RIGA — Latvia’s former Prime Minister Aigars Kalvītis strongly criticized Latvia’s current government in a Wednesday interview with the Diena newspaper.

Kalvītis, was prime minister from 2004 to 2007 before resigning after his decision to dismiss anti-corruption head Aleksejs Loskutovs drew widespread condemnation from the general public. Kalvītis was replaced by Ivars Godmanis, whose government fell in 2009 to make way for the current Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis.

Since leaving office Kalvītis has [private_supervisor]kept a low profile even while the leadership of his party, the People’s Party, was retaken by Andris Šķēle. Instead Kalvītis has focused on private-market activity, owning parts of several dairy product companies and serving on the board of directors of Latvijas Balzams.

In the interview, Kalvītis criticized the Dombrovskis’ government for putting off tough fiscal and economic policy decisions until after the elections.

“I would not wait for Oct. 2 to be the lucky day,” Kalvītis said. “Everything is going to hell and for some reason they think they can wait until after the elections.”

Meanwhile Kalvītis said he supported devaluing the Latvia’s currency, the lats, instead of instituting more large-scale spending cuts as the IMF-EU bailout deal requires the country to do.

“The only right decision, I think, would be to introduce a peg decreased by 15 percent,” Kalvītis said.

This could indicate what a Šlesers and Šķēle government would do in power, a populism economists have warned against as destabilizing the country’s very fragile recovery.

However, although the People’s Party remains the largest in the Saeima, its poll numbers are so low it could very well not be in the next parliament at all, a testament to the fly-by-night nature of Latvian political parties.

Kalvītis said the Šlesers and Šķēle pro-business tandem was a good mix of political viewpoints, unlike the Unity movement which he said was trying to have too big a tent. Kalvītis also trumpeted the performance of his administration in light of the two subsequent ones. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]kept a low profile even while the leadership of his party, the People’s Party, was retaken by Andris Šķēle. Instead Kalvītis has focused on private-market activity, owning parts of several dairy product companies and serving on the board of directors of Latvijas Balzams.

In the interview, Kalvītis criticized the Dombrovskis’ government for putting off tough fiscal and economic policy decisions until after the elections.

“I would not wait for Oct. 2 to be the lucky day,” Kalvītis said. “Everything is going to hell and for some reason they think they can wait until after the elections.”

Meanwhile Kalvītis said he supported devaluing the Latvia’s currency, the lats, instead of instituting more large-scale spending cuts as the IMF-EU bailout deal requires the country to do.

“The only right decision, I think, would be to introduce a peg decreased by 15 percent,” Kalvītis said.

This could indicate what a Šlesers and Šķēle government would do in power, a populism economists have warned against as destabilizing the country’s very fragile recovery.

However, although the People’s Party remains the largest in the Saeima, its poll numbers are so low it could very well not be in the next parliament at all, a testament to the fly-by-night nature of Latvian political parties.

Kalvītis said the Šlesers and Šķēle pro-business tandem was a good mix of political viewpoints, unlike the Unity movement which he said was trying to have too big a tent. Kalvītis also trumpeted the performance of his administration in light of the two subsequent ones. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]kept a low profile even while the leadership of his party, the People’s Party, was retaken by Andris Šķēle. Instead Kalvītis has focused on private-market activity, owning parts of several dairy product companies and serving on the board of directors of Latvijas Balzams.

In the interview, Kalvītis criticized the Dombrovskis’ government for putting off tough fiscal and economic policy decisions until after the elections.

“I would not wait for Oct. 2 to be the lucky day,” Kalvītis said. “Everything is going to hell and for some reason they think they can wait until after the elections.”

Meanwhile Kalvītis said he supported devaluing the Latvia’s currency, the lats, instead of instituting more large-scale spending cuts as the IMF-EU bailout deal requires the country to do.

“The only right decision, I think, would be to introduce a peg decreased by 15 percent,” Kalvītis said.

This could indicate what a Šlesers and Šķēle government would do in power, a populism economists have warned against as destabilizing the country’s very fragile recovery.

However, although the People’s Party remains the largest in the Saeima, its poll numbers are so low it could very well not be in the next parliament at all, a testament to the fly-by-night nature of Latvian political parties.

Kalvītis said the Šlesers and Šķēle pro-business tandem was a good mix of political viewpoints, unlike the Unity movement which he said was trying to have too big a tent. Kalvītis also trumpeted the performance of his administration in light of the two subsequent ones. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]kept a low profile even while the leadership of his party, the People’s Party, was retaken by Andris Šķēle. Instead Kalvītis has focused on private-market activity, owning parts of several dairy product companies and serving on the board of directors of Latvijas Balzams.

In the interview, Kalvītis criticized the Dombrovskis’ government for putting off tough fiscal and economic policy decisions until after the elections.

“I would not wait for Oct. 2 to be the lucky day,” Kalvītis said. “Everything is going to hell and for some reason they think they can wait until after the elections.”

Meanwhile Kalvītis said he supported devaluing the Latvia’s currency, the lats, instead of instituting more large-scale spending cuts as the IMF-EU bailout deal requires the country to do.

“The only right decision, I think, would be to introduce a peg decreased by 15 percent,” Kalvītis said.

This could indicate what a Šlesers and Šķēle government would do in power, a populism economists have warned against as destabilizing the country’s very fragile recovery.

However, although the People’s Party remains the largest in the Saeima, its poll numbers are so low it could very well not be in the next parliament at all, a testament to the fly-by-night nature of Latvian political parties.

Kalvītis said the Šlesers and Šķēle pro-business tandem was a good mix of political viewpoints, unlike the Unity movement which he said was trying to have too big a tent. Kalvītis also trumpeted the performance of his administration in light of the two subsequent ones. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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