Latvia’s Election: Rail Baltica Is a NATO Problem, Not a Budget Scandal
Latvia is heading to the polls amidst a campaign focused on domestic economic issues like railway delays and airline finances, despite ongoing security concerns regarding Russian aggression. While German fighter jets are currently protecting Latvian airspace, these defense issues have largely been sidelined in political discourse.
Why it matters
The disconnect between national security threats and the focus of the election highlights how domestic economic scandals can overshadow existential geopolitical risks.
Latvia votes on Saturday after a campaign about an airline, a railway and NGO grants, while German fighter jets guard its airspace. That does not mean security has faded as an issue. It means Latvians agree on defence so completely that they no longer debate it, while their biggest defence weakness is argued about as a budget overrun.
This week, four German Eurofighters and several dozen ground crew arrived at Lielvārde air base in central Latvia. They were sent at Riga’s request to protect the country’s airspace through Saturday’s election . The deployment follows a spring in which drones repeatedly crashed on Latvian territory. They were mostly Ukrainian drones aimed at Russian oil ports and pushed off course by Russian jamming . One exploded at an oil depot in Rēzekne, 40 km from the Russian border, and the defence minister resigned.
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