On Wednesday, 17 December, the Saeima adopted in the final reading the Law on the State Budget for 2015, the Law on Medium-Term Budget Framework for 2015-2017, one new budget-related law, as well as amendments to 18 other budget-related laws. 

On Thursday, 4 December, the Saeima supported a draft resolution on participation of soldiers from the Latvian National Armed Forces in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

On Thursday, 4 December, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, while meeting with the participants of the Conference of the Presidents of the European Parliament, emphasised that “Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union will take place at a time of significant institutional change within the European Union – for many of us this is a new beginning. Therefore, I am glad for the active dialogue among the newly elected officials in Latvia and officials at EU institutions.” At the Conference, the Latvian parliament was represented by representatives of parliamentary groups of political parties elected to the Saeima, as well as chairpersons of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima.

“This is a year of radical challenges; one can even say that this is the “moment of truth” for the Neighbourhood Policy of the European Union. It is a reality that cannot be ignored, and it must be the point of departure for any analysis of the state of play and future vision of the EU’s foreign policy,” said Lolita Čigāne, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee, on Tuesday, 2 December, at the LII COSAC held in Rome during the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

On Monday, 24 November, the Baltic Assembly, the Nordic Council, the Benelux Parliament, the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly and the Visegrad countries held parliamentary consultations at the Saeima. The main item on the agenda was security in Europe and Central Asia.

“The state can exist as along as its people want it to exist or, in other words, as long as the people have a strong desire for their own state. It is a nation’s political choice – to exist as a titular nation with its own language, culture and collective memory, and to desire its own nation state. With this strong desire we as a society that is united by belonging to Latvia have become stronger, more cohesive, more similar in our understanding of the events of our past, and we feel the ground more solid under our feet,” said Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, on Tuesday, 18 November, when addressing the participants of the ceremonial sitting held at the Saeima in honour of the 96th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia.