On 19 October, President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with the Minister of Culture Agnese Logina at Riga Castle to discuss the priorities of the Minister of Culture, in particular the current situation with the development of the Latvian Media Policy Guidelines for 2023-2027 and support for Latvian regional and local media.
President Rinkēvičs expressed his conviction that in the context of growing disinformation and hybrid warfare, it is necessary to provide the inhabitants of Latvian regions with immediate and qualitative coverage and in-depth analysis of political, economic and cultural events of societal importance. "Taking into account the specific nature of regional media, especially in the border regions of the country, it is necessary to find an effective mechanism to ensure long-term financial support for Latvian regional and local media," E. Rinkēvičs stressed at the meeting.
During the meeting, the President of Latvia listened to the opinion of the Minister of Culture on the commitment included in the National Security Concept to create content in public media only in Latvian and in languages belonging to the European cultural sphere from 1 January 2026.
The parties also discussed the idea of merging public service media. The President of Latvia raised the issue of how the editorial independence of the public service media will be ensured after the merger and what will be the practical mechanism for monitoring the editorial independence of the merged media.
During the meeting, President Rinkēvičs drew the attention of the Minister of Culture to the fact that Liepāja, as the European Capital of Culture for 2027, has not been allocated state funding for 2024, which will significantly delay the launch of the European Capital of Culture programme. For example, the lack of funding in 2024 will significantly hinder the launch of national and international project tenders, the establishment of a youth and volunteer programme. At present, it is not possible to provide Liepāja State city, South Kurzeme and Kuldīga municipalities with the necessary funding for 2024 for the implementation of the European Capital of Culture 2027 programme in full from local government budgets alone.
