On Thursday, 1 December, the Saeima adopted in the second and final reading urgent amendments to the State Administration Structure Law, establishing the position of a deputy minister.

“This is a difficult time, but it is also a time of opportunity. Latvia and Lithuania must find new avenues for cooperation and speed up ongoing projects of strategic importance,” highlighted Speaker Smiltēns during his meeting with Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Parliament of Lithuania, in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, on Tuesday, 29 November.

“The European Union and its member states are facing increasingly serious hybrid threats, including disinformation, cyber-attacks, and threats to energy security. These threats are a part of a broader strategy implemented by Russia in an attempt to undermine our democracies and impact our decisions,” said Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, during a meeting with Florin-Alexandru Alexe, Vice‑Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of Romania, in Bucharest on Monday, 28 November.

Our common goal is furthering regional integration. In other words, we must work to achieve increasingly seamless borders between the Baltic States, so that the people living, working, or relaxing in a neighbouring country on a daily basis would encounter increasingly less inconvenience and bureaucratic obstacles. This was highlighted by Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, during a meeting with Jüri Ratas, Speaker of the Estonian Parliament, in Vilnius, capital of Estonia, on Tuesday, 22 November.

“How fast and how smart Latvia will grow depends on our courage and our work—every day, as we make big and small decisions in our families, in our businesses, in our municipalities, and in our country. Based on the simple but firm belief that Latvia is who we are”, stressed Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Friday, 18 November 2022, at the ceremonial sitting of the Saeima in honour of the 104th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Latvia.

In its Statement regarding the Russia-made missile exploding in the territory of the Republic of Poland, the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly (BA) expresses concern over the latest dangerous escalation by Russia that has resulted in the death of two Polish citizens in the village of Przewodów.

On Thursday, 10 November, an exhibition of the youth photo contest “Freedom.  Independence. Democracy” was opened at the Saeima building, and the contest winners and their teachers were celebrated during the event.

We can learn from the predecessors of our Parliament the importance of not losing clarity about the greater goal to be achieved—and not getting lost in the trifling matters of everyday life. One hundred years ago, in this building, our predecessors set themselves the goal of building a free and democratic Latvia, and they chose the path of parliamentarism. A difficult, complex, winding, and steep path, but ultimately the only right path. A path that has largely determined who we are, what our country is now and what it will be like a hundred years from now, said Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Monday, 7 November, at the ceremonial sitting of the Saeima dedicated to the centenary of the first sitting of the 1st Saeima and the entry into force of the Constitution (Satversme).