BNN summary of the week: 14th Saeima’s beginning. Russia and «grain deal». Inflation in Estonia

This week the 14th Saeima gathered for their first meeting. Deputies elected to their posts gave their solemn vow.
Edvards Smiltēns from the Combined List (AS) was elected as the parliament’s new speaker. The topic of a new ministry in Latvia also took shape. Parties elected to the Saeima also picked the leaders of their respective factions. The government formation negotiations also started taking shape this week. New Unity might take charge over seven ministries, Combined List – over four and National Alliance over four ministries.
This week Russia promptly left and then rejoined the Black Sea ‘grain deal’. Foreign media claim Ukraine sent out ships loaded with grain regardless of Russia’s commitments.
Estonian statistics office reported this week that the inflation in the country reached 22.4% in October, which is slightly lower than what was expected in September.
BNN gives you a summery of the most relevant events of the past week in the following topics: New speaker; Voting in prison; New ministry; Situation on the border; Inflation in Estonia; Grain ships.
NEW SPEAKER
Edvards Smiltēns elected as the 14th Saeima’s speaker
Photo: Edijs Pālens/LETARepresentative of the Combined List Edvards Smiltēns was elected as the speaker of the 14th Saeima.
The other candidate for this post was Stabilitātei! political party leader Aleksejs Rosļikovs.
Representative of the vote-counting committee Rihards Kols announced that Smiltēns received 82 votes and Rosļikovs received 11.
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VOTING IN PRISON
Prohibition for prisoners to vote in municipal elections declared unconstitutional in Latvia
Photo: Ivars Soikāns/LETAThe Constitutional Court of Latvia has declared the regulation that prohibits people serving time in prison from voting in municipal elections as unconstitutional, as confirmed by the court.
The one who submitted the application to the court is a prison inmate himself. In accordance to the contested regulation, he was not allowed to vote in the 2021 municipal elections in Latvia.
The person asked the Constitutional Court to review the compliance of Part 2 of Section 6 of the Law on the Election of Local Government Councils to Section 101 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia.
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NEW MINISTRY
Potential coalition partners in Latvia agree on creation of a new ministry
Photo: Edijs Pālens/LETANew Unity (JV) reports having reached an agreement with the two other potential coalition partners – Combined List (AS) and National Alliance (NA) – on the creation of a Ministry of Energy and Climate, as journalists were told by JV leader Krišjānis Kariņš after a meeting with representatives of parties on Wednesday, 2 November.
The name of the ministry is still on the table. The same applies to its functions and responsibilities.
AS representative Uldis Pīlēns mentioned disagreements over the need for a new ministry remained until the last moment. He said AS trusts JV and will help expand the section of the memorandum about the ministry, its goals and functions. He said it will happen in a way that will not increase bureaucratic costs for the country, as that would cause confusion among residents.
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SITUATION ON THE BORDER
Influx of Russian citizens on Latvia’s eastern border down 34%
Photo: : Gatis Dieziņš, Ministry of Defence/FlickrAccording to Latvian State Border Guard, since 19 September, when the government announced restrictions for non-essential travel, the influx of Russian citizens to the country has gone down 34%.
Last week, between 24th and 30th October, a total of 1 826 Russian citizens crossed the Latvian-Russian border. This is five times less when compared to neighbouring countries: 8 574 in Estonia and 7 804 in Lithuania.
Since 19th September a total of 10 687 Russian citizens have crossed the Russian-Latvian and Belarusian-Latvian border. All of them are people who meet specific criteria for exceptions.
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INFLATION IN ESTONIA
Inflation in Estonia reaches 22.4% in October
Photo: UnsplashIn October 2022 inflation in Estonia reached 22.4%, which is a slight drop when compared to the previous month, as reported by Estonian ERR with reference to information from state agency Statistics Estonia.
The flash estimate indicates that inflation in the country has gone down by 1.6 percentage points between September and October. Last month Estonia’s year-on-year figure of 24.2% was the highest inflation level in Eurozone. Since May 2020 the monthly index has exceeded 20%.
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GRAIN SHIPS
Russia halts participation in Black Sea grain export deal
Photo: UnsplashRussia has announced its decision to halt participation in the international deal that allows Ukraine to export grain from its sea ports in the Black Sea, as reported by BBC.
The decision to exit the deal came after the «mass» drone attack by Ukrainian forces on the Russian Black Sea fleet stationed in Sevastopol, Crimea.
Russian Ministry of Defence claims that the strike drones used in the attack on 29 October were aimed at ships involved in the deal. The ministry reports that those ships were only slightly damaged in the attack.
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