President Levits expressed his support for the proposal to establish a separate, permanent sub-programme on Latvian history in the national research programme, for which annual funding would be allocated to the state budget. This historical research programme should cover all periods of Latvian history - the Middle Ages, modern times and modern history.
"Historical science is important for the constitutional identity of the Latvian state, for the democratic and national self-understanding of society and strategic communication," said E. Levits.
The participants of the conversation emphasized that the current principle of supporting only research teams' projects does not exploit the full potential of Latvian science. In parallel, individual grants should be funded to promote the development of young scientists, and research assistants should be available for individual research projects.
At the same time, the President of Latvia agreed that the application of evaluation criteria for the exact sciences to research projects in the social sciences and humanities should be abolished. These criteria are inappropriate for the social sciences and humanities and hinder the development of these sciences. Separate evaluation criteria should be developed for these sciences.
President Levits stressed: "The level of funding for historical sciences, and more broadly for the humanities and social sciences, is still woefully low. This is unacceptable, because it is these sciences that study and help to understand the essence of Latvia as a nation and democratic state".
The President believes that the country needs a consolidated science policy. According to E. Levits, the lack of such a policy hinders Latvia's long-term development. The science policy should be developed by the government and submitted to the Saeima and the public for discussion.
President Levits also stressed that the total funding for science and innovation is too low to significantly improve Latvia's competitiveness.
The President of Latvia noted that the development of science, without which the growth of Latvia is impossible, has been one of his priorities throughout his presidency. The government has finally decided to double the share of science and research in gross national product from 0.7% at present to 1.5% in four years. However, even after four years, it will only be half the European average. Therefore, in order to ensure Latvia's sustainable development, science funding must be increased significantly to reach the European average sometime at the end of this decade.
President Levits also pointed out that it was necessary to involve our scientists in the international community in an increasingly targeted manner, while strengthening the interest of foreign scientific experts in working in Latvia.
