EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Railways, Transport

"It was neither the Cabinet of Ministers, nor the Transport Ministry that signed the contract with the Spanish company. The competition was announced, and the contract was signed, by Pasazieru vilciens, therefore the final version of the contract is outside the government's competence," said Freidenfelds, writes LETA.

The train procurement process was discussed by the ruling coalition's cooperation council on Monday, where a decision was made that the issue would be removed from the agenda for the government's meeting today, added Freidenfelds.

As reported, following Latvian officials' meeting with the European Commission representatives on May 25, it was decided that the train procurement contract would have to be altered for Latvia not to lose the co-funding offered by the European Union.

The European Commission previously warned Latvia that if the contract was not altered, Latvia might itself have to cover the co-funding from the EU Cohesion Fund, LVL 100 million altogether.

The total cost of the new train procurement is estimated at LVL 144 million, of which LVL 100 million is to be provided from the EU Cohesion Fund. The other part of the contract deals with train maintenance for a thirty-year period. The total amount of the contract is EUR 610.76 million (LVL 429.24 million).