MPs of United List and president discuss developments related to foreign policy and security

RIGA - Members of the opposition United List faction in the Saeima, during a meeting with President Edgars Rinkevics on Monday, discussed developments related to foreign policy and security, the parliamentary faction's chairman Edgars Tavars told LETA.

As Tavars told the president, the United List does not expect Latvia's current government to step up its performance in fostering economic growth, cutting red tape, and significantly improving domestic and external security.

Tavars stressed that the conversation focused more on how Latvia could be helped to strengthen its foreign policy, so that, as Tavars pointed out, the agenda would not include such "mistakes as two representatives of the 'big five' publicly exchanging one another's quotes".

The discussions also touched on internal and external security, infrastructure problems, economic and education issues, and the initiative to change the electoral system, which the United List proposed a year earlier. "But it is clear that in this Saeima, there is no support for our ideas," Tavars said.

As reported, in order to bring state authority closer to the public, create a direct link between voters and lawmakers, ensure a more accurate representation of views, and make MPs more accountable, the United List has proposed changing the electoral system, switching to a mixed electoral system, and also enabling voters to recall MPs.

It was also reported that Mierina has signed a letter initiated by the heads of the Israeli and U.S. parliaments, calling for the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to Trump. Although Mierina initially claimed that the signature was only a "test" and that the matter still needed to be discussed with Latvia's foreign policy decision-makers, she later confirmed that the signed letter had already been sent to Israel.

The decision was not fully coordinated with the prime minister, and Mierina admitted that the foreign minister was also critical of it. The letter praised Trump as a "champion of peace", listing several international achievements of his administration.