In the run-up to the Saeima elections, the question of the successes and problems of the administrative-territorial reform was somewhat lost, only to flourish with renewed vigour during the government formation period. In conversation, we discuss developments in the municipality, which now unites 8 former or small municipalities and borders Lithuania and the Baltic Sea, also looking at current security and school issues.
Dzintars Kudums is interviewed by Māris Liopa, Chairman of the Forest Certification Council of Latvia, and Pauls Rēvelis, editor of zemeunvalsts.lv
Before we begin our conversation and you get to your questions, I would like to say a few words about the Oskars Kalpaks museum in "Airītes", where, as I understand it, you have visited not so long ago. I remember well the first volunteer work parties held there in the late 80s together with the “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai” youth organisation. At that time, the memorial site looked rather neglected, relatively large trees were growing in the burial site, the O. Kalpaks monument had gone missing, and, on top of that, the road to “Airītes” was partially blocked by a dumped pile of gravel, intended to deter even those who genuinely wanted to visit. We sorted it all out in two work parties.
The Saeima elections have just passed, the government is slowly taking shape, let's rather talk about “older” times. As a result of the administrative-territorial reform, the South Kurzeme municipality is large, with quite a number of former “small municipalities” joined together. How has the work been going so far?
Eight former municipalities merged into the South Kurzeme municipality, choosing Grobiņa as the centre – a town located sufficiently close to the centres of the former municipalities, for example, 39 km from Aizpute, 55 km from Rucava, etc. Personally, I find the choice of Grobiņa to be correct.
The merger process was complicated. Each municipality, understandably, had its own traditions; for instance, all the “small municipalities” did not have the same accounting software, which created additional difficulties during the merger process. A unified management system had to be created, and the staff selection process was also difficult. Even relatively recently – in May – the heads of two administrations were replaced. In short, the process of forming and stabilising the South Kurzeme municipality continues.
As a deputy, how do you evaluate whether the municipal reform has been successful? How should one look at its political background?
The logic behind this reform is to create larger municipalities. One must not forget that the situation is different in many places. For example, in the neighbouring Saldus municipality, Saldus and Brocēni merged; in the Kuldīga area – Kuldīga and Skrunda. Here in South Kurzeme, it is different. Of course, we will survive the changes and sort everything out, but the process was not carefully thought out and developed.
We have to work, there is no choice! The operation is large, and it is very important how many employees and deputies in the municipal council are well-acquainted with the entire territory.
The elected deputies undoubtedly knew the place where they live best. It was not the case that one deputy was elected from each of the eight municipalities, which would have been logical to a certain extent and would have made the work much, much easier.
You have extensive experience in the still (or consistently) relevant issue of schools (education), as you have both led a school and Kalēti is quite close to the state border...
That is very true. We are currently speaking in the Latvian border region – it is 45 km to Liepāja and 12 km to Skuodas. Rucava, Bārta, Gramzda, Kalēti, and Vaiņode are border parishes.
Of course, if we look back a good while, the Latvian state was restored in the 90s, and with that, both the economic system and everything else changed. Schools are not detached from society. When the collective farms and state farms collapsed, many things changed – the privatisation process began, and people lost their jobs. It was a real testing time for schools. A teacher's salary, calculated in today's money, was around 70 euros, with an income tax of 49% (I accidentally found one of the salary documents from that time this year). Many tried to survive and... at school, you see and hear everything that is happening in society. Parents are stressed, and so are the children. At school, an underpaid teacher has to deal with it all – perform duties, go on hikes, the workload in teaching is not small, and all that for a ridiculous salary. Under these circumstances, one had to think about how to maintain and develop the education system in Kalēti.
A very important circumstance – the beginning of my work as the principal of the Kalēti school coincided with a generational change among the teachers. In 1992, the average age of teachers at the school was 33, and I was the oldest – I had turned 39. Can you imagine the energy and capacity that prevailed in the school at that time?!! I think we managed to lay the foundations for the school's existence at that time. In 1992, we took over the former kindergarten building from the “Druva” collective farm. In the first year, one kindergarten group was operating with 3 children; today, more than 60 children attend the kindergarten. In 1996, we founded the Kalēti Music School, and 10 years later, an art school joined it. Now, more than 50 children are studying music and art. Kalēti succeeded – in a rural parish on the Lithuanian border, we have 100 pupils in the primary education programme.
My spouse wanted to retire, but... there is a shortage of mathematics teachers, and she still goes to work. Personnel training in Latvia is limping; there is a shortage of mathematics and physics teachers even in cities, let alone here. Of course, there is also the always-relevant issue of salaries, without which there will be no successful solution to the problem.
Nearby villages and schools – is there still a lot of competition?
Unfortunately, there are no other schools nearby.
Thanks to the pre-school and the opportunity to receive vocational education in music and art, many parents from neighbouring parishes chose to send their children to us.
The school still operates in the Kalēti manor building.
Yes, the school is located in two buildings; one is the old manor house (manor palace), where children learn both the primary education programme and professional orientation programmes in music and art, and the other is a freshly renovated two-storey kindergarten building, where the pre-school is now housed. I believe that there is no shortage of talented people in the countryside either; we have enough young people who continue their studies in the fields of music and art. We must not forget – a small school also provides a quality education.
Your experience in the work of a Saeima deputy is linked to the presidency of Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and security issues.
That was during the 7th Saeima. The voters and party members gave me the opportunity to work on issues with the order of which I had been very dissatisfied until then, namely, security issues. We had our own state and independence, but security matters were completely disorganised. Surprisingly, at that time, the Ministry of Defence and the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee fell under the responsibility of the “Tēvzemei un brīvībai/LNNK” party, and I was entrusted with its leadership – the power structures were, so to speak, in one pair of hands...
There was no National Security Law yet, and we were working on it; I saw that President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga had an obvious interest in this issue. She appointed a lawyer who also participated in the development and preparation of this law. Even then, the President had sufficient authority, and politicians listened to her opinions. We developed a close cooperation. The President emphasised that security issues are and will be important; the Saeima was preparing documents for accession to NATO and the EU. It was that interesting time when the heads of all Saeima committees met quite regularly with the Prime Minister and talked about the laws that needed to be adopted and about the tasks that each parliamentary committee had to perform. There was plenty of work. The President closely followed these processes. Many people worked on the accession (admission) to NATO, but I think it is to a very large extent her merit. V. Vīķe-Freiberga speaks many languages fluently – in fact, everywhere she went, there was no need for interpreters, and, moreover, she had a very human, friendly attitude towards the interlocutor.
In Paris, when welcoming the President, flags were hung, which is a great rarity in France.
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga speaks French fluently, and the French like her very much. I think every nation really appreciates it when a guest speaks their language; the French fiercely protect their language and culture – we must do the same.
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, in my opinion, was very well regarded and respected by the leaders of many countries, and personal contacts in politics are very significant.
If you compare it with today, the late 90s were not a stable period in terms of security either.
At that time, many, including me, were clear that security would be a very important issue. Of course, our opponents from the PCTVL sneered at it: “What, you'll do something to great Russia with one tank?” Sneering is one thing, but they had a certain point. We could not remain a neutral state; the armed forces needed to achieve a certain level of readiness. If we were not in NATO now... What is a neutral state today? Look, Finland and Sweden also realised what was necessary in a sufficiently short time.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was clarity about the situation – who is invading, who is defending, etc. As time passes, sometimes strange speeches are heard about Putin's face, about Russia's stability, etc. The 33rd year of Independence is underway, and the issue of loyalty among us is still not clear.
If we use the term 5th column, the largest community of Soviet citizens remained in Latvia after the collapse of the union, compared to neighbouring countries. The Soviet army pulled out, but a portion of the officers and their families remained. What the neighbouring country is doing now, forgive me, has never been so crude... You see what can be achieved with propaganda! Even at the end of the Soviet era (in the late 80s, early 90s), there were people who thought that a state like Latvia would never exist – “let them play, we will return back eventually.” Well, such hopes have not been realised, and a certain disappointment has occurred and is being felt.
I have sometimes been angered by the great indecision that prevailed in the 90s. Then, and precisely then, we should have treated language and Soviet heritage issues much more strictly. I have always looked with benevolent envy at the Estonians, who, for example, removed the bronze soldier in Tallinn and were not very worried about what people would think of this step. Yes, the Russian diaspora in Estonia is smaller!
What exactly is the indecision of the 90s linked to?
At that time, many, very many were busy seeking personal gain. As we already talked about – the state and economic systems were changing, and if the water is murky enough, fish can be caught better. In politics or close to it, people or groups of people dominated who were less interested in the EU and NATO – “let that take its course, but give us the opportunity to privatise something, to gain something.” Mildness and appeasement seemed more advantageous than a stricter approach and decisions.
You mentioned the good reputation of Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga in Europe and the world. Currently, the attitude of many European heads of state towards the war and what is happening in Ukraine makes one think, reflect, and delve seriously into what European values would be in 2022? To hesitate, to not decide, to wait, to compromise, to avoid?
The President has spoken well about this, and I fully agree with her. The European Union is, for the most part, an economic union; for example, an agreement on European armed forces is not really possible.
After World War II, Germany has long taken a seemingly neutral position – “we will be less involved, enough Europeans suffered in the war due to us,” etc. As we know, there are always benefit-seekers in the economy. No one listened to V. Vīķe-Freiberga's warnings about what should be done and how one should act, nor did they listen to the many warnings from representatives of the Baltic States and Poland. Old Europe was thinking about its own prosperity.
Imagine – what would happen if you told the Germans in peacetime – “well, fuel will cost 5 euros, heating will be even more expensive...” A revolution would start in Germany quite quickly.
Do you think that Germany, France, or Italy are ready to give up some benefit available for decades for the sake of Ukraine? They are ready to give something, to help somehow, but these countries will always look at their people and their benefit, which is only understandable; however, there is no readiness to give up or lower the existing level of prosperity to do something good in the name of the future.
Returning to the place where we are talking, to the border region. Skuodas is closer than Liepāja, is that felt practically too?
Quite a few Lithuanians live in Kalēti, who are our brotherly nation, and we have always got along well with them. We have no conflicts. They perceive us similarly to how we perceive them; Priekule has had cooperation with Skuodas for a long time, and the new South Kurzeme municipality continues it. For example, in June, an event took place in Gramzda, in which pupils from the art schools of Priekule, Kalēti, and Skuodas participated, as well as Ukrainian children who are currently living in Vaiņode.
How do they communicate with each other?
That is a certain problem. For example, I understand Lithuanian, but it is difficult to speak. It is very similar for Lithuanians – in Skuodas, you can safely ask in Latvian; if they don't understand, they will ask again. The issue of communication, if one can say so, is in the process – neither in Latvia nor in Lithuania does the younger generation understand Russian; I think that after some time, communication will completely switch to English.
In the spring, I encountered a previously unexperienced situation. A very interesting-looking motorcycle had pulled up to a supermarket. I took a look, walked around, and got to know the rider – a traveller from England. He asked if I was interested in the vehicle – of course. ...and he starts explaining the technical details of the motorcycle to me in English. I can converse in English, but not about motorcycle parts. What happened? He took his mobile phone, recorded what he was saying, and... “explains to me in pure Latvian” what is what. I think it won't be long before we can talk to a Ukrainian in Latvian, and he will “hear” us in Ukrainian in his headphones. Digital things will undoubtedly develop and make our lives easier.