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''During the past 10 to 15 years, we have been living in a country which took into account the interests of entrepreneurs, which resulted in the state basically being plundered. Now we have a weak country, which does not listen to entrepreneurs, but no more plundering. I believe that this is the most honest government we have had, but our ministers are not being paid accordingly,'' Dombrovskis said.

According to him, ministerial salaries are an important indicator – if we ourselves do not appreciate our highest officials and are not able to attract the best and most suitable ministerial candidates, this says quite a lot about our situation. ''It is important for us to have a strong country. If we have a weak country, like ours is right now, where government ministers are paid less than LVL 1,200 a month, this is not serious,'' the politician said.

''It is naive to believe that economic development will continue to move forward by itself. We must listen to the various sectors, which create jobs and pay people wages,'' Dombrovskis, who is currently the chairman of the Saeima Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee, said.

As Dombrovskis points out that if the state is weak, it will eventually return to old habits and let the various sectors gain too much influence and take advantage of the state, leading to more plundering. ''Sooner of later, these sectors will demand the state to implement regulations that are in their interests, like restricting competition or just plain plundering,'' he said.

''We need a strong country, that listens to its entrepreneurs and forms its own industrial policies,'' said Dombrovskis.

He also emphasized that another characteristic of a strong state is strong political parties, unlike Latvia, where new parties pop up before every election.