“We see, but we pretend not seeing that benches are half empty in many classrooms. We may not pretend not seeing that pupils’ performance in different schools in Latvia varies even for curriculum of a school year. It is criminal against children, their future opportunities, and the opportunities of the Latvia’s future,” stressed the President of Latvia.
Raimonds Vējonis invited the present to choose development and opportunities even if the choices were hard, complicated, and even painful.
At the same time, the President of Latvia pointed out that there are issues whose deciding was possible only in the joint local community ballot. It is precisely when the introduction of local government referendums would be a solution to demonstrate the willingness of local governments to listen and hear the views of the residents of their region or city more than once per four years.
“Motive of today’s congress is to reduce the normativism. My response to reducing normativism is a high-quality legislative process and good laws. There are too many, far too many laws, Cabinet regulations, and binding regulations. Local governments also have a great deal of work in the fight against bureaucracy. By reviewing and simplifying their binding rules, local governments could set an example for the Saeima and the Cabinet of Ministers in reducing administrative burden for businesses, and removing unjustified requirements to population,” stated Raimonds Vējonis.
The President of Latvia thanked the present for their contribution and called on continuing to work and make Latvia the best place in the world where adults could live and work and children would grow up.