On Friday, 9 March, members of the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania met in Ventspils for a parliamentary seminar of the Baltic Assembly (BA) to discuss the creation of a single cooperation platform of the Baltic States for developing research, technologies and innovations.
Press releases
Saeima conceptually supports amendments to EU treaty (09.03.2012.)
On Thursday, 8 March, the Saeima supported in the first reading the draft law whereby Latvia is to ratify amendments to Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (EU), or the so-called Lisbon Treaty. The amendments establish the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) for the purpose of ensuring financial stability of the euro area.
Plans to support honest entrepreneurs (06.03.2012.)
On Thursday, 1 March, in the first reading, the Saeima adopted amendments to the Law on Taxes and Duties, which envisaged several kinds of relief and other advantages for entrepreneurs who conscientiously fulfil their responsibilities to the state.
Āboltiņa: Good political relations are a successful basis for deepening economic ties between Latvia and Japan (06.03.2012.)
On Tuesday, 6 March, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, during her official visit to Japan met with Yukio Edano, Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, and emphasised that active and close political cooperation between Latvia and Japan is a solid basis for bilateral economic collaboration which has great untapped potential.
Solvita Āboltiņa at the parliament of Japan: Distance between two countries need not impede successful cooperation (05.03.2012.)
On Monday, 5 March, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, during her official visit to Japan met with Kenji Hirata, President of the House of Councillors of the National Diet of Japan, and Takahiro Yokomichi, President of the House of Representatives of the National Diet of Japan, and emphasised that although Latvia and Japan are geographically distant countries, they have established very successful political dialogue, which is a good basis for joint projects in the sphere of culture and closer economic cooperation.
On Friday, 2 March, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, met with Vuk Jeremić, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. During the meeting, the Speaker pointed out that the previous day’s decision of the European Council to grant Serbia the status of an official candidate to the European Union (EU) was significant not only for the Balkans but for all of Europe.
A conference devoted to citizenship issues in Latvia – Latvian Citizenship in the 21st Century – will be held in Riga on 2 March and will gather high-level local and foreign experts on citizenship issues, as well as members of academia.
Saeima’s football team will play against a combined team of the Ukrainian and Polish Embassies (27.02.2012.)
On Wednesday, 29 February, the Saeima’s football team will have a friendship game against the combined team of the Ukrainian and Polish Embassies in Latvia.
On Friday, 24 February, when approving Latvia’s national position for negotiations on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014 – 2020, members of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima indicated that although the first – explanatory – phase of the EU’s new Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations has ended, Latvia will have to continue providing reasoned justification for its interests regarding Cohesion Policy funding and direct payments to farmers.
Presentation on adoption of laws in Latvia (23.02.2012.)
The Saeima has added a new item to its collection of informative materials aimed at increasing the accessibility of the parliament and giving everyone a chance to learn about various aspects of work of the Saeima. The Saeima website www.saeima.lv now offers a presentation about the adoption of laws. The presentation will also be sent to schools, encouraging them to use it as a teaching tool for explaining the work of the parliament.