On Thursday, 1 November, the Saeima in the final reading adopted the law that ratifies the Agreement on the Establishment of the North European Functional Airspace Block between the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Latvia and the Kingdom of Norway (NEFAB), which ensures that from now on, air navigation services will be more cost-efficient for Latvian airlines, flights will be safer and the environment will suffer less harm once airspace fragmentation has been eliminated.

“Latvia and Hungary share opinions on many topics, so we are interested in mutual consultations in significant areas such as the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework, the future of Europe, defence issues and enlargement of the OECD,” pointed out Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, on Thursday, 25 October, when meeting with László Kövér, Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, who is on an official visit to Latvia.

On Friday, 19 October, in the Riga English Grammar School, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, in her presentation on the Saeima’s work launched a new project of the Latvian parliament – the school programme “Meet the Saeima”.

On Friday, 19 October, during the discussion on topical issues of the EU agenda, members of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima and Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development, agreed that the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework should be oriented towards growth by ensuring smart investments in education and research, and involvement of national parliaments in the decision-making process of the EU should be enhanced.

On 17 October a year ago, the 11th Saeima, which was elected in extraordinary general election, convened for its first plenary sitting.

“Knowledge attained through a high-quality education process is a key that opens ever new doors; it is a treasure that no one can take away from us. Educated people pave the way to Latvia’s success,” pointed out Solvita Ābotiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, when addressing the academic staff, students and alumni of the Riga Technical University (RTU) at the ceremonial sitting in honour of the university’s 150th anniversary.

The European Affairs Committee of the Saeima and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have made public the summary of Latvia’s position on strengthening the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The position was adopted on 28 September, and while discussing the report “Towards a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union” by Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, members of the committee, along with representatives of non-governmental organisations and experts, suggested making the position publicly available.