Latvian MP resigns after anti-Semitic statements

[Menydh]

Kirsteins begrudgingly steps down for Paegle

The Baltic Times
June 15, 2005

RIGA - Aleksandrs Kirsteins, recently expelled from the conservative People's Party for his anti-Semitic statements, has stepped down as chairman of Parliament's foreign affairs committee.

Kirsteins submitted his letter of resignation on June 15 without providing a more detailed explanation for his decision. Shortly before the foreign affairs committee met, Kirsteins said that his deputy, Leopolds Ozolins from the Latvian Greens and Farmers’ Union, would sit in for him.

At the end of May, Kirsteins was expelled from the People’s Party for conduct deemed incompatible with the party’s program. Since then, the party had been unsuccessfully trying to remove the MP from his post in the foreign affairs committee.

Parliament’s foreign affairs committee elected Vaira Paegle, a candidate nominated by the People’s Party, as the committee’s new chairperson.

Three lawmakers from the center-right New Time party, two representatives of the People’s Party and an MP from the Latvian Socialist Party took part in the vote.

After being elected, Paegle told journalists that her main task as committee chair would be to “restore peace.”

“Foreign policy is not the field for building a career,” she said.

The lawmaker added that she would work to develop a “common policy” for the government, the president and Parliament, and would refrain from speaking publicly about tactical issues. Instead, she plans to comment only on goals and endeavors.

“In diplomacy silence is golden,” the new chair said.

While speaking to the press, Kirsteins said that Paegle was unsuitable for the post, and in his opinion, the ruling coalitions should have chosen a better candidate for the office. He pointed out, however, that the committee must remain in the coalition’s control.

Paegle, 62, joined Latvia’s current Parliament after her colleague, Maris Kucinskis, was appointed as municipal affairs minister and gave up his lawmaker’s mandate. Paegle also worked as a member of the foreign affairs committee in the previous Parliament. In 1999, the MP ran for the presidency, but failed to win support from Parliament.


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