"The heated public discussions over the last few weeks about defending the rights of Latvian citizens bring to light the lack of mutual understanding and cooperation between the involved State authorities. We have many declarative announcements regarding the importance of persons, yet we lack the courage to step out of the regulatory frame when a person gets into the grey areas of the law,” said Dagmāra Beitnere-Le Galla, Deputy Secretary of the Saeima, during the annual Saeima Foreign Policy Debate on 23 January.
In addition, the Deputy Secretary of the Saeima stressed the need to enhance the motivation of Latvian nationals living abroad to return to live in Latvia and indicated that, in order to achieve this, a unified institutional front in implementing the Diaspora Law — both in understanding and in action — is also of essence.
"Next year will be a complicated one for Europe as the European Union will face its first withdrawal of a Member State, which will doubtlessly affect our agenda as well. We will continue to push for the interests of Latvia and the entire European Union, while maintaining good relations with the United Kingdom,” said Beitnere-Le Galla, inviting the public institutions of Latvia to improve their work to better defend the interests of Latvian nationals residing in the UK.
The Deputy Secretary of the Saeima called for standing firm for the position of Latvia on the multiannual financial framework and advocated dynamic involvement in the "green” deal to achieve the climate goals set by the European Union. As underlined by Beitnere-Le Galla, it would also provide our scientists and entrepreneurs with new opportunities.
Regarding security challenges, the Deputy Secretary of the Saeima thanked the allies of Canada, along with Albania, the Czech Republic, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain for their involvement in the NATO Battle Group in Latvia. We have always been accompanied by allied countries that put their trust in Latvia, said Beitnere-Le Galla. The decisions made during the NATO Summit in London and the commitment, made by the US Congress, to strengthen military presence in Latvia raise our sense of security and reaffirm our increasingly close Transatlantic ties.
The Deputy Secretary of the Saeima also highlighted the Riga-based NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence as another great example of close international cooperation. Beitnere-Le Galla emphasised that we live in times of hybrid warfare requiring Western states to adopt a coordinated and systematic long-term approach to combat disinformation.
Furthermore, it is particularly important this year, which marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. On 16 January, the Saeima adopted a Resolution on the 80th Anniversary of the Occupation of Latvia and condemned the distortion of the history of the Second World War; in the Resolution, the Parliament of Latvia denounced the attempts by state officials of the Russian Federation to deny historical facts about the causes, process and the end of the Second World War, reminded Beitnere-Le Galla.
Regarding economy, the Deputy Secretary of the Saeima expressed her conviction that an overhaul of the financial sector would enable us to develop more rapidly and gain greater trust among foreign investors. In addition, Beitnere-Le Galla noted that extending the current network of Latvia's diplomatic missions had been a well-founded decision and yielded the expected results by contributing to the state economy.
During the Foreign Policy Debate, the Deputy Secretary of the Saeima also thanked the diplomatic and consular officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its numerous representative bodies of Latvia abroad for their cooperation and for providing support to parliamentary diplomacy, as well as everyone engaged in citizen diplomacy and improving Latvia's image all over the world.
Saeima Press Service