Saeima vice-speaker Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica said in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma on Monday, 21 November, that the 14th Saeima may kick off its legislative work with the creation of the Ministry of Climate and Energy.
Parliamentary committees will be composed this week. All factions presented their lists of candidates for each committee in the morning on Monday. The Saeima may approve the new committees and their members on Wednesday, 23 November. The first meetings may be held on Thursday and Friday. At these meetings committees may elect their respective leadership.
One of the first legislative initiatives of the new parliament may be amendments to the Cabinet Structure Law. In order to approve the new government, it is necessary to include a new ministry in the law.
Kalniņa-Lukaševica admits: her party was surprised by the Combined List political party’s ‘one step forward, two steps back’ approach.
She hopes this week will be productive government formation-wise, and that coalition partners will be able to agree on the text of the government declaration. ‘We need a government and we need to pass the budget very quickly,’ the politician said in her interview.
She reminded that fast composition of Saeima committees and the government is also needed in order to legally extend support activities for Ukrainian refugees in Latvia. Security will be one of the biggest underlying themes of the Saeima’s and government’s work, said the vice-speaker. The ongoing war has shaken the entire European defence architecture. This is why it is necessary to enhance public resilience, as well as armed forces and domestic security. Energy security is part of this as well, which requires modernisation of the economy, which requires a link between investments and education and exports.
Additionally, the Saeima may also consider ways to retain qualified specialists in the parliament, as wages in different structures of the Saeima is below those in the commercial sector and ministries.
Members of the coalition continue working on the government declaration and distribution of seats in ministries.
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