Honourable President of Latvia,
Honourable Prime Minister,
Honourable members of the Saeima,
Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today Latvia is celebrating 4 May. It is a day of spring, hope and self-determination for our nation. Twenty-one years ago thoughts that were cherished in our people’s minds during 50 years of occupation were said out loud. Members of the Supreme Council adopted a declaration that finally called the crimes of the past by their true name and declared Latvia’s conviction of its right to be truly independent. It was a momentous and irreversible act that marked the end of one era and the beginning of a new one. It was a courageous and decisive act whose significance we should never forget.
Since that day a long and eventful time has passed. The world has changed significantly. Europe has become a strong and unified community of states. Latvia has become a member of the European Union and of NATO and thus has become involved in shaping a new and powerful framework of international security. Latvia has also become a member of the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and as such it has not only assumed certain obligations but also received invaluable support in hard times. During this time, Latvia has been learning to forge its destiny on its own, to choose for itself a model of good governance and social dialogue, and to foster the development of a more democratic, civic-minded and more prosperous society. As I said, Latvia has been learning because not everything turns out as planned. Everything is not always as ideal as could be desired by perfectionist Latvians. Nevertheless, what we have has been carved with our own hands, and we should not underestimate this privilege.
4 May is a day of self-determination for the Latvian nation. It is a day on which twenty-one years ago we acknowledged ourselves as a state. It is a day that clearly attests to the power of faith, conviction and shared hope. A people that can agree on its vision about the future becomes a nation. And a nation forms a state.
The events of 4 May are part of our history that continues to influence not only the development of our state and our daily routine but also the ability of our nation to exist and develop, our ability to grow. The state is something more than the result of political processes; it is not the subject of international agreements, conflicts, intrigues or conspiracies. The state is the body of a nation; it is the home for the spirit and culture of the people; it is a shelter for the values and language of our ancestors. We want to have a healthy body – we want to have a healthy and strong state. Even the ancient Greeks knew that a healthy body needs a healthy spirit. And now in Latvia we have to remember the spirit and collective confidence that were present when the crucial decisions of 4 May were made.
Our Latvia is a young state. If compared to our neighbours – older and more powerful states – we can still be regarded as youngsters. However, even during this short period of history, we have experienced changes in the very concept of Latvian statehood. In keeping with the spirit of the era, the idea of an independent Latvia has grown and developed concurrently with Western European concepts of nations and nation-states. An idea that inspired the Young Latvians and the founders of our state in 1918 was that “we, like the Germans and the French, have a right to our own independent state”. The dream of the prosperous years under the rule of President Ulmanis during the 1930’s stemmed from an idea that “we are masters of our own state, and we are responsible for its welfare”. We rose up against the Soviet empire, bearing in mind an idea that “we have to right the historic injustice, and we have to restore Latvia as a state”. The idea “barefoot but free” was expressed by our people sincerely without any irony or cynicism. An idea we call to mind even today is that “achieving the statehood of Latvia is the only way that the Latvian language, culture and people can survive”. And now, when we say “Latvia can!” we genuinely believe – even if only for a short while – that our small country can surprise others. Can surprise others by overcoming the severe economic crisis that hit Western countries two years ago.
What is Latvia to us now? What will it mean to us ten or fifty years from now? How should we raise our children and grandchildren so that they love this state and regard it as a necessary and important idea, not as a burden which they inherit along with their parents’ debts? What kind of idea of the state of Latvia can we offer to our young people who are going abroad to study or work and who often do not even consider returning home? What will the word home mean to them?
In today’s Europe, borders between countries are gradually fading away and offering an unprecedented degree of labour mobility and freedom of choice, especially for the youths who are still shaping their ideal future. Nowadays one’s home can be anywhere – anywhere where there is a job, friends, a pleasant environment, enjoyable culture, good weather conditions, etc. Can Latvia compete with Spain, Germany, Ireland or the Netherlands? Can we perceive Latvia as something more than one of many potential places of residence in Europe? This question is somewhat alarming. Can one really choose a homeland voluntarily? Our people have experienced several waves of emigration – forced deportations and fleeing our country as war refugees. In our collective memory, emigration goes hand in hand with tragedy and loss of our homeland. Nowadays the large number of job seekers who have left Latvia is often regarded as a great misfortune and a sign of our state’s incompetence and downfall. I do not share this sentiment, but it is clear that we are about to face a tragedy if we fail to define a new concept of Latvia in the near future, namely, an idea of Latvia as a country which prospers as an integral part of modern Europe, a country which strengthens and liberates the people’s spirit, a country which guarantees shelter and protection in difficult times. A country which gives inspiration for life, work and love.
Latvia’s future cannot be imagined without taking care of our children. It is our duty to ensure that children are born and raised to build a better Latvia. Treating the current situation as a merely demographic matter is not the answer. Setting demographic policy is a difficult and unrewarding endeavour because the invested resources and energy bear fruit only after several generations. Yet improving the birth rate in Latvia is also a matter of faith in our future. Children are not born because their parents are rich or poor; children are not born because of social benefits or because abortions are prohibited. Children are born when people believe that tomorrow will be better than today. And the best thing a state can do for its people is to embody the promise of a better tomorrow, thereby strengthening confidence in stable, predictable, understandable and convincing development.
Predictable development is something that entrepreneurs also expect from our state. The experience of many countries has shown that it is not high or low tax rates that attract investment and enable businesses to thrive. It is more important to guarantee a predictable, stable and simple tax policy. During the last two years, we have introduced several sudden and necessary changes in the area of taxes. Now it is time to confirm that there will be no more unpleasant surprises. We will not raise taxes but rather move towards a well-planned and carefully considered tax-reduction programme.
The government has to offer a long-term strategy with clearly set milestones that mark the most significant turning points in our economy. Joining the euro zone in 2014 is indisputably one of the main objectives, and the preparatory work should be perceived as a task that goes beyond the obligation to meet the Maastricht criteria. We must understand and be able to benefit from the introduction of the euro; we must explain the advantages of joining the euro zone, such as convenience, stability, economic security, reduced costs of refinancing loans and a new economic identity. All these factors may significantly contribute to Latvia’s economy while ensuring the security and prosperity of our people. It is our duty to take advantage of this opportunity.
Another equally pressing yet even more challenging task is strengthening the social welfare budget. We should probably consider changes in this area. In today’s environment, which is exposed to the risks of economic crises and turbulence, our state cannot afford to take risks with an unstable pension system. Also here we need to have a predictable transition from one system to another. Contributions to the social budget depend, to a large extent, on confidence that the state will be able to ensure decent and socially fair old-age pensions for those who are no longer capable of providing for themselves. At the same time, we should continue to encourage the development of private pension funds, thus enabling the employed to take care of their future on their own. This is a highly sensitive issue that has to be thoroughly discussed with society and actively addressed as soon as possible.
Dialogue with different groups of society and broader involvement in the decision-making process are important prerequisites if we want to promote loyalty and a higher degree of solidarity for the sake of our common goals. A state is not an inanimate mechanism that can be found, borrowed, inherited, operated or broken. A state is alive. It is alive as long as its nation has faith in the future. It is alive as long as it is built on a succession of generations and solidarity. It is alive as long as the word politics is perceived as a term that includes each and every member of our society and their willingness to participate in the decision-making process rather than a term that is associated with the shady affairs of some political figures.
What is a state? The answer is simple – it is the people. It is a future-oriented, united and civil society. On 4 May 1990, all three factors came together. We believed in our future; we stood united in spite of differences in age, nationality and conviction; we all became involved in the political arena, and we trusted our representatives. It all came together, and our state was created.
It is important to remember what we experienced that day. It is important to revive these memories and to keep them deep in our hearts as a timeless source of energy and strength that formed the very foundations of our state. We should do so for the sake of our children, our state, our Latvia.
God bless Latvia!