H. E. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, and his spouse Ms Elke Büdenbender arrived in Latvia for a working visit on 15 February. President of Latvia Egils Levits congratulated his German counterpart on the re-election for the second term. According to President Levits, re-election will benefit further deepening of friendship between Latvia and Germany.
President Levits also thanked Federal President Steinmeier for accepting invitation and aligning his working visit to Latvia with events celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, Satversme. H. E. Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier will give a keynote speech ‘For Democracy and Freedom in Europe – Lessons from our Common Constitutional Tradition’ at the international academic conference ‘100 years of the Satversme’ held tomorrow, 16 February, to mark the centenary of the Latvian constitution.
After the meeting with Federal President Steinmeier, President Levits gave a statement to the media. ‘President Steinmeier’s visit comes at a turbulent time when international situation in Europe is very tense. President Steinmeier and I discussed the crisis in Ukraine caused by Russia’s aggressive behaviour. I reiterated Latvia’s position – Russia’s aggressive behaviour is unacceptable. Stopping of this aggression from escalating further largely hinges upon the unity of the West. West must speak one voice and muster a strong response, so that Moscow clearly sees that losses and risks from further aggression will significantly outweigh the gains. Mr Steinmeier and I agreed that the West, NATO and European Union remain united. To prevent Russia’s aggression from escalating, many painful economic sanctions are being considered. All restrictive measures are on the table, no measure is left out, but the actual content of sanctions will depend on further actions and behaviour of Russia towards Ukraine,’ President Levits said.
According to Egils Levits, Latvia and Germany are bound by shared understanding of the European values and ways of strengthening the European pillar of NATO. ‘Future development of NATO and future security in Europe requires us to act. It is a strategic priority, and Latvia is meeting its commitments by spending 2.3% of its GDP on defence already now. Other countries are, of course, stepping up and must continue to increase their defence spending,’ President Levits underlined.
As regards to security, President of Latvia thanked his German counterpart for Germany’s significant contribution to Baltic security. ‘Canada is the framework nation of NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) battle group Latvia, which is comprised of 10 nations. Germany plays a similar role of framework nation in Lithuania, thus contributing to the security of the whole Baltic region,’ President Levits stressed.
Heads of both states also discussed bilateral relations between Latvia and Germany, especially in the heritage area. One of the issues discussed by presidents was future of Riga St Peter’ s Church. Tomorrow, on 16 February – the second day of the visit – presidents of Latvia and Germany will visit Riga Wagner Hall, a joint project between Latvia and Germany, which foresees the reconstruction of famous venue. They will also visit the construction site of Rail Baltica – another flagship railway infrastructure project for the Baltics and the whole Europe.