. The new cabinet leans heavily to the right.
How did we get here? Blame the sky. The Baltic states are on edge. Ukrainian drones, meant for Russian targets, keep wandering off course into NATO airspace. It is a messy, dangerous side effect of a brutal war. On May 7, one of these rogue drones slammed into an empty Latvian oil tank. Panic ensued. Silina fired her defence minister for failing to protect the skies. That rash move shattered her coalition. Now, Moscow and the Baltics are trading insults. Riga blames Russian electronic warfare for hijacking the drones. The Kremlin claims the Baltics are launching them. Nobody is backing down.
