Latvian Political Monitor

From@AlvisHermanis1

I look at those ratings where the most beloved Latvian parties are ranked. And they all (I repeat - ALL!) support bringing immigrants to Latvia. The Progressives even fan over border crossers and refugees sent by Russia. Kulbergs lobbies for Turība Rostovskis with Indian "students" and LDDK entrepreneurs with cheap Central Asian labor. Šlesers doesn't distinguish nationalities at all, everyone is fine to him, he has never understood the meaning of a national state. As for the others - JV, NA, ZZS, no questions at all - it is during their rule that tens of thousands have been brought to Latvia in recent years, and they are the ones who make sure that, in the Brussels style, this process is without any control. Conclusion - on October 3, Latvians have the last chance to say their word in this matter. Because the next chance for Latvians to influence anything will be in 4 years again. And then everything will be too late. Like in the Swedish elections 3 days ago. When the local opinion is no longer important. Purely mathematically. The only survival path for a small nation like ours - Japan's immigration model. The rest is suicide. MMN.

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From@RihardsKols

Von der Leyen began her #SOTEU speech with a Dickens quote - "those were the best of times, those were the worst of times". Beautiful reference. But during the hour-long speech, the political slogans never touched the context of the quote. Lots of visions and "architecture", little content - new council, new protocol, and almost no concrete proposals for legislative changes. And that is the same inability we see in Latvian politics. The inability to admit that priority cannot be everything. Decisions are difficult precisely because when choosing one, the other is left out. That is exactly what priorities mean, and they require the ability to say it to the public. A speech where priority is everything is not a priorities speech. On security, she said one almost correct sentence: "hybrid threats are becoming increasingly less hybrid and increasingly less threats." Almost correct because the ability to directly and unambiguously say what most of society acknowledges – we are being attacked – was missing. But that is secondary. So that is the diagnosis. And now we look at what the planned "treatment" is. A new "emergency security protocol" that will allow member states to convene a meeting. We can already convene meetings. We already know how to condemn. Condemnation has not yet stopped Russia. About the idea of a "European Article 4". We already have one, it's called NATO, and it works. Estonia activated it after Russian fighter jets entered, and allies responded. Creating a parallel EU version does not increase capabilities, it just creates another exercise that should be performed at a time when there is not really time for performative marches. If the goal is deterrence, then we must understand that we do not strengthen deterrence by creating double structures. The same for the European Security Council. The idea first appeared in the 1980s and has been written off multiple times since. If the answer to an explosive-equipped drone hovering somewhere over Kaunas is another discussion format to talk about it – perhaps there is a lack of understanding of what the problem is. I'll tell you – it is not a lack of discussion formats. We also really don't need another "Conference on the Future of Europe". To be fair, VDL also announced some sensible initiatives in her speech. The European Strategic Support Capabilities instrument, coordinated with NATO, is needed because strategic air transport and in-flight refueling are exactly the capabilities we lack and for which we rely on the Americans. The Freyja missile defense project with Ukraine is the right direction, because Ukraine today knows more about air defense than anyone else in Europe. Joint projects with Ukrainian companies from SAFE funds are a sensible way to use the remaining funds. And enforcement of existing sanctions and prevention of circumvention, rather than chasing a symbolic next package, is a pragmatic choice. Canada as an "associate member"? That also sounds good, and we should strengthen cooperation with Canada – it is a good and strong ally. But the EU founding treaties do not change by themselves. The announcement is one thing, but achieving it requires a real legal solution and/or treaty amendments. Unless what VDL is talking about is simply an expanded trade agreement with a nicer name. Before applauding, I would like to know what exactly it will be. Whether anything announced will be able to "escape" from the PowerPoint presentation, we can judge in a year. It would also have been good to hear about what was accomplished from what was promised last year. Migration is the place where this speech needed something concrete. There wasn't. "All our external borders are European borders" sounds nice, but what happened in Seuta would not have happened if our external borders were strong enough. The proposed answer – a new emergency response mechanism that allows more flexible deviations from asylum procedures when the situation is already out of control – is needed, but at least equally necessary are solutions that would prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. In summary – the diagnoses are mostly correct. The prescriptions are worse. And Europe's problem is long since not that we don't understand what is happening. The problem is that understanding does not result in action.

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From@tv24_lv

"Latvia cannot take a path through neutrality," @pucej, @attistibai pointed out in TV24's program "Pre-election debates. Fight for Latvia". 📍Fragment from the pre-election debate series "Pre-election debates. Fight for Latvia". Watch the full debate record: https://t.co/TvnMoJVuGF 📍All candidate lists registered for the 15th Saeima elections participate in TV24 pre-election debates. 📍The project "Pre-election debates. Fight for Latvia" is financed by the Media Support Fund from the Latvian state budget. The content of the program "Pre-election debates. Fight for Latvia" is the responsibility of AS "TV Latvija". #SIF_MAF2026

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