On 7 February, President of Latvia Egils Levits met with Inga Goldberga, Chair of the Saeima Public Administration and Local Government Committee, at the Riga Castle to discuss the progress of the Committee towards new law on local governments and implementation of ‘state ministers initiative’.
According to President Levits, local governments are the cornerstone of the Latvian public administration and governance. Changes in the Law on Local Governments are therefore instrumental in building more democratic and modern state of Latvia. Egils Levits is confident that the proposed bill will put in place necessary preconditions for efficient and democratic representation. New law must ensure that local parish communities and town can choose their representatives in locally elected councils. ‘This is not about ideologies. This is about all democratically thinking citizen. We must also give these community councils power to decide specific local matters,’ Egils Levits said.
As regards to ‘state ministers initiative’ proposed by President Levits, according to President, Latvia is currently missing effective policy management in a number of areas that are jointly governed by a several various government departments. ‘This holds back our national development. Our people are unable to benefit from government’s strategic management of horizontal policies,’ President underlined.