On 7 February, President of Latvia Egils Levits met with Union of Greens and Farmers parliamentary group at the Riga Castle to discuss President’s and parliamentary group’s priorities and views on legislation.
Overall security of Latvia and Europe is high on President Levits’ agenda. ‘It is our political duty to defend the democratic values and strengthen our defence capacity. At a time when security in Europe has come under threat, we must continue to protect collective security and democratic values. If we want our NATO Allies to continue helping us develop our defence systems, we need to take care of our own defence capabilities and also safeguard democratic values of the Western world that we belong to,’ Egils Levits pointed out.
President of Latvia also mentioned one of his legislative initiatives – changes in party financing framework to enable political organisations strengthen their policy expertise in various areas. MPs explained how their political consortium organises internal in-depth discussions on various policies and how future leaders are trained.
Meeting also focused on regional development and community priorities. Both sides agreed that community-elected councils would be instrumental in promoting more democracy and local identity.
President Levits also emphasised the importance of promoting the status of Latvian language in various domains of everyday life. ‘We want a cohesive society where various groups communicate in official language. We must eliminate the language barrier that exists in our society,’ Egils Levits stressed.
MPs asked President about his views on presidential elections and systems created in other European countries. Egils Levits commented on the advantages and disadvantages of direct and indirect presidential elections, and various systems used in Europe. He also described the differences between European parliamentary election systems.
Members of Saeima urged President to support discussion about lower referendum threshold, i.e., the minimum number of voter signatures for initiating a plebiscite. President Levits agreed that these thresholds can be reviewed.
