Together with other countries in the region, Latvia has understood at an early stage that the need for security is a priority. This reveals Latvia and the Baltic region as a sensitive international seismograph which detects regional geopolitical challenges, notices potential eruptions before others are aware of them and calls for measures to deal with them. This was emphasised by Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, on Thursday, 22 January, in her address at the annual Foreign Policy Debate in the Saeima. The Speaker of the Saeima described 2014 as a turning point when the Baltics, whose previous concerns had gone unnoticed by the rest of Europe, became the initiator of reinforcing security.

“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.

On Tuesday, 4 November, Ināra Mūrniece was elected as the Speaker of the 12th Saeima.