RIGA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- KPV LV, one the five partners in Latvia's center-right government coalition, named MP Janis Vitenburgs as a candidate for the Baltic country's next economics minister on Monday, local media reported.
KPV LV party picked Vitenburgs for the ministerial position after Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins demanded last Friday the resignation of current Economics Minister Ralfs Nemiro.
Interior Minister Sandis Girgens has been appointed as acting economics minister until the parliament approves Vitenburgs' nomination. KPV LV will also propose Nemiro for chairman of the parliament Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee, which is currently chaired by Vitenburgs.
The prime minister asked the KPV LV party to propose a new candidate for economics minister and Nemiro to stand down after the Constitution Protection Bureau told him that Nemiro has been stripped of his security clearance necessary for accessing state secrets.
The bureau gave no reason for revoking the economics minister's security clearance, but public broadcaster LTV said that Nemiro lost the clearance because of his personal contacts.
