Latvia's ruling coalition are unable to agree on how to proceed with Rail Baltica, leading the government to stall on deciding the best way to move forward . Though the Latvian Ministry of Transport has proposed a roadmap, the required funding is yet to be found.

Latvia's transport ministry has drawn up a plan to proceed with the Rail Baltica project, which takes into account the need for major savings. Despite that, there are still insufficient funds for the new plan. It remains unclear whether the proposal to divert EU funds that have been allocated to Latvia for other purposes but are so far unused, is legally acceptable.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina believes the Latvian state should take out a loan for the further construction of Rail Baltica. Silina's idea is that this could be done jointly by the Baltic states. However, questions remain regarding Latvia's own borrowing capacity, as the country's national debt is already high and a large sum, amounting to billions of euros, would be needed.

There are also differences of opinion among members of the governing coalition regarding how quickly and how to build Rail Baltica's Riga link. Latvian politicians have not been reassured by the European Commission's Coordinator for the North Sea-Baltic TEN-T Corridor Catherine Trautmann, who, while in Riga, assured them that all three Baltic capitals are part of the Rail Baltica project.

"We also need to seek funding for the Rail Baltica project from defense investment funds. The Ministry of Economics is currently assessing the viability of Rail Baltica and the principles of the business plan. It is also important to involve the Ministry of Climate and Energy, because we are now talking about climate-neutral trains, so we could also use climate funds," Silina said.

One of the coalition partners – the Union of Greens and Farmers – continue to insist that they will not agree to any further allocation of funds from the Latvian state budget until the sources and content of the project are made clear. While some believe that this could be a delay which bears the hallmark of former oligarch Aivars Lembergs, there is no evidence of this.

"We want to see a definite route plan and the sources of funding for its construction. So we need a clear overview of the whole project. Only after that will we be ready to talk about raising additional funds. At the moment, we are not supporting anything in the budget beyond our own contribution to the project," said Latvian Minister of Finance Viktors Valainis.

The Latvian Ministry of Transport is under extraordinary pressure – Estonia is pushing back and a parliamentary report has undermined the project's management. It is now hoped that the issue of Rail Baltica's future will reach the Latvian government in the next few weeks. However, that is far from being the first deadline.

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