On Thursday, the 5th of December, Latvian Saeima passed in the final reading amendments to the Compulsory Civil Liability Insurance of Owners of Motor Vehicles Law, which provides for the postponement of the entry into force of Motor Third Party Liability Insurance (MTPL) insurance for all vehicles registered, including those participating in traffic seasonally for nine months.
The amendments to the law will enter into force on the same day as the amendments to the MTPL Law promulgated by the President of Latvia – on the 10th of December. These amendments provide that the already announced amendments to the MTPL Law are to enter into force on the 1st of November, 2025.
The Cabinet of Ministers has until the 30th of April to provide an assessment of the scope of the European Union directive, whether it has been transposed accordingly and it does not provide for any deviations, while the ministries and institutions involved are expected to prepare a solution so that the MTPL policy does not have to be purchased for vehicles that are not in motion or are used only seasonally.
Amendments to the law were submitted by both the “For Stability!” party and members of the “Combined List”, the “National Alliance” and “Latvia in the first place” political parties, but they were rejected. Instead the parliament choose an alternative draft law, which was voted in by 86 Saeima deputies. Ten “For Stability!” members voted against it.
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Previously, the proposed amendments received support from both the coalition and opposition in the Saeima.
Multiple opposition deputies later wrote on social media, after public outrage, that they didn’t understand or even know what they were voting for. For example, Andris Kulbergs apologized on X (formerly Twitter) for “missing the point”, shifting the blame on the Saeima’s Budget Committee even though he is not a member there. However, the proposals submitted to the law amendments show that he had submitted proposals for corrections in it. “Had I known that, I never would have voted for them,” Kulbergs claimed. Saeima deputy Didzis Šmits, too, apologized for voting for something he did not fully understand.