“This is a stain of shame!” Intense debates reignite in the Saeima. 0 13

After hours of debates on the state language, the deputies decided to continue their active run to the podium and began heated discussions on the bill to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. Initially, however, there were preliminary debates on whether to include this document in the agenda at all. A deputy from "New Unity" referred to the fact that the bill could not be included in the agenda since the conclusion from the Minister of Finance on how the withdrawal from the convention would affect the national economy had not been obtained! The head of the Saeima's Foreign Affairs Commission, Inara Murniece (National Alliance), reminded that when the convention was ratified two years ago, its supporters noted in the annotation that the ratification bill did not touch upon the national economy at all. Even now, the parliamentary legal bureau acknowledged that a conclusion from the Minister of Finance is not needed for the further advancement of the bill.

As a result, by a majority vote, it was decided to include the bill in the agenda. After that, the decision of the Foreign Affairs Commission was announced to request the Saeima to expedite the bill, meaning that the document could be adopted in just two readings. Deputy Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica ("New Unity") spoke out categorically against the haste and reminded that although the ratification bill itself was adopted by the parliament in 15 minutes in two readings (!), discussions on the necessity of ratifying the convention in the expert community had continued for almost 10 years - since Latvia signed the convention in 2014.

But even here, the deputies of "New Unity" and the "Progressives" remained in the minority - the majority voted for urgency. And this means that already next Thursday, the document could be adopted in the final reading. Currently, the debates on the adoption of the document in the first reading are still ongoing. "If the bill to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention is adopted, it will be a stain of shame for all deputies!" stated the head of the Saeima's European Affairs Commission, Edmunds Cepurītis.