Puntulis urges depoliticising integration fund, shifting media fund

Latvia’s Society Integration Foundation should be depoliticised, while its Media Support Fund could be transferred to the National Electronic Mass Media Council, Culture Minister Nauris Puntulis said in an interview with Latvian Television’s Rīta Panorāma, as reported by LSM.

Puntulis said the foundation’s current political governance was not producing good results. An audit has outlined four possible future scenarios for the foundation, including its closure.

He said a working group’s report on the foundation’s development scenarios would be on his desk on Monday and submitted to the government for review within a week.

In Puntulis’s view, the foundation should first be depoliticised. Its brand might also need to be changed because the word “integration” does not reflect the full range of its work.

“Some functions may need to be transferred elsewhere. For example, the Media Support Fund is not a place for political decisions, so it could be handed over to the National Electronic Mass Media Council. Some functions could also go to the State Chancellery, which is less political,” Puntulis said.

“The Society Integration Foundation model does not really work under any composition of the Saeima,” he said.

He also said oversight of the foundation’s project implementation should be improved.

The evaluation of the Society Integration Foundation began under the previous government. The Union of Greens and Farmers proposed reorganising it by distributing its functions among ministries, but the coalition ultimately agreed not to close the foundation.