On Friday, 12 November, the Saeima adopted in the second and final reading the Law on Construction of the External Land Border Infrastructure, developed to ensure swift and effective construction of infrastructure needed to protect the external land border.

According to the summary of the Draft Law, recent developments in international security, as well as the rapid increase in illegal border-crossings on the Latvian-Belarusian border have increased risks related to border protection and security. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure prompt construction of the infrastructure necessary to secure the external border.

The Law stipulates that all submissions and issues related to the construction of the external border infrastructure, as well as provision and implementation of the works thereof, shall be reviewed and decisions shall be made by state and local government institutions, as well as other institutions, in order of priority. The same principle shall apply to matters related to expropriation of immovable property required for the construction of the external border, as well as commissioning of the external border infrastructure structures.

The territory required for the construction of the external border infrastructure shall be determined by the State Border Guard in cooperation with the Provision State Agency. The construction of the infrastructure shall, in turn, be organised and ensured by the state-owned enterprise “Valsts nekustamie īpašumi” (State Real Estate).

As stated in the summary of the Draft Law, a committee for oversight of the construction of the external border infrastructure shall be established to quickly resolve all construction-related uncertainties without stalling the construction process and to provide oversight and joint coordination of the progress of the external border infrastructure. The committee will be chaired by the Minister for the Interior. Committee members will be comprised of representatives from institutions whose areas of expertise are related to the process of constructing the external border infrastructure.

Since the construction of the external border infrastructure should commence without delay, the Draft Law will enter into force on the day following its promulgation.

Saeima Press Service