On Thursday, the 26th of September, the Saeima passed in the final reading amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), freezing the state funding for political parties for one year.
Saeima deputy Janis Reirs (JV) indicated at the Saeima meeting that various institutions, ministries are working to reduce their expenses. “It is also necessary for political parties to show solidarity,” he stressed.
88 Saeima deputies voted in favour of amendments.
In order to be able to provide the necessary funding for priority measures, as well as to be in solidarity with the reduction of public administration expenditure in 2025, one of the compensatory measures is to leave the funding of political organizations at the level of 2024, according to the annotation to amendments.
The adopted amendments provide that in 2025, the funding of the state budget will be calculated and granted to political organizations, taking into account the minimum monthly salary of 2024.
According to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), the state budget funding for political parties and their associations in 2024 reach EUR 6.65 million. The largest portion or EUR 1.12 million were allocated to the New Unity, EUR 898 761 – to the Union of Greens and Farmers, EUR 790 482 – to the Combined List, EUR 752 007 – to the National Union. Around EUR 0.5 million were received by three parties – For Stability, Progressives and Latvia in First Place, but in total there will be six more political parties among the recipients, some of which are not represented in any power structures and carry out political activities at a minimum.
The law stipulates that state budget funding is allocated to political forces that have been voted on by more than 2% of voters in the last Saeima elections. The funding to be allocated is tied to the amount of the minimum wage, so raising it also means increasing the state funding of parties. It is planned that in 2025 the minimum wage will increase from EUR 700 to EUR 740, in 2026 – to EUR 780, in 2027 – to EUR 820, and in 2028 – to EUR 860, which in accordance with the law will also mean a regular increase in funding paid to parties.