2024-07-05 01:21:54
Since 1993, there have been two presidents who have been approved by the Saeima in this position twice. It is former President Guntis Ulmanis and ex-president Vaira Vīke-Freiberga. Asked if Rinkēvič could have such a chance, Metla-Rosentāle explained that it is beneficial for the political elite – the Saeima and the Cabinet of Ministers – if the president is popular with the public. The positive attitude towards the president improves the overall political environment and microclimate. Therefore, the political environment in general supports and respects such presidents. She emphasized that a strong president is beneficial for the political elite because he helps to consolidate society.
As the political scientist expressed, taking into account that Rinkēvičs fulfills the function of a tension reliever in society and he is popular, there is less internal political tension. According to her, the President is sufficiently neutral in his political positions and is able to look at all political forces fairly equally. She thinks that this could serve as a reason why politicians might not want to replace Rinkevičs in the post, although one cannot know how the situation will develop, especially in the context of the foreign policy background. Currently, in the opinion of the RSU lecturer, this could be a case where the current president retains his position for both terms.
Invited to evaluate the work of the President in the first 12 months, Metla-Rosentāle emphasized that his activity can be viewed in two dimensions – the emotional and the real political dimension. Speaking about the emotional dimension, she explained that Rinkēvičs has managed to significantly change the public’s attitude from an absolutely negative assessment of the president as a political position in Latvia to a positive one.
According to her statement, if at the end of the presidency of the previous President Egil Levitt, his actions were perceived with skepticism, then for the majority of society, Rinkēvičs’ name evokes, if not positive, then at least neutral emotions and there are no negative emotional associations. According to her, Rinkēvičs has achieved this in two ways. One of them is a simple and down-to-earth attitude, that is, the president does not feel like a superior person, endowed with a special status. Rather, Rinkēvičs creates the impression that he is one of the people. Also, the president has managed to create an emotional bond with society and be the “voice of the people”, said the political scientist.
“As the “voice of the people”, he also tries to act in various political situations, for example, when he sees some more politically scandalous events or issues about which it is not really clear what should be done, the president intervenes with the opinion of a “people’s representative” that one or the other issue should be possible to be arranged urgently,” said the political scientist.
As an example, she mentioned the scandal about the possible influencing of the results of the Saeima elections held in 2014, where the president immediately said that the public should be given a clear answer as to what the situation was. Even when Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (JV) had a not-so-correct, emotional conversation with teachers, the President emphasized that it was not good, the expert pointed out. She concluded that with down-to-earthness and representation of the people’s interests, Rinkēvičs has managed to create an emotional bond and strengthen the emotional dimension.
On the other hand, speaking about the real political dimension, the political scientist emphasized that the president cannot magically solve all the country’s problems and do what the Saeima, the Cabinet of Ministers or any minister has not done. Internationally, too, the president of Latvia cannot suddenly stop the war in Ukraine or change the views of the big countries of the European Union regarding the economic sanctions with Russia, but the president can define his priorities, which, in her opinion, Rinkēvičs has done – these are security, education, young people, promoting the competitiveness of Latvian entrepreneurs . For example, following the work of the Minister of Defense, the President takes care of the security aspect and constantly updates it in various formats, the expert added.
According to the political scientist, the president follows current developments in both domestic and foreign policy, whether it concerns the nomination of the Prime Minister, current affairs in the field of health care and education. In this aspect, the president acts in a reactive form – not by instigating something, but by evaluating what is or is not done, commenting, presenting his vision. At the same time, Rinkēvičs does not insist that his vision is the correct one. The political scientist pointed out that the president has his own priority agenda and there are still some issues to which he reacts reactively, taking into account what is happening in society and politics.
The RSU lecturer noted that, looking at the ratings, they are good for the president when compared to the previous first person in the country, Levitt. For example, more than half of the population of Latvia evaluates the work of the president in the first year as rather good or very good. If in general the ratings of the Saeima or the Cabinet of Ministers are always relatively low, then almost 57% of Latvian citizens give a high rating to the work of the president and use the rating “good” or “very good”. According to her, it is a good result on the overall background, although there is still room for improvement. The work of the president is appreciated by young people and financially secure people, who also look more positively at things in general.
Metla-Rosenthal summarized that Rinkēvič’s first year as president has been successful.
Asked if there is something Rinkēvič should work on, the political scientist noted that something can always be done more and better. For example, in some situations it could be said that the president should say more clearly what he expects from the government, express himself more sharply on one or another issue. She referred to Rinkevich saying that he always remembers being diplomatic and neutral. The RSU lecturer pointed out that there is an expectation that the president will quickly say what is black and white, what is good and bad in a certain situation, but Rinkēvičs tries to follow the words of the president’s oath as correctly as possible, namely that he must be able to look at everyone equally.
“I think that the president himself also knows what he could do differently, but looking at what the presidents of other years have been like, the situation was more negative at that time. Taking into account the context of the war, the rather complicated economic situation, we have to consider this as a successful year of the presidency. Rinkėvič’s political experience is a significant asset, because you can see that he understands the problem in detail, if we talk about the political level. He doesn’t speak in phrases – like a person from the outside, who does not understand how things work. It is undeniable his strong point, if we talk about both domestic and foreign policy,” Metla-Rosenthal said.
Next week Monday, July 8, it will be one year since Rinkēvičs has been the President.
2024-07-05 01:21:54