On Thursday, 20 June, the Saeima in the third and final reading supported amendments to the Handling of Alcoholic Beverages Law to limit the consumption of alcoholic beverages among children and young people. 

As of 1 September 2013, all courts will to have publish on the Internet their rulings that have been made in open hearings and that have entered into force. This is one of the provisions envisaged by the amendments to the Law on the Judicial Power adopted in the third and final reading on Thursday, 13 June. Concurrently, these amendments provide for increased responsibility and authority of the presiding judges, raising the maximum permissible age of judges to 70 years, as well as provision of other job opportunities or payment of the minimum monthly salary to judges suspended from the office during consideration of disciplinary or criminal charges brought against them; furthermore, these amendments envisage full transition to the so-called direct court system by 2017.

On Thursday, 13 June, an exhibition of works by students of the Art Academy Latvia was opened in the grand vestibule of the main building of the Saeima. At the opening, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, noted that it is worthwhile to see yourself from a different perspective through the eyes of young creative people.

On Monday, 10 June, during her meeting in the main building of the Saeima with Glauk Konjufca, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, and his delegation consisting of staff members of the Assembly and representatives of NGOs, Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, said that Latvia has accumulated valuable experience in promoting dialogue with society and cooperation with NGOs and is ready to share this experience with Kosovo, which aims to shape a high-quality dialogue with civil society.

The Convergence Report issued today by the European Commission confirms that Latvia meets the conditions for adopting the euro. This is a great opportunity for the future growth of Latvia’s economy, but at the same time it imposes a greater obligation on us to continue reforms that have been commenced. So said Chairperson Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica during today’s meeting of the European Affairs Committee.

Physical abuse is the intentional application of force to a child that threatens the health or life of the child or the intentional subjection of a child to a harmful environment, including tobacco smoke. This is set forth in the amendments to the Protection of the Rights of the Child Law, which the Saeima adopted in the third and final reading on Thursday, 30 May. This provision protects a child’s right to grow up in a smoke-free environment.

Latvia is ready to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and calls on the Republic of Korea to support our country’s accession to this organisation during the next round of enlargement, said Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, when meeting with Prime Minister Chung Hong-won during her official visit to the Republic of Korea.

On Wednesday, 22 May, during her meeting in Seoul with Kang Chang-hee, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, emphasised that Latvia and the Republic of Korea have great potential for economic and political cooperation. Concurrently, Speaker Āboltiņa welcomed the rapidly developing bilateral relations including the 30% increase in trade turnover during 2012, as well as the opening of the embassy of the Republic of Korea in Riga.