On Monday, 2 February, a press conference on the Eastern Partnership and situation in Ukraine will be held in the Saeima as a part of the Meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC (Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union).

On Monday, 2 February, the Saeima will host the Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC). This Meeting is one of six events organised by the Saeima in the framework of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In order to ensure that victims or witnesses feel safe and protected regardless of their location within the European Union, a common mechanism is to be introduced in all member states for the protection of victims against persons who pose a threat to them. The victim protection mechanism in Latvia will be introduced by amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law, which the Saeima adopted in the third reading on Thursday, 29 January.

On Thursday, 29 January, the Saeima in the third reading adopted a draft law that will enable Rēzekne Higher Education Institution (RHEI), in cooperation with its foreign counterparts, to develop a master’s study programme for border guards.  

On Tuesday, 27 January, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, participated in a memorial event in Poland to mark the 70th anniversary of liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she stated that the horrors of war are once again ravaging the borders of Europe.

Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, and Lolita Čigāne, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima, are urging the participants of the extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council scheduled for 29 January to strongly condemn the military expansion led and implemented by Russia in Eastern Ukraine, and to clearly state that Russia is the aggressor, not a neutral mediator, in the conflict Ukraine. 

On Thursday, 22 January, at the annual foreign policy debate held at the Saeima the focus was on the current security challenges faced by the European Union, as well as the opportunities provided to Latvia during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It is the fifth consecutive year that a debate is held on what has been accomplished and what is planned in the realm of foreign and EU policy. 

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.

Organisational and technical duties will be assigned to 19 volunteers who applied to assist in the hosting the parliamentary dimension events of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.