Gallery
On Monday, 23 April, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee, participated in the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs held in Copenhagen, where she emphasised that growth of Latvia’s economy is directly linked to the ability of the Baltic region and the EU in general to form balanced national budgets. It is equally essential to assume joint ownership and funding of regional projects, especially transport and energy infrastructure projects, and to ensure equal competition for Latvian entrepreneurs, farmers and scientists in the common EU market.
The Chairperson highlighted that in drafting the new Multiannual Financial Framework, the EU must not renounce its principles of equality and solidarity. “The strength of the European Union lies in its unity and fundamental values such as equality and solidarity. Adhering to these principles is essential for the attainment of future growth and employment targets, as well as in defining the principles of the next Multiannual Financial Framework. These principles are the cornerstones of sustainable, inclusive and globally competitive growth of the EU,” said Kalniņa-Lukaševica in her address.
Latvia’s objective is to shape a stable, sustainable and development-based economy, and in order to attain this objective, we need to invest in human capital, knowledge, fundamental infrastructure and measures aimed at improving productivity, stressed Kalniņa-Lukaševica.
“In the light of the aforementioned investment needs in Latvia and the other Baltic States, the EU cohesion funds play an essential role because already in this programming period, the cohesion funds have helped our economy to recover, namely, to overcome the recession and even achieve 5.5% growth in the previous year. Recovery of economy in a member state serves the common interests of the EU,” stated Kalniņa-Lukaševica.
“We deeply care for overall development in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea region. This was clearly demonstrated by the joint position adopted by the parliaments of the three Baltic States and Poland, in which we emphasise, first, the strong interconnection between strict fiscal discipline, sustainable growth and economic development; second, the important role of investments under the cohesion policy in recovery of the EU economy while focusing on attaining the Europe 2020 goals and providing support to high value-added projects,” said the Chairperson.
On 23 – 24 April, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee, is participating in the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC) organised in Copenhagen. The agenda of the Conference focuses on such issues as facilitation of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe and development of a single market for services in the EU. José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, gave an overview of the 20 years of free movement of goods, people, services and capital.
Saeima Press Service