“Today, the most valuable affirmation of our patriotism and love for our country, people, and state is to vigilantly safeguard parliamentary democracy, to protect the most sacred values—our freedom, independence and democracy,” said Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Thursday, 4 May, addressing participants of the ceremonial Saeima sitting on the occasion of the Day of Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia.

“At a time when the divide between democracies and authoritarian regimes is growing more and more apparent, as we witness increasingly severe attempts to disrupt the security, stability, and unity of democratic countries, inter-parliamentary cooperation is of crucial importance, especially concerning foreign affairs and security matters. Democratic countries must cooperate; it is the only way to prevail in this struggle—by giving a united and powerful response to the challenges and issues we are facing today,” underlined Rihards Kols, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, in London, the United Kingdom, during a conference on European security.

“21 years ago in Prague, Latvia received an invitation to join NATO, and now we are discussing the restoration of justice regarding Ukraine on the very same premises. Today more than ever we need the same courage and wisdom to eliminate the grey area of political ambivalence in Europe. Back then, we did not want to remain in the shadow or on the sidelines, and we do not want this to happen to any other nation. Russia’s neighbours in Europe cannot afford to stay neutral,” emphasised Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on Monday, 24 April, at the Conference of Speakers of European Union Parliaments in Prague, the Czech Republic.

“Without question, the main challenges at present are security, energy independence, neighbourhood policy, and EU enlargement,” said Andris Sprūds, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima, on Monday, 24 April, at the opening of the meeting of the chairs of the European affairs committees of the parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine.

On Friday, 21 April, Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima addressed the members of the 10th Youth Parliament saying: “Politics is a process that impacts society with the intention of improving its life. In this sense, politics is often all around us, because it starts with the small things in school, in our neighbourhood, non-governmental organisations, municipalities. It is starts with an open heart and a seeing mind, the ability to identify a problem, see the opportunity to do things better, find solutions and be committed to implementing them.”

On Monday, 24 April, the Saeima will host a meeting of the chairpersons of the European Affairs Committees of the parliaments of the Baltic States and Poland.

On Thursday, 20 April, the Saeima discussed the participation of troops of the National Armed Forces of Latvia in the United Nations international peacekeeping operation in Lebanon for the term specified in the resolution of the UN Security Council.

“Parliamentary democracy is complex—it requires the ability to coordinate a wide variety of views and opinions, as well as to listen and hear them. At the same time, it is also the best system of governance,” said Edvards Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima, on 5 April, the Job Shadow Day, in his address to the event participants at the Parliament.

On Wednesday, 5 April, the Saeima adopted in the third reading the State Defence Service Law and related amendments to other laws, introducing the State Defence Service. The first draft will commence their service on 1 July.

On Wednesday, 5 April, the Saeima supported in the second and final reading urgent amendments to the Immigration Law that provide for extending the term of residence permits and the term of examining residence permit applications for persons who have successfully passed the examination of the proficiency in the official language according to the requirements laid down in the law or who have attempted to pass the official language examination at least once before and are set to retake it.