European Interest

Latvia’s third pick for PM

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“The main question is sorting out the state’s financial sector is actually really serious,” Krisjanis Karins MEP said after the nomination.

Meet Latvia’s new candidate for prime minister. Krisjanis Karins, 54, of the New Unity party, the smallest of five in a proposed coalition.

Latvia’s president nominated him – a third attempt to form a government since inconclusive elections three months ago.

As reported by Bloomberg, Karins is a US-born former economy minister and member of the European Parliament.

“The main question is sorting out the state’s financial sector,” Karins said after the nomination. Latvia’s upcoming assessment by Moneyval, the anti-money-laundering watchdog of the 47-nation Council of Europe, “is actually really serious,” he said.

Karins’s coalition plans to make the fight against corruption and tax evasion a priority as well as education, healthcare and demographics.

Janis Bordans of the New Conservative Party and Aldis Gobzems of KPV LV were the first candidates designated as prime ministers. But both failed to form a government.

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