Democracy and human rights at top of agenda - Mierina

RIGA - Democracy and human rights are at the top of the agenda in the times we live in, said Saeima Speaker Daiga Mierina (Greens/Farmers) today when welcoming Theodoros Rousopoulos, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to the parliament.

"Democracy must be protected and invested in every day," she stressed.

The Saeima press service informed LETA that the parties agreed on the most important challenges facing democracy and the rule of law, including the European Union Speakers' Conference held in Hungary this week and the Hungarian prime minister's position on cooperation with the aggressor state. The Saeima speaker and Rousopoulos also addressed the perceived foreign attempts to interfere in and influence European politics.

The EU-US partnership was also discussed. The Saeima speaker stressed that the US was a strategic partner for Europe, but that our countries needed to think more about their own defense and to strengthen their support for Ukraine, which was in the greatest need of military and financial assistance. Mierina called for a way to divert frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine without unnecessary obstacles.

Mierina and Rousopoulos also focused on artificial intelligence as a tool that poses new challenges by creating fake news and thus influencing public minds. The Saeima speaker noted the efforts made by Latvia to make AI not only a threat, but also an opportunity to develop the economy and promote growth. This included highlighting the newly established Centre for Artificial Intelligence, which brings together representatives from government, research and business.

The visit of Rousopoulos to the parliament and his address to the members of the parliament marked the start of the meeting of the Assembly's Monitoring Committee, which brings together parliamentarians from more than 30 European countries in Riga these days.