“Parliamentary democracy is complex—it requires the ability to coordinate a wide variety of views and opinions, as well as to listen and hear them. At the same time, it is also the best system of governance,” said Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on 5 April, the Job Shadow Day, in his address to the event participants at the Parliament.

On Wednesday, 5 April, the Saeima adopted in the third reading the State Defence Service Law and related amendments to other laws, introducing the State Defence Service. The first draft will commence their service on 1 July.

On Wednesday, 5 April, the Saeima supported in the second and final reading urgent amendments to the Immigration Law that provide for extending the term of residence permits and the term of examining residence permit applications for persons who have successfully passed the examination of the proficiency in the official language according to the requirements laid down in the law or who have attempted to pass the official language examination at least once before and are set to retake it.

On Wednesday, 5 April, members of the Saeima supported the government’s decision to declare the state of emergency in order to prevent the threats posed by the rapid spread of the spruce bark beetle and to protect the valuable spruce forest stands.

On Thursday, 30 March, the original Saeima Presidium chair from the interwar period was returned to the Parliament in a ceremonial event. Zbigņevs Stankevičs, Metropolitan Archbishop of Riga of the Roman Catholic Church, handed over the chair to Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima.

At the NATO Summit in Madrid, the Allies acknowledged Russia as the most significant and direct threat to the Alliance. Latvia and Romania are among the countries who are most directly affected by this threat. As like-minded countries, we must work together to implement the decisions of the Madrid Summit, strengthening the defence and deterrence capabilities of the eastern flank of NATO, underlined Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Monday, 20 March, at a meeting with Parliament and government officials in Bucharest, capital of Romania.

On Friday, 17 March, in preparation of Latvia’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the CoE, visited the Saeima and met with Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, and the leadership of the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

To prevent the foreign policy agenda and decisions of others from overtaking our everyday life, we—both Latvia at the national level and the European Union—must be active in shaping the foreign policy environment where we will live, underlined Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Friday, 17 March, at the opening of the conference “Baltic‑Nordic EU Conversations 2023: More United than Ever?” at the Latvian Parliament.

On Thursday, 17 March, the Saeima adopted in the third and final reading a new Law aimed at improving the accessibility of goods and services for persons with disabilities or functional limitations.

“The path of parliamentarism is not easy or simple—it requires the ability to acknowledge and reconcile different ideas and opinions, to listen to different representatives from different regions and interest groups. In parliamentary democracy, an effective democratic instrument is needed to enable smooth and constructive legislative process. There is a need for legislative traffic rules, known and respected by all. It ensures that the legislative process is clear, understandable to the public, and sufficiently smooth. The Saeima Rules of Procedure have turned out to be such an instrument,” said Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Thursday, 16 March, at the opening of the exhibition “100 Years of the Rules of Procedure of the Saeima” at the Parliament.