Honourable Mr Bordāns, Esteemed Madam Muižniece, Honourable Mr Laviņš, ladies and gentlemen, dear viewers,
I
In these day and hours, we all hold our breath for Ukraine and its people’s brave opposition to Russian aggression.
By attacking another independent and democratic state, Russia has cynically and brutally violated international and constitutional law.
Russia has given a clear signal to the world and Europe. It has resigned from being a civilised state. It wants to drag us back into the past. A place where superpowers rule by ambition and force. A world ruled by sphere of interest, not rule of law.
Current events in Ukraine will determine our future in the 21st century and the future of Europe in the decades to come.
Can we join forces to make international order and peace stronger, or will we be devoured by dark past? Right now, at this very hour, Ukraine is fighting for its statehood. Ukraine is fighting for Europe. Ukraine is fighting for Latvia. Ukraine is fighting for the whole free world.
We want and choose to live in a peaceful world where justice prevails. A world reliant on rules-based international order.
II
Russian aggression against Ukraine has made a lot of things clearer, revealing previously unknown depths. And it has affected our Satversme and its centenary.
As we celebrate the centenary of Satversme, we have become increasingly more aware of how precious our state is. We have our own legal system. We are a free and democratic society that values and respects the rights of each individual.
We celebrate democracy and rule of law. We have free elections – anyone is free to choose their preferences and make their choice about the kind of parliament and government we want. And we can change it all at the next election round.
We celebrate being a part of the European culture and legal area. In the broadest sense possible, we celebrate our place in the Western world and Western philosophy, which forms the core of rights and provisions inscribed in Satversme.
We celebrate today the reassuring primacy of our political system over the likes of dictatorship, autocracy and totalitarian rule. We are safe in a knowledge that future generations of Latvians will live in democracy.
And it is our duty today to pass the basic knowledge about fundamental pillars of our state to our children and youth. Each new generation must grow into this system and into our constitution, Satversme.
Our European identity grows as we learn to understand the values of Satversme, and how they can be strengthened, and continue to build the democratic system in Latvia based on the rule of law. This is how we contribute to more democratic and free Europe as a union.
III
Unlike most European constitutions, as I have said a number of times, our Satversme has awarded special powers to our voters, or the entirety of Latvians. Our people are the equivalent of a public body. It is a huge public body that includes every man and woman, all citizens of Latvia aged 18 or above. It is a public body that consists of one and a half million people. That means that each citizen is in a way a public official who is responsible for this state and the laws that it adopts, and standards by which we live.
One and a half million people sharing the responsibility for this state. As a democracy, we exercise freedom of speech and other civil liberties to contribute to public discourse and sometimes even more than active debate on the standards by which we want to live. That is how Satversme works. That is how it drives our everyday life.
We must understand our constitutional values to be able to use our rights as citizen. Let me even go further - to put our civic powers to good use in a way a citizen who is aware of his or her rights and acts according to citizens’ code would do. We must begin to soak up these values at school and then, of course, continue to learn about them when we finish it. We might not notice this in our daily life, but we follow by the laws of Satversme every day. It applies to all our actions, even a little post on social media. This is how rights and freedoms safeguarded by Satversme work.
IV
Similar campaigns and workshops are vital for Satversme. I am grateful to Justice Minister Bordāns and Minister for Education and Science, Madam Muižniece, and the whole Constitutional Court and its President, Mr Laviņš, for putting together school campaign ‘Me, You and Satversme’.
I have also agreed to help the project by going to different regional schools around Latvia and meet with children who are interested in discussing what Satversme means for us, how it works and how we can make it more effective.
Good luck with your campaign!
