Press releases
Christmas is a season of peace, love and serene joyfulness. It has a special magic – while nature sinks into darkness, we are able to find light within ourselves. We light candles and prepare gifts for our loved ones. We know that it does not take much to make the holiday season a lot brighter.
On Thursday, 16 December, gingerbread biscuits were iced, and Christmas-tree decorations, as well as other gifts for children, were made at the creative Christmas workshop located by the main building of the Saeima. Speaker Solvita Āboltiņa, MPs, families with children and staff members of the Saeima were involved in the workshop.
On Thursday, 16 December, Mrs. Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, in addressing MPs at the plenary sitting, expressed her gratitude to the parliament of Iceland for the Parliamentary Resolution on Support for the Baltic States’ Strife for Independence, which was adopted twenty years ago.
On Friday, 10 December, while meeting with social partners and parliament’s cooperation partners, Speaker Solvita Āboltiņa emphasised that stability, partnership and responsibility are the key words describing the process of adopting the state budget for 2011. Mrs. Āboltiņa expressed gratification at the fact that Latvia is one of the few European countries that has managed to draft a stabilization budget for the year 2011. “We have to join our efforts and do our best in order for the 2012 budget to be a development budget,” said the Speaker.
On Tuesday, 7 December, the draft state budget for 2011, which was prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers, was submitted to the Saeima.
During the first month since the introduction of the new version of Saeima’s website, the number of persons who have visited the Saeima’s profile on Twitter, Flickr and YouTube has increased. Links to these social networks have now been included in the parliament’s website, and visitors of the website show an interest in learning about the Saeima’s work as reflected in photos and videos.
On Thursday, 2 December, the Christmas tree set up next to the main building of the Saeima was lighted.
On Thursday, 2 December, the Saeima appointed the heads and members of Latvian delegations to several international organisations.
On Thursday, 2 December, in the second final reading the Saeima adopted amendments to the Law on Maternity and Sickness Insurance, which were considered urgent. Amendments simplified the accessibility of paternity benefits, child-care benefits and funeral allowance.
Latvia and the United States have good prospects for cooperation not only in the political field but also in the economy, as the hitherto successful cooperation in the non-military cargo transits to Afghanistan attests. Foreign Affairs Committee members stressed that point when they met with H.E. Ms. Judith Garber, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Republic of Latvia on Friday, 26 November.
