At the first plenary session of the year, the tone will be set by the National Alliance, which has initiated a vote of no confidence in Evika Silina, and thus in the entire government.
This time, the Prime Minister is accused of failing to comply with the "language" recommendation in the national security concept. Specifically, the document recommended stopping the use of the Russian language in public media.
And although broadcasting in Russian on Latvian Radio-4 was terminated on January 1, the Russian language is still present on the public media website, which causes outrage among Raivis Dzintars and his associates.
Therefore, the Prime Minister, who can be blamed for everything, can hardly be accused of any love for the Russian language! Moreover, the possibility of broadcasting in the languages of national minorities is provided for by law — the Prime Minister is certainly not to blame here...
By the way, on January 20, the Constitutional Court is holding an open session regarding the lawsuit from the deputies of the National Alliance and the United List about the compliance of the Public Media Law with the Satversme — this concerns the articles of the law that provide for the possibility of broadcasting in the languages of national minorities.
In any case, the chances of displacing Silina and her government are close to zero. Despite all the discord within the coalition that we observed at the end of last year, the power partners do not actually want to dismantle their own government.
Let’s Have 130 Amendments!
Also, at the first Saeima meeting of the new year, deputies plan to consider in the second reading a new Immigration Law, to which as many as 130 proposals have been submitted! During the work on the document, the mention of... the Russian language disappeared. This means that now all forms, applications, and requests of a migration nature can only be submitted in Latvian or English.
The draft law also gives the Cabinet of Ministers the right, if necessary, dictated, for example, by security considerations, to temporarily suspend the acceptance of documents for visa issuance to citizens of certain third countries.
The draft law tightens the responsibility of entrepreneurs (legal entities) for inviting, bringing in, and sending out labor migrants, that is — for complying with the established order of stay in the country for guest workers.
Who Has Access to Newspapers and Magazines?
An interesting agenda awaits deputies on the eve of the plenary session — the Saeima Human Rights Commission will discuss a study by the Ombudsman’s office on the accessibility of various forms of media to the population — from printed publications to the internet.
The requests commission will consider a request from the deputies of the United List regarding the Ministry of Finance's spending on "advertising" or more precisely — on informing the population about the adopted national budget.
For Intimate Photos — to Jail
Today, parliamentarians working in the subcommittee on criminal law and sentencing policy will discuss in the second reading amendments from the "New Unity" deputies, which provide for criminal liability for the public distribution of intimate materials (photos, videos) without the consent of those depicted in these video-photo materials.
In turn, deputies from the Saeima Defense and Internal Affairs Commission will discuss the situation in the field of migration, namely — the possibility of improving the legal regulation of entry into the country for citizens of third countries. Deputies from the subcommittee on the shadow economy will discuss the response from the State Revenue Service to a letter regarding the possibility of taxing international platforms such as Booking, Facebook, Airbnb, etc. in Latvia.
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