On Thursday, 31 October, the Saeima adopted in the final reading amendments to the Elections to the European Parliament Law, thus simplifying the voting procedure for soldiers and national guards serving on international missions.
Press releases
Kalniņa-Lukaševica at COSAC meeting: The EU has high expectations from Eastern Partnership Summit (30.10.2013.)
During the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Monday, 28 October, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima, emphasised that the European Union (EU) member states, including Latvia, have high expectations from the forthcoming Eastern Partnership Summit, and they hope it will be a turning point in the relations between the EU and its eastern neighbours.
“Although it is not an easy task to guess the legal beliefs and views of the people and to put them down in the form of legal provisions contained in the supreme law, the founding fathers of our Constitution managed to do that successfully. However, the drafters of the Constitution failed to agree upon an expanded and more detailed introduction – or the preamble as we now call it – to this law.” This was pointed out by Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, at the opening of the conference on Reflection of the Foundation of the Latvian State in the Expanded Preamble of the Constitution – Concept and Tentative Content held on 25 October in the University of Latvia.
Saeima delegation meets Armenian MPs in Erevan (23.10.2013.)
Latvia and Armenia have active parliamentary cooperation. This is confirmed by the fact that the parliaments of both countries have established groups for interparliamentary relations with the other country, by successful exchange of high-level visits, including the official visit of Hovik Abrahamyan, President of the National Assembly, in June of this year, as well as by study visits of Armenian MPs and parliamentary staff members to the Saeima. This was stated by Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, on Wednesday, 23 October, when she met with representatives of the Armenia–Latvia friendship group of the National Assembly of Armenia during her working visit to Armenia.
On Tuesday, 22 October, during their meeting in Erevan with Edward Nalbandian, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the members of the delegation of the Saeima noted that Latvia and Armenia have a sound and constructive political dialogue, as well as active cooperation in several areas; however, there is a great untapped cooperation potential in economics, culture and education.
Lībiņa-Egnere to President of Armenian parliament: Latvia is interested in furthering comprehensive relations with Armenia (22.10.2013.)
Cooperation between Latvia and Armenia has been developing dynamically, and Latvia is interested in shaping close and comprehensive relations between the two countries in politics and economy. This was stated by Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, when she met with Hovik Abrahamyan, President of the National Assembly of Armenia, during her working visit to Armenia.
On Friday, 18 October, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, signed the book of condolence at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Riga in memory of Wilfried Martens, former Prime Minister of Belgium.
“Uzbekistan is the most significant cooperation partner for Latvia in Central Asia, and our active political dialogue, as well as regular exchange of visits, attest to that,” said Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, on Thursday, 17 October, during her meeting with Islam Karimov, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Saeima extends Latvia’s military mission in Afghanistan (17.10.2013.)
On Thursday, 17 October, the Saeima decided to extend the service of soldiers from the Latvian National Armed Forces in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, 10 October, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, during her working visit to the United States of America, went to Philadelphia – the 5th largest U.S. city - where she met with Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia, and Alan Greenberger, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development for the City of Philadelphia.