Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, during her official visit to Italy, met with Pietro Grasso, President of the Senate, whom she urged to deepen the economic cooperation between Latvia and Italy. Āboltiņa noted that Latvia is acceding to the euro area on 1 January 2014, which clearly attests to the country’s macroeconomic stability and its movement towards sustainable development. 

The European Affairs Committee of the Saeima deplores the decision of Ukrainian authorities not to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius. This was said in the statement on the situation in Ukraine adopted by the Committee unanimously on Friday, 13 December. In the statement, members of the Committee emphasise that Latvia as a full-fledged member state of the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, EU and NATO that upholds the values of democracy cannot condone the actions of the Ukrainian authorities – breaking into the offices of the parliamentary opposition party – which can be viewed as a threat to parliamentarism.

On Thursday, 12 December, Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, issued a statement on the situation in Ukraine.

On behalf of the Latvian parliament, Speaker Solvita Āboltiņa has sent a letter to Max Sisulu, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa, expressing condolences on the passing of Nelson Mandela.

On Thursday, 5 December, the Saeima in the final reading supported amendments to the Immigration Law that introduce changes in conditions regarding issuance of temporary residence permits for foreigners who invest money in Latvian companies.

On Thursday, 5 December, the Saeima adopted in the third and final reading amendments to the Law on Ensuring Activity of the President of Latvia, which envisage changes in the amount of social benefits provided to former Presidents of Latvia.

On Tuesday, 3 December, the Saeima’s hockey team lost 5-6 to the State Police team in a tense and dynamic friendly match.

On Friday, 29 November, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, in her opening address to the 32nd Session of the Baltic Assembly held at the Saeima, stressed that members of parliament of the Baltic States have initiated and implemented several regionally significant initiatives; however they face numerous challenges, including urgent issue of energy isolation which has to be solved. Likewise, the Baltic States have to overcome their internal disagreements and arrive at a conclusion regarding implementation of the Rail Baltic/Rail Baltica project because this project is important not only from an economic but also from a geopolitical perspective.  

On Friday, 29 November, Raimonds Vējonis, President of the Baltic Assembly addressed the participants of the 32nd Session of the Baltic Assembly and the 19th Baltic Council, pointing out that the success of the three Baltic States depends on closer cooperation between the parliaments and the executive power, streamlining of the decision-making procedures and joint strategies for issues that cannot be efficiently solved individually.