In her keynote address on Wednesday, 4 February, to participants of the conference on economic and financial governance organised jointly by the Saeima and European Parliament (EP) in Brussels, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, stressed that the overarching goal of the European Union’s economic policy is the welfare of every member of society. 

The EU needs a clear vision for the future, Speaker Mūrniece said in her address to the members of national parliaments of EU member states and the EP. In order to support growth and employment and provide an impetus for further development, Europe needs a plan to stimulate public and private investment. The Speaker of the Saeima declared that consolidating the budget and attracting investments must go hand in hand while maintaining a delicate balance among fiscal, structural and monetary measures.

“Europe’s single currency and stability of public finances are just as important as social fairness in implementing the necessary structural reforms. A hallmark of Europe should be adherence to the principles of a social market economy so that the most vulnerable members of society are not neglected. We live in a world with many unemployed people, many of them young, who feel side-lined. In this regard, Latvia considers the social dimension to be an essential element in economic governance and coordination,” said Ināra Mūrniece.

The Speaker of the Saeima thinks that, in a broader sense, the European Union needs to think about its future role and competitiveness in the world. It will have to find its own unique solutions for problems faced by many countries and regions in the world – an aging population, as well as long, fragmented global value chains - while staying true to its values, including solidarity, reconciliation of work and family life. The European New Deal has to take all of these into account.

“I am confident that the fruits of economic maturity - skills, training and education of the workforce - promote a greater sense of social justice. They are essential for preventing the growing inequality which leads to economic or political instability,” the Speaker of the Saeima reminded her European colleagues.

The Interparliamentary Conference under Article 13 of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union is one of the events of the European Parliamentary Week in Brussels. It is also one of six events organised by the Saeima in the framework of parliamentary dimension of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU.


Saeima Press Service