On Friday, 22 February, an international conference on Experience with and Preparations for the Euro will be held at the Saeima in order to promote a discussion on introduction of the single European currency, the euro, in Latvia, to address possible challenges, as well as to learn about the experience of other EU member states in introducing the euro.

Young people between the ages of 15 and 20 are invited to apply for election to the 3rd convocation of the Youth Parliament. One hundred youths who have the most convincing ideas will gather at the Saeima at the end of April in order to jointly discuss issues of common interest. Participation and personal experience will give the youths clearer insight into the everyday work of the parliament and will help them to understand political processes in a parliamentary democracy.

On Job Shadow Day, Wednesday, 13 February, the Saeima hosted 248 shadows from all around Latvia who came to learn about the professional life of MPs and staff members of the Saeima. As in previous years, youths showed an active interest in the parliament, and the Saeima is traditionally one of the most popular hosts of shadows in the state.

On Friday, 8 February, at the meeting of the Economics, Energy and Innovation Committee of the Baltic Assembly (BA), while discussing ways to strengthen economic cooperation among the Baltic States, members of the BA and representatives from the business community agreed unanimously that the business environment can be improved and economic growth can be facilitated by harmonising the national legal frameworks, uniformly transposing EU directives, implementing stable common policies on taxation and industry and developing joint infrastructure projects in the Baltic States.

“The Law adopted today contains detailed legal provisions for introducing the euro in our country. Thus the Law answers many everyday questions important for each resident of Latvia and fosters the feeling of security in society,” Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, emphasised on Thursday, 31 January, at a press briefing on the adoption by the Saeima of the Law on the Procedure for Introducing the Euro.

On Thursday, 31 January, under the urgent procedure, the Saeima adopted in the final reading the Law on the Procedure for Introducing the Euro, which sets forth general principles for the introduction of the common currency of the European Union – the euro – in Latvia.

The interests of the member states of the European Union (EU) can only be effectively protected by a strong EU; therefore, all effort has to be aimed at strengthening the EU. This was emphasised by Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima, at the Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC), which took place this week in Dublin, the capital of Ireland.

“In shaping the foreign policy of our country, the parliament’s task is to become a strategic debate forum where political goals and challenges are evaluated and discussed with particular emphasis on Latvia’s national interests,” stressed Speaker Solvita Āboltiņa during the annual foreign policy debate held at the Saeima on Thursday, 24 January.

On Friday, 18 January, when opening the Annual Summit of the Baltic Assembly and the Nordic Council, Raimonds Vējonis, President of the Baltic Assembly, said: “The priorities of Latvia’s presidency of the Baltic Assembly for this year are, on the one hand, competitive and innovative development of the Baltic economies through implementing a joint Baltic policy on external economy and investment, and, on the other hand, European Union’s development cooperation”.