Latvia must prove its leadership in Europe's climate and green policy - agriculture minister

  • 2023-01-31
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA - Latvia must prove that it is the European leader in climate and green policy by counting its amount of absorbed carbon dioxide (CO2) correctly, Agriculture Minister Didzis Smits (United List) believes.

Smits said in an online conference on agricultural transformation hosted by the Rural Advisory and Training Center that the European Green Deal initiative is dominated by ideas and goals, while national interests are being neglected, which means that in many ways the European Green Deal will be harming Latvia's interests throughout its reference years.  

After a meeting of the European Union's agriculture and fisheries ministers on Monday, Smits has decided to call on representatives of the affected sectors like transport, peat extraction, forestry and agriculture to come together and develop a national plan that would allow Latvia to avoid what the minister sees as negative effects from the new policy. 

At the same time, Smits noted that Latvia's farming sector has a huge potential. The minister, for example, urged to increase the value added of Latvian-made grain products as much as possible. Latvia needs more high-capacity grain mills like Dobeles Dzirnavnieks, the minister stressed.

In Latvia, the leading authority in charge of climate and energy policy is the Climate and Energy Ministry, not the Agriculture Ministry. The Climate and Energy Ministry is tasked with developing Latvia's climate and energy policy, as well as coordinating its implementation.