Latvia: Current coalition close to collapse

Latvia’s left-of-centre party, the Progressives, will not leave the country’s three-party coalition government for now, Andris Suvajevs, leader of the party’s parliamentary group, announced, LETA reports. However, he insisted that Prime Minister Evika Silina, head of the ruling New Unity party, was unable to lead the government. The Progressives will invite Silina for talks. Meanwhile,…

Read More

Latvia: Coalition rift over Istanbul Convention deepens

Latvia’s Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) has called on its coalition partner, New Unity, to support withdrawing from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence, LETA reports. ZZS argued that a case of alleged inappropriate behaviour by a foreign worker towards a minor in Liepaja demonstrated that…

Read More

Latvia: Thousands of Latvians register support for Istanbul Convention

Over 7,700 people in Latvia have signed a public petition against withdrawing from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women and domestic violence, LSM reports. Earlier, several parties in the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, signalled that they might vote to revoke Latvia’s ratification of the human rights treaty. The Union of Greens…

Read More

Latvia: President wants lower barrier on referendums

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics plans to propose lowering the threshold for holding public referendums on legislative changes, LSM reports. Rinkevics discussed the issue with Prime Minister Evika Silina and leaders of parliamentary groups, LETA reported. He will invite constitutional experts to join the discussions. Edmunds Jurevics, leader of New Unity’s parliamentary group, and Harijs Rokpelnis,…

Read More