Analytics, Economics, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Latvia

Latvia must be more prosperous per capita than Germany and Sweden, emphasizes Lembergs.

"Germany lost World War II, but now it is the leading economy in Europe. All we have to do is to repeat their success. We can even do better, because we are more compact. Latvia and Ventspils have the potential to achieve this," points out Lembergs.

"The EU27 average level is no good to me. I do not consider Romania and Bulgaria a criterion. I want Latvia's quantity and quality of life indicators per capita to be above those of Germany and Sweden, so that Germans and Swedes would come to us looking for jobs and their first destination would be Ventspils. However, if we take another approach and strive to be better than Bulgarians, Romanians or Poles... I am sorry, but why would we want to be slightly better than the weakest ones?" emphasizes the mayor.