Latvian Political Monitor

🗣 Jaunā Vienotība says it has never supported the admission of third-country nationals, but hey hey, fact check. #LatvijaLatviešiem #Migranti https://t.co/ql5IRtUuPI

Today I had a meeting with the President @edgarsrinkevics. The conversation was long, direct and – yes, at times uncomfortable, because we raised many painful questions for Latvian society, such as the sad overall quality of education and the restriction of distance learning, since it is not a solution if the main problem itself – the content and quality of education – is not addressed! I also pointed out that society is still being divided and incited, by splitting it into the “right” and “wrong” and according to the language it speaks, and this comes both from public statements by state officials and from public media, which still “sing only in the key of unity”. Interestingly, here the President expressed his position that Latvia's public media are supposedly free and independent! I completely disagree with him on this. I also emphasised my decision to reintroduce the micro-tax for the self-employed if necessary, because it cannot be that the President of the State is not interested in whether and how the self-employed can pay taxes in a way that still leaves them money to live on and support their families! Likewise, today we aired problems in the electoral system, problems in the regions, problems with long queues at doctors… Today it was important to say everything that a Latvian resident encounters and to offer my vision of how it could be solved. Thank you for the opportunity to be at the Castle today and to talk through all the painful issues, because every problem has a solution. There are no unsolvable questions if there is political will, an honest conversation with society and the courage to take responsibility, rather than pretending that problems do not exist.

With Jurģis about his two proposed development scenarios, which I called the procrastination and fatalistic scenarios. https://t.co/6ZCCPGfSUk

🇦🇪🇱🇻 During an introductory visit with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Arab Emirates to the Republic of Latvia, H.E. Noora Mohammed Abdulhamid Juma, we discussed bilateral relations between the countries and support for Ukraine. @UAE_EMBRiga https://t.co/V9qTZTEtLp

I congratulate all Latvian diplomats on Latvia's international recognition, or de iure day! 🇱🇻 On this day 105 years ago, the dream long cherished in the Latvian War of Independence and in diplomatic corridors of full recognition of Latvia as a subject of international law came true. Photo: Latvian delegation in Paris in 1921 after recognition de iure

🎤 Did @StankevicsA sing one of R. Pauls' composed songs? In this episode about: 🔹 The Saeima dress code; 🔹 Valainis's tweet to Musk; 🔹 Mieriņa's fiasco; 🔹 youth professions; 🔹 Švinka's resignation demand. 👉 Full episode on YouTube: @Latvijalatviešiem #LatvijaLatviešiem https://t.co/ctX97KqowV

“I can bring down the government, but it doesn’t help the country when there is political change,” Prime Minister Evika Siliņa explained in #Krustpunktā.

⚠️ABOUT DISTANCE LEARNING! Already this morning in the Saeima there will be a decisive vote on a draft law that would actually restrict parents' rights to choose distance learning for their children from grades 1 to 6! 👉🏽 Countless commissions, additional bureaucracy and most likely hundreds of unjustified refusals - that's what awaits if distance learning restrictions are adopted tomorrow! So, children with health problems, high-level athletes, families in regions or those temporarily abroad will now have to appear before commissions that will assess your child's need for distance education! We @LatvijaPirmaja will not support these restrictions and will vote AGAINST ❌ I urge colleagues from ZZS to still reconsider and not support the advancement of this draft law, thus not providing the coalition with enough votes! Leave distance learning alone! 📸 Saeima #tālmācība

Among friends and acquaintances, there are increasingly more Western Europeans who, having experienced social and physical threats from immigrants, have left their homeland to move to Latvia. Some of them are also connected to Latvia through family roots. However, the most important thing in what they say is positive observations on migration issues - namely, Latvia has so far not been a popular destination for third-country nationals, so one can feel safe here. However, “so far” is over and let us not deny that, for example, Riga’s face has changed somewhat. Seeing that Western European trends are reaching us with a slight time delay, the biggest concern is safeguarding our borders, deciding ourselves whom we will allow to come to us and whom not. That is one of the hallmarks of an independent state. Unfortunately, our gatekeepers from “Jaunā Vienotība”, who control foreign and internal affairs, are people independent of intellect, unable to object to or fail to comply with European Commission requirements, which is why the mandatory migrant quotas, as provided for by the Migration and Asylum Pact, also apply to us. Just yesterday in Doma Square, honouring the Barricades events, there stood a crane decorated with a poster with the text “THE LATVIAN PEOPLE MUST BE THE MASTERS IN THEIR OWN LAND, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!” If any of our representatives cannot utter these words, they are in the wrong place. Back then we could stand against tanks. Today we retreat before regulatory acts. It is like tearing down the Barricades. With our own hands. https://t.co/CaACzAWQvt

Edgar, you echoed my thoughts exactly 👌🏽 https://t.co/3U7s2jIVeh

@0cenzuras @LLatviesiem @eliina_balode That's so typical of Unity to lie, before the elections Kozlovskis will most likely say that he was the first to be against immigrants, but he forgot to say it because he was working all the time.

🌹🇱🇻 We remember and commemorate! Today is the 35th anniversary of the Barricades. 🔥 https://t.co/gEN9l5T11Z

The Barricades are the culmination of the people's struggle for a free and democratic state and a testament to the community that, at decisive moments, gives strength to safeguard the future. 35 years ago, being at the barricades was not a choice but a conscious necessity for freedom. With bare hands and firm conviction, people stood shoulder to shoulder because they felt — everyone must be present. Remembering the barricades, I wish us to protect what was once won and, through our actions, demonstrate responsibility for the country we live in. #Barikādēm35