On Tuesday, the 25th of July, Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with Minister of Justice Inese Lībiņa-Egnere. The two discussed various topics, as well as residents’ dissatisfaction with the slowness of the State Land Service (VZD) with its duties.
The press-release from the State President’s Chancellery mentions that Rinkēvičs mentioned his first visit to Krāslava as president on the 21st of July. During this visit representatives of the county’s council informed him about a significant problem: VZD inhibits activities to survey the cadastral value of structures and the registration of cadastral data. In some cases, deputies said, this process took nearly six months.
Without these activities, it is not possible to commission structures – even if projects are tied to the schedule of projects headed by the European Regional Development Fund. This makes it impossible for municipalities to start providing services to residents.
This also means businesses risk losing investors.
The president advised the Minister of Justice, who is directly in charge of VZD, to take notice of this issue, because it has the most direct ties to promotion of business activities. His predecessor – Egils Levits – had made similar recommendations to the minister during his term. Levits suggested, for example, preserving society’s rights to learn about beneficial owners of various companies.
Other topics discussed by the two officials included the penalties policy, people’s protection against violence, execution of rulings of the Constitutional Court, cooperation with the Judicial Council and the planned creation of an Academy of Law.
The president said he was happy to hear about the amendments coming into force to the Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law developed by the Ministry of Justice to enhance protection for victims of violence.
During the meeting Rinkēvičs also asked the minister question about development of the Labour Law to implement the rulings of the Constitutional Court of 2020 and 2021, in which the court stressed that the Constitution lists a duty to ensure legal recognition and protection for all families – including same-sex couples.
The president was also informed about the situation with the recent escape from Riga Central Prison.
Also read: With fewer vice-mayors in Riga, Par/Progressive may not propose their own mayoral candidate