Security, sustainability and public engagement — three priority areas in foreign policy on European Union issues were highlighted in the annual foreign policy debate in the Parliament on Thursday, 26 January, by Andris Sprūds, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima.

Until 27 January, Strasbourg (France) is hosting the 2023 winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), featuring the first-ever participation of the 14th Saeima delegation to PACE.

“Back then, it seemed as though the entire Latvia were barricading. Physically here in Riga, across Latvia, and figuratively—in people’s hearts. A united, unbreakable wall of courage and determination. People came from all regions and cities to defend their freedom, not because it was officially organised by the authorities, but upon invitation of the Popular Front. Without hesitation or second thoughts,” said Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Friday, 20th January, lighting the commemorative bonfire on the Commemoration Day of Participants of the 1991 Barricades.

On Saturday, 14 January, continuing their visit to Ukraine, the Saeima delegation visited the northern Chernihiv region, which had been partially occupied by Russia at the outset of the invasion and whose infrastructure has received significant damage.

Continuing their visit to Ukraine, the delegation led by the Speaker of the Saeima, Edvards Smiltēns, met with the highest Ukrainian officials — President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

On Thursday, 12 January, the Saeima approved the compositions and leadership of the Latvian Parliament’s delegations to international organisations.

On Thursday, 12 January, in the second and final reading, the Saeima supported an urgent amendment to the Civil Protection and Disaster Management Law, requiring mobile operators to ensure that early warning notifications are sent to citizens at the same time.

Ten more buses donated by the Riga Municipality have arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine, and on Friday, 13 January, in the presence of a delegation led by Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, they were officially handed over to the Kyiv Municipality. The buses also brought to Kyiv around 50 tonnes of humanitarian aid donated by the people of Latvia.

“With your heroism, you have achieved the impossible — a real awakening! Both on the battlefields and by transmitting such a powerful push of courage and determination that it has reached every corner of the free world, touching the hearts of billions of people. It has cleared the mist of illusions and created an unprecedented rise of solidarity and cooperation, and urged our nations to remember and appreciate what matters most — our freedom, independence, and democracy," said Speaker of the Saeima, Edvards Smiltēns, on Thursday, 12 January, addressing Ukrainian parliamentarians of the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv.

On Thursday, December 22, a Christmas workshop was opened near the building of the Saeima, where everyone was invited to participate in sending jolly greetings to children in Ukraine.