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LATVIA in REVIEW October 11 – 17, 2011 Issue 41

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LATVIA in REVIEW October 11 – 17, 2011 Issue 41 LATVIA IN REVIEW October 11 – 17, 2011 Issue 41 CONTENTS Government Latvia’s New Parliament Fails to Elect Speaker at its First Meeting Members of New Latvian Parliament Sworn In Fate of Latvia’s Would-Be Ruling Coalition Uncertain as 6 MPs Withdraw From ZRP Bērziņš, EP Members Agree on Position in Defending Latvia’s Positions in EU President Bērziņš, Commissioner Piebalgs Discuss EU Financial Issues Dombrovskis and Ilves Agree on EU Budget Priorities Technical Mission of International Lenders Visits Latvia Bērziņš’s Further Approach in Nominating a Candidate to Become Prime Minister President Bērziņš Reinstates Constitutional Law Commission Economics Bank of Latvia: Current Account Surplus Again in August Bank of Latvia: Registered Unemployment in Latgale Close to Level in 2004 Bank of Latvia: A New Export Volume Record Foreign Affairs Bērziņš, EU Officials to Work Together on Issues Important for Latvia Bērziņš, EP Chairman Discuss Issues of Importance to Europe, Latvia Foreign Minister Expects Further Positive Steps in Process of EU Enlargement Kristovskis: Opening BEREC Office in Rīga is a Diplomatic Victory for Latvia Foreign Minister: Common Agricultural Policy is Outdated and Must Be Changed Kristovskis in Luxembourg: Cohesion Policy Must Be Growth Instrument for Latvia Kristovskis Stresses Necessity for Strategic View on EU Relations with Belarus, Ukraine Secretary of State Calls on Brazil to Open Embassy in Latvia President Bērziņš Accredits Lithuanian, Brazilian Ambassadors Society Latvian Opera Star Marina Rebeka to Debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera Latvian Conductor Wins 2011 Baltic Assembly Prize in Arts Six Latvian Poets Present their Works in the UK Articles of Interest Bloomberg: “Zatlers Party Calls for Pause in Latvian Government Negotiations” Bloomberg: “Latvia’s Dombrovskis to Return as Premier After Coalition Accord” Government Latvia’s New Parliament Fails to Elect Speaker at its First Meeting The new Latvian parliament failed to elect a speaker and members of the parliament presidium at its first meeting on Monday, October 17, and adjourned until Tuesday, the Baltic News Service reported. According to the Rīga-based newswire, the parliament will meet again at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, October 18, to attempt to elect the speaker and the presidium. BNS reported that, contrary to earlier promises, the new Latvian parliament on Monday failed to approve the country‟s ex-president, now the leader of the centrist Zatlers Reform Party (ZRP), Valdis Zatlers, as the parliament speaker. 1 The center-right Unity, the ZRP, the nationalist conservative National Alliance, and the six lawmakers who recently withdrew from the ZRP, previously said they had agreed to support election of Zatlers as the parliament speaker. However, BNS reported, Zatlers failed to receive a majority of votes in both rounds of voting therefore new candidates will have to be proposed. According to BNS, the only candidate nominated so far is Andrejs Klementjevs, who used to be the vice-speaker in the previous parliament. He was nominated as the speaker by his party, the leftist pro-Russia Harmony Center, which received the largest number of votes in the snap elections. Members of New Latvian Parliament Sworn In The new Latvian parliament was sworn in on Monday, October 17, as MPs pledged to perform their office duties as best as they can, the Baltic News Service reported. According to the Rīga-based newswire, after taking the oath of office the lawmakers also approved the parliamentarians' mandates. All 100 members had arrived for the first session of the new Latvian parliament, elected in snap elections on September 17, 2011. Each MP signed under the oath of office. BNS also reported that according to the official results of the snap elections, leftist pro-Russian Harmony Center has won 31 mandates in 100-member Latvia parliament; the newly-founded centrist Zatlers Reform Party (ZRP), 22 mandates; the center-right Unity bloc, 20 mandates; the nationalist conservative National Alliance, 14 mandates; and the center-right Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS), 13 mandates. According to BNS, the Harmony Center received 259,930 votes, or 28.362 percent in the snap elections; the ZRP got 190,856 votes, or 20.825 percent; the Unity received 172,563 votes, or 18.829 percent; the National Alliance received 127,708 votes, or 13.880 percent; and the ZZS received 111,957 votes, or 12.215 percent. A total of 13 political parties and blocs ran in the snap elections, BNS reported, but no other parties were able to cross the statutory 5-percent barrier in elections in Latvia. The September 17 early general elections had to be organized because the Latvian citizens in a referendum on July 23 supported the presidential initiative for dissolution of the current parliament. Fate of Latvia’s Would-Be Ruling Coalition Uncertain as 6 MPs Withdraw From ZRP The fate of Latvia‟s would-be ruling coalition has become uncertain as six lawmakers on October 16 announced their decision to withdraw from the centrist Zatlers Reform Party (ZRP), which means that the planned tripartite coalition would have only 50 votes in the 100-member parliament, the Baltic News Service reported. According to the Rīga-based newswire, six ZRP lawmakers – Klāvs Olšteins, Elīna Siliņa, Gunārs Rūsiņš, Jānis Upenieks, Viktors Valainis, and Jānis Junkurs – on Sunday released a statement saying they had decided to withdraw from the ZRP due to undemocratic decision- making within the party and lack of trust among the ZRP members. Olšteins told BNS that the group would nevertheless support the new government to be headed by Valdis Dombrovskis, a representative of the center-right Unity bloc, who is the prime minister in the outgoing Latvian government. “We guarantee support to Valdis Dombrovskis as the prime minister both in the process of formation of the government and during the government‟s term,” Olšteins was quoted as saying. Mārtiņš Panke, a spokesman for Dombrovskis, told BNS that Dombrovskis was meeting with representatives of the ZRP and the lawmakers, who have quit the ZRP, on Sunday to find out how this would affect the would-be ruling coalition that ZRP, Unity, and the nationalist conservative National Alliance agreed to form a week ago. BNS reported that such a coalition 2 would have 56 votes in the 100-member parliament, but after withdrawal of six lawmakers from the ZRP the would-be coalition is formally left with just 50 votes. “We need to understand how this will influence also the distribution of responsibilities in the new coalition,” Panke was quoted as saying. According to BNS, Dombrovskis wants to understand how the renegade lawmakers planned to support the new government, how it fitted with the model of the new coalition, and what were the terms for this support. BNS also reported that Latvian President Andris Bērziņš said previously that he could nominate outgoing Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis for his third term as the head of the Latvian government, provided that he managed to secure a majority of votes in the new Latvian parliament. Bērziņš, EP Members Agree on Position in Defending Latvia’s Positions in EU Meeting with Latvian members of the European Parliament on October 12, President Andris Bērziņš and the MPs exchanged views about Latvia‟s most important issues in the context of the next EU financing period, solutions to problems in the euro zone, as well as co-operation among the Baltic states on infrastructural and energy projects. All of Latvia‟s MEPs agreed that the EU‟s current proposal on direct agricultural payments is unacceptable and is based more on political than on economic thinking. They added that it is important for Latvia to present maximal demands in support of its position and to work with the other Baltic states to ensure that these demands are satisfied. In terms of the future of the Cohesion Fund, Latvia is threatened by a 20% cut in financing at a time when the total financing in the fund is to be increased by 8%. That is an obviously unfair solution, and all Latvian MEPs oppose it. They called on President Bērziņš to continue his active negotiations in Brussels and thanked him for what he has already achieved. The MEPs also said that the President‟s presence at negotiations in Brussels is very important, because it only serves to strengthen the views and positions which are presented by the MEPs. The MEPs also said that the cut in Structural Fund financing for Latvia is unjustified because the country has trimmed its budget deficit and fulfilled its international obligations while, at the same time, successfully absorbing EU funds. Latvia is by no means among those EU member states in which the tempo at which funding is absorbed is slowest. In discussing infrastructure and energy projects, the ones identified as the most important ones are the Rail Baltic 2 project and the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal. President Bērziņš said that in both cases the EU must present a clear position on co-financing, because otherwise Latvia would have no economic reason to decide on the country‟s participation in the projects. Bērziņš also feels, however, that these are essential projects for Latvia in terms of future perspectives, and so the implementation of the projects must be evaluated in a way that is politically responsible and economically objective. All of the participants in the discussion agreed that Latvia must satisfy the Maastricht criteria and do everything to prepare to join the euro zone as planned. At the same time, however, they also agreed that Latvia must monitor the development of the financial situation in the EU. The MEPs who took part in the meeting with the President were Ivars Godmanis, Sandra Kalniete, Krišjānis Kariņš, Aleksandrs Mirskis, Alfrēds Rubiks, Inese Vaidere, Tatjana Ždanoka, and Roberts Zīle.
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