President of Latvia congratulated Sanita Osipova on election and reminded that this post comes with great responsibility because ‘Constitutional Court is the most trusted judicial institution in Latvia’. Constitutional Court President Osipova expressed her gratitude for constant support and cooperation provided by current and previous presidents of Latvia. She also praised the input of the Chancery of the President of Latvia in organising Latvian constitution’s (Satversme) centenary celebrations in 2022.
One of the main topics discussed during the meeting was strengthening of the capacity of Cosntitutional Court, i.e. the need to create a special position or an institution responsible for precise enforcement of Constitutional Court judgements, and thus contribute to greater enforcement efficiency. President Levits expressed his support for the porposal of Sanita Osipova and suggested to include this question in the agenda of the next joint meeting between constitutional institutions (President, Saeima, Prime Minister, Constituional Court and Supreme Court).
President Levits praised Constitutional Court for its communication with the public, especially on what various rulings will imply.
President of the Constitutional Court raised the issue of the abuse of rights. An issue that should be adressed at the national level. Sanita Osipova pointed out that a country governed by the rule of law should not tolerate sitations when court resources are wasted, and thus public funding is spent inefficiently. President Levits has already mentioned in several of his publicē speeches that abuse of rights is one of the risks to rule of law. People should not be allowed to misuse their rights. ‘All legal actions must be conducted in good faith. There should be no malice there. Legal system shoud punish attempts to misappropriate justice,’ stressed Egils Levits.
President of Latvia and President of the Constitutional Court also talked about strengthening of Judicial Council and challenges in implementation of Sentence Execution Code. Sanita Osipova underlined that we need to drastically update the existing Sentence Execution Code and put greater emphasis on resocialisation. Current law fails to live up to the esence of European Convention on Human Rights.
Other topics of meeting included current benefit and tax system arrangements.
