Honourable Women Members of the Parliament,
Esteemed Members of the Parliament,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I
Walls of this Plenary Chamber are adorned with two plaques quoting the first two paragraphs of the Constitution (Satversme): ‘Latvia is an independent democratic republic’ and ‘The sovereign power of the State of Latvia is vested in the people of Latvia’.
These plaques remind us of the core principles of Satversme, what our country will always be and who will always hold the power over Latvia.
The very presence of these plaques in the Plenary Chamber of the Saeima carries a vital message. According to Satversme, Latvia is a parliamentary republic. Plenary Chamber is the main national policy and decision-making platform where our common future is decided.
II
Like most European countries, Latvia is a classic parliamentary democracy. One of the concepts of Satversme is that the political power is focused at the Saeima, parliament elected by the people. Saeima is the only branch of government whose democratic legitimacy comes directly from the people, the population.
Parliamentary democracy, which has been Latvia’s preferred and traditional system of government ever since the proclamation, is our historic bond with the European culture and Western legal tradition. Here, in Europe, we do not believe in iron-fist or single-leader rule where one ruler would decide the fate of the rest.
Our republic is the common concern, common responsibility and common product of the whole nation. That is why every citizen has the right, and might I say, the obligation to participate and engage in the governing of this country. That is why we, Latvians, follow the rules of professional courtesy whereby everyone is free to share their vision, their ideas on preferred development scenarios, free to seek support among like-minded and find consensus.
Parliamentary system symbolises and embodies the shared and collective responsibility for the state.
III
Based on mandate given by the Satversme to the parliament, many political science experts rank Saeima among the strongest parliaments of the world. Saeima holds a very broad mandate to determine the national political agenda and coordinate the constitutional system.
However, the question of whether the actual influence and powers of the Saeima in the given constitutional context are as wide as Satversme suggests, remains unanswered.
European democracies have been faced with what we could call a ‘parliamentary marginalization’ for a while now. Parliamentary influence over constitutional system is diminishing, and, most importantly, parliaments are losing their role as the core of national political processes. It is a challenge faced by not only Latvia, but also other parliamentary democracies. These trends have been evolving over the past two or three decades, raising concerns among many other countries.
IV
Let me now focus on the following three general trends affecting the European parliamentary democracies. These trends also pose a challenge to our constitutional system and Saeima in particular.
First of all, let us take a closer look at the relationship between a parliament and a government. Political power and legislative initiatives today mostly belong to the governments and not the parliaments.
The reason for that is the growing complexity of legislation and the increasing need to have specific expertise.
Since expertise is mostly compiled by governments, MPs are often forced to rely on the expert reasoning provided by the government bodies proposing legislation. Government position overshadows a parliament’s opinion, and it adopts the government vision.
Secondly, growing influence of traditional media, and especially social media, makes it increasingly difficult for politicians, especially the MPs, to focus political agenda on issues of their concern. Issues they would like to expose based on their understanding of what the whole society expects. In the age of fake news and scandals, political processes, especially parliamentary processes, often get derailed due to the rush to deliver ‘quick fixes’.
Open public debate between various groups of society on particular issues is and will, undoubtedly, remain a building block of democratic process. However, politicians must be able to emphasise and maintain focus on conceptual issues, which are instrumental to sustainability, in the whole wide-ranging list of debatable topics. Parliaments have to be able to see beyond scoops and ‘quick fixes’, distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant, real and insignificant problems, reality and manipulation. And that, as we all know, is not an easy task, which is becoming ever more difficult.
Thirdly, membership in the EU is another factor influencing the legislative independence of national parliaments. National legislation is increasingly intertwined with EU laws. Around 80% of national economic legislation and 50% of the whole legislation is affected by EU laws in one way or another. However, this also allows the national parliaments to prioritise their activities, especially in the field of welfare, education, health, culture, tax and other sectors that are not regulated by the EU.
V
Today’s parliamentary democracies need to be strong, capable of responding to current challenges and demonstrating their effectiveness and efficiency. Therefore, I urge you to support and accelerate initiatives for strengthening the role of the Saeima and better law-making.
VI
Today’s parliaments and all parliamentarians need the support of highly qualified research, analytics and legal staff. Without such support, Saeima will find it increasingly difficult to evaluate government expertise and communicate with it on equal footing, engage in deciding of strategic issues. Saeima must be able to formulate its own, equally valuable and informed position.
VII
I am looking forward to building a very close, professional and respectful cooperation with the Saeima, based on shared objectives.
In one of its judgements regarding the separation of powers, Constitutional Court has established a secondary constitutional instrument – inter-institutional loyalty, which regulates the cooperation between the Saeima and the President.
Constitution gives President the right to articulate issues of national importance in the political agenda and invite stakeholders to address these issues to define appropriate response.
I would like to use this instrument to raise a number of issues, which need to be solved to enable Latvia to advance its plans of becoming a modern, sustainable North-European country and a developed democracy governed by the rule of law.
VIII
As I address you at the opening sitting of the autumn session for the first time, hoping this would become a tradition from now on, I would like to focus your attention on several aspects requiring conceptual and rather immediate solutions.
So that less than a year from now, at the closing of the spring session we could all say that these concerns have been resolved, I expect these issues to be included in the Saeima agenda and properly discussed.
IX
Firstly, this is a decisive moment for the media landscape. We must improve it and make a shift towards better media governance and financing models that meet the democratic and efficiency standards. There should be no hesitation.
A well-functioning media sector is the constitutional duty assigned by Satversme to the Saeima and the government. May I add that this is not only a matter of democracy, but also a matter of our national security. Latvia’s democracy depends on strong information environment. I am convinced that the Saeima and the government should prioritise it.
To ensure that public broadcasting organisations are managed in a transparent manner and in line with principles of good governance, we need to draft a new, dedicated Public Broadcasting Law.
This law must clearly specify mechanisms for boosting the quality of public media, their accountability, and guaranteeing sustainable funding irrespective of national political processes.
Law should also facilitate meaningful public input in defining of the public service remit.
And, more specifically, to ensure that public broadcasters are able to keep offering current range of services, public media need to be compensated for exiting the advertising market.
X
Secondly, we need to implement improvements supporting active and innovative political parties. Public funding of political parties must be increased to reduce the dependence of political parties on private donors and their interests. Insufficient party subsidies and strong dependence on private donors turns out to be very costly for Latvia and its taxpayers.
Action Plan adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers foresees alignment of party subsidies with the average Baltic level through respective amendments in the law. These grants are currently way below the Baltic average, almost ten times less than in the neighbouring countries. Compared against the size of the budget, these subsidies form a fraction of the budget and should be allocated from the current budget.
I believe that by bringing public funding of political parties to Estonian and Lithuanian level we will promote further development of democratic systems in Latvia. Better party-subsidy framework, stronger party accountability to its donors, the taxpayers, along with reduced private donations and likelihood of private donors influencing parties, will boost public trust and support to political parties.
Political parties are essential institutions of democracy. The essential! There would be no democracy without political parties. Anyone who wants to be politically active and shape the discussion on the future of Latvia should become active politicians and active party members. We are even happier about youngsters who want to be politically active.
Political parties play a specific legitimate role in the society.
XI
Thirdly, Saeima and the government must come together and find ways to enhance the development of education and science. We need an excellent and progressive higher education, which would enable research, innovation and growth.
We all know what needs to be done – we need to upgrade the academic excellence, improve international competitiveness of Latvian universities, professors and graduates. We need to support more active participation of Latvian researchers in the international and European level projects, as well as fundamental research projects. Education, science and innovation are the pillars of our economy.
We must put in place legislation which would promote governance and funding of universities and research centres, as well as linkages between education and research. We must also promote human and social sciences. These disciplines replenish the intellectual capital of our nation.
XII
Fourthly, we need an integrated approach to fighting financial crime.
Recently negotiated and approved government proposal on tackling financial crime is a welcome step in the right direction. Now Saeima needs to make sure the new framework is passed as quickly as possible.
To ensure that procedural rules cannot be abused to delay the trial and the proceedings, Saeima should also address the need to improve procedural laws. Solutions have already been identified and need to be integrated into respective laws.
Government and the Saeima should also actively explore the possibilities of ensuring sufficient law enforcement resources and effective investigation system.
XIII
And, fifthly, as I already said, we need to support and strengthen the legislative process of the Saeima to give our inhabitants legislation that matches contemporary standards and promotes the sustainability of Latvia.
For this purpose, it is worthwhile considering an establishment of an independent National Council. National Council would bring modern approaches and new level of expertise to the legislative process.
National Council would support the government and the Saeima in the drafting of laws for adoption. It would help avoid anti-constitutional provisions and offer input on sustainable development. This body must be fully independent, like Constitutional Court. Council would give its recommendations, but the political responsibility would still be on the Saeima. Advice of the National Council would, undoubtedly, make the legislative process more rational and provide for better laws, thus benefitting the entire society.
To encourage discussion on establishment of National Council, we are ready to collaborate on joint conferences, which would take place in the nearest future and focus on the structure and functions of such body.
XIV
In my today’s address I mentioned only some key and urgent issues that need to be actively addressed by the Saeima in my opinion.
Saeima is faced with enormous challenges like regional reform, education reform, health reform, demographics, all of which have to be integrated into the political agenda. There is also the diaspora and re-emigration policy, and many other strategic challenges people expect the Saeima will sort out. You know your to-do list of big and small tasks you need to tackle in the course of the autumn parliamentary session.
XIV
Dear members of the Saeima,
Timely adoption of the national budget would be a good start to this session. To avoid delays in budget negotiations and adoption, the ruling coalition will have to agree on balanced solutions. I would like to see this happen before the Independence Proclamation Day. Process of finding common solutions aligned with public interests will be a test of political maturity and culture of the political parties.
You will have to put in long hours of hard work. May our joint efforts yield great results for Latvia!
Thank you!
