Trump as a ticking time bomb: Latvia's Saeima tries not to irritate the US president 0 14

Let us remind you: just a week ago, the opposition proposed a draft statement of the Saeima in support of awarding Trump the Nobel Peace Prize.

A “gift” from the opposition

The ruling parties, especially the “liberal” part represented by “New Unity” and the “Progressives,” found themselves in an extremely difficult diplomatic situation: supporting such a draft statement means

• firstly, angering their voters, who, to put it mildly, do not like the current head of the White House, who, according to local nationalists, communicates too often with Putin;

• secondly, playing along or even politically yielding to the despised Šlesers and Co.

However, officially refusing to support Trump is also fraught – after all, he is the president of the country that is the main military-political ally of Latvia.

The situation was further complicated by the fact that the “Green Farmers,” just like in the case of the Istanbul Convention, were ready to betray their coalition partners and vote for this opposition project, which would be quite a logical step from the perspective of the “Green Farmers,” considering that the Speaker of the Saeima, Daiga Mierina (Union of Greens and Farmers), recently signed a letter in support of the award for Trump.

A wedge drives out a wedge…

But, fortunately for the ruling parties, last week the first item on the agenda of the plenary session was the annual foreign policy debates – they dragged on until late evening, and the deputies simply did not have time to consider the Trump issue. This meant that the project had to be considered this week, that is, yesterday – during the continuation of the discussion of the previous agenda – from January 29.

Credit should be given to the tactics of “New Unity,” which came up with an unexpected move this week… a wedge drives out a wedge! Specifically, they prepared… an alternative statement of the Saeima, and to adopt it before the opposition's statement was considered, the deputies voted yesterday that the agenda of the current session, that is, February 5, would be considered first, and only after that would the parliamentarians return to the agenda of the previous week!

The alternative version was signed not only by representatives of the three coalition factions but also by deputies from two factions of the right opposition – the National Alliance and the United List!

Twice mentioned

The statement turned out to be historically pompous and fundamental with the corresponding title “On the Importance of Transatlantic Cooperation in Ensuring Peace and Security!”

Judging by the text, its authors wanted to hit three targets at once:

first, to show that America needs to “return” to Europe and restore the previous model of interaction between the US and the Western European world (EU, NATO);

second, to thank the US and other allies for their assistance to the Baltic States and Ukraine;

third – not to forget to express gratitude personally to Donald Trump.

However, as for the head of the White House, the alternative statement does not mention the need to award him the Nobel Peace Prize. In the draft, Trump is mentioned twice: “thanks to the leadership of the US president and a firm call, a historic decision was made at the NATO summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025, to gradually increase defense investments to 5% of GDP..."

And further in the text, it is stated that “we highly value the close cooperation of US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and EU leaders to achieve a fair and lasting peace and security guarantees for sovereign Ukraine.”

The statement also notes that the US is the main strategic ally of Latvia, whose political, military, and economic cooperation is crucial for the country's security.

Thank you for everything

In addition, the “consistent position of both parties in the US Congress on the security issues of the Baltic States, as well as cooperation at the parliamentary level – including within the framework of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and with the work of the Saeima representation in Washington” is emphasized.

The statement highlights the US contribution to facilitating the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including reaching agreements on the text of the peace treaty in August 2025 in Washington. It also mentions US efforts in the Middle East, including the release of all Israeli hostages captured by Hamas.

Without the US, we can do nothing?

Presenting this alternative document, the head of the Saeima Foreign Affairs Commission, Ināra Mūrniece, called on her colleagues for… a realistic view of the situation in the world.

According to Mūrniece, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte admitted to the deputies of the European Parliament's defense and foreign affairs committees at the beginning of last week: “Europe is unable to defend itself without the United States. If anyone here thinks that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, then let them keep dreaming. If Europe really wants to go it alone, forget the idea that 5 percent will be enough for defense. They will need 10%. Europe will have to create its own nuclear capabilities. This will cost billions and billions of euros. And in such a scenario, you, Europe, would lose the main guarantor of our freedom – the nuclear umbrella of the US.”

Finishing quoting the NATO Secretary General, Mūrniece added:

“Colleagues, let’s be realists, not dreamers! The US contribution to the defense and deterrence of all of Europe is invaluable. The US Congress supported and the US president signed the allocation of 200 million dollars for the Baltic security initiative. This funding is intended for the Baltic States to strengthen defense, and it will allow us to improve the defense capability of the National Armed Forces. Real politics implies looking at the facts, acting, and not listening to beautiful words.”

“This is a slap in the face of the president”

Saeima deputy Edmunds Zivtiņš, although he promised to support this project, nevertheless suggested that if it is intended as a replacement for the opposition's project, it looks like… “a slap in the face of Donald Trump.”

It turns out that instead of supporting the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to him, the Latvian parliament is simply listing the merits of the US and other allies in strengthening security.

One way or another, it seems that the ruling parties have managed to at least partially escape the diplomatic deadlock. When this material was being prepared for publication, the deputies had not even started considering the agenda of the previous week…