Press releases

Mūrniece at the ceremonial sitting of 18 November: The state can exist as long as its people want it to exist
“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.
Today, at the first meeting of the European Affairs Committee, its members elected Lolita Čigāne as the Chairperson of the Committee. 
Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš will chair the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima
Today, at the first meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, its members elected Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš as the Chairman of the Committee.
Saeima appoints Laimdota Sraujuma as the Prime Minister for a second term
On Wednesday, 5 November, during its extraordinary plenary sitting, the Saeima, with 61 votes for and 39 votes against, approved Laimdota Straujuma as the Prime Minister and gave a vote of confidence to her Cabinet of Ministers. 
Ināra Mūrniece elected as the Speaker of the Saeima
On Tuesday, 4 November, Ināra Mūrniece was elected as the Speaker of the 12th Saeima. 
Presidium of the 12th Saeima is elected
On Tuesday, 4 November, the new convocation of the Saeima elected its Presidium. 
Mandates of MPs of the 12th Saeima approved
On Tuesday, 4 November, during its first sitting, the new convocation of the Saeima approved the mandates for all 100 MPs. Sixty-nine of the new MPs have previous parliamentary experience, while 31 are first-time MPs. After each member gave a solemn oath of office, mandates were approved for 24 MPs elected from the Social Democratic Party Concord, of which there are three new MPs – Regīna Ločmele-Luņova, Jūlija Stepaņenko and Zenta Tretjaka. The remaining 21 MPs - namely, Valērijs Agešins, Jānis Ādamsons, Boriss Cilevičs, Sergejs Dolgopolovs, Andrejs Elksniņš, Marjana Ivanova-Jevsejeva, Andrejs Klementjevs, Ivans Klementjevs, Sergejs Mirskis, Vladimirs Nikonovs, Ņikita Ņikiforovs, Vitālijs Orlovs, Igors Pimenovs, Sergejs Potapkins, Ivans Ribakovs, Artūrs Rubiks, Raimonds Rubiks, Jānis Tutins, Jānis Urbanovičs, Ivars Zariņš and Mihails Zemļinskis - served in the previous convocation of the Saeima.
This year the Baltic Assembly Prize for the Arts has been awarded to Alvis Hermanis, director of the New Riga Theatre, for creative achievement in staging several plays, especially Oblomov. The award ceremony of the Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature, the Arts and Science, as well the Baltic Assembly medals for upholding the unity and cooperation of the Baltic States, took place during the 33rd Session of the Baltic Assembly on Thursday, 23 October in Tallinn, Estonia.
Speaker of the Saeima invites her Baltic counterparts to the inauguration of the Latvian Presidency
On Friday, 24 October, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, invited Eiki Nestor, Speaker of the Estonian Parliament, and Loreta Graužinienė, Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament, to Riga for the inauguration of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The invitation was extended during a meeting of speakers of the Baltic parliaments as part of the 33rd Session of the Baltic Assembly hosted in the capital of Estonia, Tallinn.
A secure and growing Baltic region defined as the main priority of the Baltic parliamentary cooperation in 2015
On Friday, 24 October, the Baltic Assembly during its 33rd Session defined the following main priorities for 2015: developing a growing, credible and secure Baltic region; sustainable and competitive society in the region; and development of regional networks.
Piektdien, 29.martā