Latvia's Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs sharply criticized the management system of state enterprises, stating after a meeting with President Edgars Rinkēvičs that it is in a critical state. According to the head of government, the existing model does not ensure sufficient accountability of managers, and the management structures of many state companies have turned into "political boarding houses." Kulbergs also questioned the appropriateness of the salaries of executives in relation to their level of responsibility. "This is because it is a political boarding house," the Prime Minister said, explaining why he believes the current system is not working effectively. At the same time, he emphasized that this is not only about the situation at CSDD, but about the principles of managing state enterprises as a whole. According to the Prime Minister, leadership positions are often filled not by the best specialists in the market, but by people who move from one state structure to another. As a result, Kulbergs believes, the quality of management suffers. In fact, the Prime Minister proposes to change the very approach to forming the boards and management of state companies, strengthening the personal responsibility of their leaders for the decisions made and the actual results of their work. As an example, he cited the chairman of the CSDD board, Kristians Godiņš, who announced his resignation on Wednesday. According to Kulbergs, the leader explained that he had instructed the implementation of cybersecurity measures, but the Prime Minister considers this insufficient. "It was necessary not only to give the instruction but also to ensure that it was carried out. Such responses are unprofessional," the head of government stated. Kulbergs also mentioned Latvijas valsts meži, which also suffered a cyberattack this summer. In his opinion, in such cases, it is necessary to establish specific responsible persons, for example, those who did not timely update critically important IT licenses. According to the Prime Minister, problems often arise where political cover and justifications are sought instead of personal responsibility. The occasion for such harsh statements was a recent cyberattack on CSDD that occurred on the night of August 7 to 8. At that time, attackers stole personal data of 1.2 million people and information about approximately 200,000 legal entities. After the incident, the board first announced its resignation, followed by the supervisory board. Kulbergs stated that the Prime Minister's office is already reviewing the management system of state enterprises. What exactly the future changes will be has not yet been specified.
