On Wednesday, the 21st of December, Latvian parliament’s Mandates, Ethics and Submissions Committee agreed to invite the Cabinet of Ministers to reevaluate the country’s remuneration system for senior officials and submit a report to the Saeima by the 15th of April 2023, as reported by the Saeima’s press-service.
The decision project for the request to the government will need to be discussed at a meeting of the Saeima.
The committee made its decision after reviewing a collective application signed by 10 434 citizens on freezing wages of senior state officials.
Authors of the initiative invited freezing the wage of the President, Saeima speaker, Prime Minister, Saeima’s secretary, ministers and Saeima deputies until the economic situation in Latvia has stabilised. This means inflation growth is stopped, inflation is reduced to a manageable level, and the crisis involving gas and electricity price growth is overcome.
According to the committee’s chairman Jānis Vucāns, next year it is planned to increase wages of senior officials in Latvia. This action is required by the law in Latvia.
«Three years ago the 13th Saeima decided not to increase wages of its deputies and maintain them on the level of 2019. However, starting with 2023 the wages of deputies of the 14th Saeima will increase automatically because of the law,» said Vucāns.
According to him, it is because of this reason the committee decided to ask the government to reevaluate the existing remuneration system and adapt it to the existing economic situation in the country.
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