Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, Chair of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), chaired the meeting of the Committee in Paris. The participants discussed issues related to the functioning of democratic processes in Moldova, as well as elsewhere, including Hungary, Georgia, and Turkey.

If necessary, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland will be able to use Inčukalns underground gas storage facility to store their national strategic reserves. This is determined by the amendments to the Energy Law approved by the Saeima on Thursday, 12 September, in the second and final reading. 

According to the urgent amendments to the Road Traffic Law approved by the Saeima in the second and final reading on Thursday, 12 September, a vehicle registered in Belarus will have to be moved outside the country or registered in Latvia, in order to ensure the enforcement of sanctions imposed by the European Union. 

On Monday, 9 September, in the French capital, Paris, the Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, presented a draft report on the threats posed by foreign interference to the democratic order and security in Europe at a meeting of the Political Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Jānis Sārts, Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, and David Agranovich, Director of the META Global Threat Disruption, were invited as experts to the meeting. The work on the report started last year, but it is precisely at this point that the issues it deals with are particularly topical. 

Celebrating important anniversaries for Latvia – 35 years since the Baltic Way and 20 years since the accession to the European Union and NATO – the main building of the Saeima invites everyone to apply for a visit to the Open Door Day. It will take place on 27 September from 10:00 to 18:00, and applications for the event are accepted by 24 September. 

For the foreseeable future, security will remain our priority. Keeping in mind the long-term threats posed by Russia, we must promote stronger and closer cooperation. Together, we should not only work on military issues, but also fight against disinformation, information manipulation, and interference in democratic processes, emphasised Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Saeima, on Tuesday, 3 September, at the meeting with Bajram Begaj, President of the Republic of Albania, at the Latvian Parliament.

On Tuesday, 13 August, the newly elected judge of the European Court of Human Rights Artūrs Kučs, the President of the Constitutional Court Aldis Laviņš, as well as former judges of the European Court of Human Rights from Latvia Mārtiņš Mits, the judge of the Constitutional Court, and Ineta Ziemele, the judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union, visited the Parliament and discussed human rights issues with the Deputy Speaker of the Saeima Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica and MPs. 

“Love brings us together. It is a force that helps overcome the most difficult of times. You have endured harrowing experiences, and our hearts are with you. Children and hardships are never just someone else’s responsibility. We stand together to reaffirm our unity and willingness to support one another,” said Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Saeima, on Thursday, 25 July, welcoming Ukrainian children at the Latvian Parliament. The children are participating in summer camps in Latvia to recover from the horrors of war witnessed in their home regions near the front lines.

It is allied resolve and unity against Russia’s aggression that we expect from the Washington Summit, stated Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Saeima, in Washington, D.C., in her address to the speakers of the parliaments of NATO member states. On the eve of the NATO Summit, the parliament speakers of the Alliance’s member states met in the capital of the U.S. to take a stand on Transatlantic security issues and discuss support for Ukraine.

“Our duty as part of the democratic Western civilisation is to regularly and constantly remind ourselves and others about those pages in history, from which we have the most to learn, to never again allow evil to return,” said Edvards Smiltēns, Secretary of the Saeima, on Thursday, 4 July, at the flower laying ceremony dedicated to the Commemoration Day of the Victims of the Genocide against Jews in Latvia.