President Valdis Zatlers,
European Court of Justice Judge
Egils Levits and European Court
of Human Rights judge Inese
Ziemele all agreed on Aug. 17 on
the necessity to create a
Constitutional Commission 's
under the president's auspices 's
which would deal with proposed
amendments to the constitution.
The president stressed that the
commission would be neutral
and academic in nature, and said
that the experts who will participate
in the commission will be
named within a month. The new
commission would offer analysis
of proposed amendments while
the actual decision making would
remain in the hands of
Parliament.
In response to concerns
voiced by a number of EU lawmakers
about undesirable investments,
particularly from Russia,
Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis
said that the government is
closely following the influx of
investments from third countries
and he believes that there is
nothing to worry about. He said
that there is no reason to believe
Russia is gaining a foothold on
strategic markets in the Latvian
economy. He explained that the
only major areas showing
Russian investment are in
Latvijas Gaze, which is split
between German and Russian
investors, and in the real estate
market, taking the form of
expensive summer homes in
high-class areas.
Archeological excavations in
northern Latvia found a 7,000
year old grave containing the
bodies of two teenagers during
work that took place from July 30
to Aug. 18. The graves will provide
useful information about
Latvian spiritual rituals during
the Stone Age. The excavation
work, which took place around
Burtnieku Lake, was conducted
by Latvian and Swedish archeologists,
some of whom were students.
The dig uncovered troves
of amber trinkets, and the
researchers believe that there is
still more to be found at the site.
Recent announcements by the
Latvian Medical and Social Care
Employee Trade Union and the
Education and Science Ministry
have revealed a massive shortage
of specialists in both areas.
A report by the Education
Ministry said that Latvia is short
by about 450 teachers. The report
also noted that teachers are
working approximately 1.2 times
more than the average workload.
Medical institutions are facing
an even more drastic shortage of
qualified staff, with LVSADA representatives
predicting a
"tragedy" approaching due to a
growing number of vacancies in
medical institutions.
A new Web site for the
Latvian Institute, a government
subsidized organization aiming
to promote Latvian culture
around the world, opened on Aug.
20. "The LI homepage will
become an official representation
of Latvia online," the institute's
spokeswoman said. The new
homepage will feature information
pertaining to Latvian news,
history, the government and
political system, the country's
economic situation and culture.
It will maintain the same domain
name, www.li.lv, and will now
include links to the other state
run Web pages.
