“Thank you for your personal contribution in representing Latvia’s interests around the world! We here in Latvia genuinely appreciate the work you are doing,” Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Saeima, said on Monday, 1 July, when meeting with the honorary consuls of Latvia at the Saeima. 

Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima and Head of the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, is visiting Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, until 3 July, as rapporteur of the Council of Europe together with her Swiss colleague Pierre-Alain Fridez and will meet with the highest state officials, representatives of the parliament, the judiciary, and NGOs.

In a joint statement, members of the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly (BA) call for stepping up the cooperation between European countries and rapidly increasing investments to ensure the protection of the region from any military and hybrid threats.

On Thursday, 27 June, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, chaired a hearing on foreign influence regulation, good practices and European standards organised by the Monitoring and Legal Affairs Committee of the Assembly in Strasbourg.

“You belong to the family of democratic and united countries. The path is not easy, it is full of challenges, and we have made it in the past. It is not just a story about you, it is a story about all the democracies, our collective security, and Ukraine, which are currently fighting for our values. Fighting for peace across Europe,” said Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Saeima, on Wednesday 26 June, welcoming Alen Simonyan, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, to the Parliament.

European security is the most important topic today, therefore Latvia highly appreciates Spain's significant involvement in strengthening the security of the Baltic region, emphasised the Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa on Tuesday, June 25, welcoming His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain to the Saeima building. “This is a special event for our countries and is the highest testimony to the excellent relations and cooperation between Latvia and Spain at all levels,” said Speaker Mieriņa, congratulating His Majesty on the 10th anniversary of his accession to the Spanish throne.

Underscoring the need for the NATO Washington Summit to clearly demonstrate strong unity and commitment, with all Allies willing to shoulder their fair share of responsibility for collective security, on Thursday, 20 June, the Saeima adopted a statement calling on the parliaments of NATO member states to support Ukraine’s official application for NATO membership. In the statement, the Saeima urges the governments of NATO member states to support extending an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO at the summit to be held in Washington, D.C., in July this year.

On Thursday, 20 June, the Saeima adopted in the final reading the draft National Cyber Security Law in order to significantly strengthen cybersecurity in Latvia. It aims to improve cybersecurity in Latvia, as well as introduces stricter security requirements for state, local government institutions and enterprises. This law will also implement European Union (EU) requirements for a high common level network and information system security across the EU.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima will be chaired by Ināra Mūrniece, the Members of the Committee decided on Thursday, 20 June.