The resignation of Silina, Aven«s citizenship, VAT games, sex blackmail: it will be hot in the Saeima today 0 63

The longest debates are expected, of course, on the initiative of the National Alliance and the United List regarding the vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Evika Silina and, consequently, the entire government. It is clear that the ruling party will not support this opposition move. The "rebels in power" in the form of the "green farmers" are not yet ready to dismantle the existing government.

However, it will be interesting to observe how the same "green farmers" will vote on the proposal from the opposition faction "Latvia First" to abolish the reduced VAT rate on publications dedicated to the topic of supporting the LGBT community. It is clear that the opposition continues to push its agenda against the position and activities of sexual minorities.

Representatives of the right-wing opposition — the National Alliance and the United List, with the support of the MP from the Union of Greens and Farmers, Augusts Brigmanis, will seek to initiate the consideration in the Saeima of amendments that would require owners of all TV channels retransmitted in Latvia to prepare 50% of their TV content in the Latvian language. If this proposal is ultimately supported, all foreign channels will disappear from the cable operators' broadcasting grid.

The MPs of the National Alliance have also prepared a request to the Minister of the Interior, Richard Kozlovskis ("New Unity"), regarding the citizenship situation of Peter Aven. In other words, the MPs want to know when the authorities plan to initiate the process of depriving Aven of Latvian citizenship.

Again, the MPs of the "Latvia First" faction want to adopt a law establishing a greater distance from wind generators to the nearest residential buildings. This initiative will likely be rejected, just like the draft resolution prepared by the National Alliance to close the airspace over the Latvian border with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus for an indefinite period.

However, the bill on creating anti-mobility infrastructure will be adopted today on an urgent basis, meaning in two readings. It should be noted that the special law concerns the construction of defensive structures and the installation of obstacles along the border and in the border strip. Representatives of municipalities near our eastern borders opposed certain provisions of the bill, fearing that the creation of a 30-kilometer protective (defensive) strip would deter investors, and it is also unclear whether landowners and other property owners in this "exclusion zone" would receive adequate compensation from the state for the expropriation of their property.

So far, the amendments proposed by the MPs of "New Unity" to the Criminal Code, which provide for criminal liability for distributing intimate materials without the consent of the person to whom these materials belong, have not yet been included in the agenda for consideration in the zero reading (submission to the committee). For such a criminal act, the MPs propose to provide for imprisonment for up to one year, and if intimate materials involving minors are distributed, then imprisonment for up to three years.