Latvian prime minister wants to clarify circumstances of bridge championships funding
Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said he wants to clarify why substantial state co-financing was provided to bridge championships in Riga only after the competitions had ended. The total budget of the championships for national and youth teams approached €1 million.
As LSM English reports, the funding allocation procedure drew the attention of Latvian Television’s investigative program De Facto. Riga City Council allocated €100,000 for the competitions, another €100,000 was provided by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, and the Cabinet of Ministers reallocated €225,000.
Competition after the events
After the championships ended in July, Latvia’s Ministry of Education and Science held a competition to allocate the mentioned funds for organizing European and world championships. Applicants were given five working days to submit their applications. Eight sports federations took part, collectively requesting almost ten times more funding than was available.
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The Bridge Federation passed several selection stages and received nearly €150,000. The World Weightlifting Championship, which ranked next in the competition results, received seven times less support.
Funding allocation criteria
Applications were assessed based on the expected economic return from holding the competitions in Riga, including the number of foreign guests and overnight stays. The government requirement stipulated at least a twofold economic return and 13,500 person-nights by foreign visitors. According to the explanation accompanying the government decision, all applications were expected to achieve this combined indicator, but only two bridge championships held over three weeks exceeded the threshold.
The head of the Bridge Federation is Imants Parādnieks of the National Alliance party, a former Saeima deputy and an adviser to that party. The Ministry of Education and Science is headed by Ilze Indriksone, the leader of the same political force. Vladimir Steinbergs, president of the Latvian Sports Federations Council, denied that the retroactive allocation of funding had been specifically tailored for bridge.
