At the next plenary session, deputies will give the green light to the consideration of the highly controversial bill "On the Solidarity Payment of Fuel Traders."
The opposition intends to vote "against," believing that this bill could be challenged in the Constitutional Court, but most importantly, its adoption could lead to a fuel shortage. It will simply be unprofitable for traders to import fuel.
Recall: the bill provides for the actual seizure of profits from gas stations if the markup exceeds 3 percent, and if traders cannot document the justification for the price increase.
Further Reducing Excise Tax
However, if this bill begins its path through the parliamentary committees, the ruling party is likely to reject the amendments proposed by the opposition faction.
Opposition deputies propose to further reduce the excise tax on diesel fuel, and the reduced rate is suggested to be extended until October 31. The deputies remind that the previous reduction in excise tax — initiated by the government — was clearly delayed and proved to be insufficient: diesel fuel prices continue to rise.
Moreover, the reduced rate is in effect until June 30, and there is a significant risk that the crisis in the Persian Gulf may drag on.
The same opposition faction also proposed to amend the Pension Law: the submitted amendment stipulates that the entire period of childcare for two years will be counted towards the work experience. The corresponding payment to the mandatory social insurance fund will also be made by the state during these two years.
Currently, not the full two years of maternity leave, that is, childcare, is counted towards the work experience for pension calculation, but only one and a half years. What the government comes up with to save on the size of Latvians' pensions!
Revolutionary Amendments
Today, the Saeima's budget and finance committee will complete its work on revolutionary changes to the Procurement Law.
Recall that the government, citing an EU directive, decided to significantly raise the procurement amount from which state and municipal organizations are required to conduct procurement competitions. Currently, competitions must be held for the procurement of goods and services amounting to 10,000 euros, and for construction works — from 20,000 euros. The amendments stipulate that procurement procedures for goods and services will henceforth be conducted for amounts starting from 143,000 euros, and procurement for construction works will be conducted through a competition if the procurement amount starts from 5.538 million euros!
A number of experts have expressed concerns that such high price thresholds will create additional risks of corruption, as tracking the process of so-called price surveys is much more complicated than public procurement competitions.
During the discussion of the amendments in the third reading, the deputies made adjustments: procurement procedures for construction works will need to be conducted from 1 million euros if it is national-level procurement, rather than EU-level. Simple procurement of services and goods will be conducted if the amount is between 30,000 and 140,000 euros.
It is expected that the Saeima will vote on the adoption of the amendments to the Procurement Law this Thursday.
Announce the Entire List!
Today, the Saeima's defense and internal affairs committee will conceptually approve an amendment that obliges the Central Statistical Bureau to publish a list of Latvian companies that continue to trade (import or export) with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.
How Will We Unite?
Tomorrow, the deputies of the Saeima's committee on citizenship, migration, and social cohesion will be introduced to the results of a study on this very cohesion.
