All About Latvia

With just three months of her term remaining, the President ought to be able to use her political fortitude in the best interests of the country.

Vaira Vike-Freiberga took an unprecedented step Saturday by sending a strong message to the 100-member Parliament: she’s ready for a showdown with the Saeima over the control of the national security services.

‘It’s going to be a showdown. This is the second time that the
president has stopped these laws - it looks like she’s going for
broke,’ Nils Muiznieks, head of political science at the University of Latvia, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

By invoking Article 72 of the Constitution for the first time during her 8-year tenure as the head of state, the President expressed her loss of confidence in the Aivars Kalvitis government and the ruling coalition.

Using her authority, the President delayed publication of amendments to several national security laws for two months, opening the doors for voters to chime in on the debate.

The President forces the Saeima to consider her objections to the proposed changes to the laws, or face a national referendum regarding the law.

Speaking at a press conference at the Riga Castle Saturday, the President said the Saeima ignored her objections along with objections from national security experts and the NATO partners and placed the national security in jeopardy.

“Here is the situation that, in my opinion, open doors to very serious political manipulation,” the President said. “And through political manipulations to influences of our so-called oligarchs.”

Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa reported:

“One amendment allows unnamed ‘individuals delegated by the national security council’ to launch investigations into security service activities, while the other creates a new National Security Services Council staffed only by government ministers.

“The government said the urgency was necessary in the light of the precarious world security situation.”

Oh, puh-lease.

The way the government adopted the changes in the first place smelled with corruption.

The government adopted the changes in January at the time when the Saeima was on winter holiday. The Saeima adopted the changes twice and sent the proposed law to President for her signature twice. And twice, the President objected to the law.

By placing the Prime Minister as the head of the national security council, the President is afraid issues related to national security will become victims of political manipulation by political groups or those who finance them.

To recall the changes to the law, about 150,000 voter signatures must be collected. If not, the President will have to publish the laws. However, some have suggested that the President may dissolve the Saeima and call early elections.

In an interview to the daily Diena, the President’s spokeswoman Aiva Rozenberga said theoretically the President can dissolve the Parliament at any time.

If she does, a referendum will be called. If the people vote to disband the Parliament , early elections will be called. If the people vote to keep the Parliament, the President will have to resign.

In the Diena newspaper on Jan. 8, Rozenberga said changes to the national security laws are too serious to be taken lightly. Since that time, the President repeatedly said she objected to the changes, yet her Saturday’s move came as a surprise to the ruling coalition and the Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis, at least according to some Russian-language news media.

Here’s the video of the President’s press conference (in Latvian).

Also, read Peteris Cedris’s take on the showdown.

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About the gay parade. The problem is not the gay parade. In all reality, I’m ashamed of what happened last year. To think up something like this, how low must a man stoop?

— Janis Birks, the newly-elected mayor of Riga, Latvia’s capital, in an interview with the Latvian-language portal vdiena.lv.

The mayor addresses the events of last June when a mob gathered outside the Hotel Latvija where gay and lesbian activists gathered for a conference. Here’s the video taken by a Latvian-American journalist Juris Kaza last year.

Another video taken when the Riga city government was considering a request for gay parade. The request was later denied, which is why the activists were meeting at the Hotel Latvija. The woman speaking announces the government’s decision to the cheerful crowd, which then proceeds to recite the Lord’s Prayer. Which is then followed by the national anthem. Could they be Republicans?

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Bonaparti.lv will represent Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Finland this May. The song, “Questa Notte,” which Google translates as This Night, is in Italian. The six-member group won the national competition last month and earned the right to represent Latvia in Finland. One of the members is a native Italian, who came to Latvia in 2001.

The top hats perhaps represent the classical style of signing of sorts. While the jeans mean they’re common folk, just like us.

And here’s the song (thanks to YouTube).

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