Latvian Presidency of the EU 2015-1

The #mindpower short film project dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Latvian poets Rainis and Aspazija visits the Spanish film director and producer Toni Marín Vila who reflects on how people are in constant movement.

On Friday, June 19, the Minister for Finance, Jānis Reirs chaired the meeting of the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) in Brussels. During the meeting, the EU Member States expressed their views on the Banking structural reform, Capital markets union and other issues.

On 16-17 June 2015 the meeting of the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) Clinical Trials Facilitation Group (CTFG) took place in Riga. The main focus was on the implementation of the Regulation (EU) No 536/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Clinical Trials on Medicinal Products for Human Use which came into force in June 2014 and will be applied no sooner than 28 May 2016.

On Friday, 19 June, the Minister for Health Guntis Belēvičs chaired the meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in Luxembourg. During the meeting the EU Member States discussed legislation on madical devices, EU alcohol policy and health dimension of the migration.

The Baltic Sea is an integral part of the Latvian identity, but it is also the most polluted sea in the world. Therefore, from 26 May to 28 June the My Baltic Sea 2015 campaign is being organised along the whole of the Latvian coastline. Itsaim is to educate society about problems relating to the maritime environment in order to better understand what harm is being done and how the Baltic Sea can be restored.

On 18-19 June, the informal meeting of Forest Directors took place in Riga under the Latvian Presidency of EU Council. At the meeting, the participants discussed the results of the 11th Session of the UN Forum on Forests – the importance of the Ministerial Declaration and the Joint Resolution for further development of the Forum on Forests.

On 19 June 2015, the Council extended the EU restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol until 23 June 2016. The sanctions include prohibitions on:

On 11 June 2015 the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in close cooperation with the Commission organized in Luxembourg the first Eastern Partnership Ministerial Meeting on Digital Economy. The meeting was co-chaired by the Minister of Transport for Latvia Mr Anrijs Matīss, and Commission’s Vice President Andrus Ansip.

Informal meeting of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs alongside the 104th International Labour Conference agreed on renewed efforts to improve working conditions in small and micro enterprises.

On Thursday, June 11, the Minister for Transport Anrijs Matīss chaired the meeting of the EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council.

On 11 June 2015, the Latvian Presidency deposited, on behalf of the European Union, the instrument of approval of the Hague Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements.

“Progress in human rights in Azerbaijan can be best achieved through dialogue and engagement. Isolation and turning away will not help solve human rights issues in Azerbaijan,” said the Foreign Ministry’s Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, expressing the position of the Council of the European Union at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 10 June.

Today in Brussels, Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma addressed the meeting of the Heads of State of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. Within the framework of the Summit, topical issues relating to cooperation between the two regions were discussed, and the Brussels Declaration was adopted.

The Council of the European Union has been paying close attention to the corruption scandal in the International Association of Football Federations (Fédération Internationale de Football Association, FIFA) with great concern, and this issue has come to the attention of officials at the EU Council, the Foreign Ministry’s Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica pointed out at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 10 June.    

Within the First Innovative Enterprise Week “Access to Finance for Research, Innovation and SMEs 2015” programme in Riga, Latvia, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) will announce new financial instruments for the European Union science and research programme “Horizon 2020”.

In Riga, a high-level seminar in statistics of Eastern European, Caucasian and Central Asian (EECCA) countries discussed the draft Generic Statistical Law. The law will strengthen the institutional independence of statistical offices of the EECCA countries, impartiality of official statistics, and conformity with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice. Representatives from the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the European Free Trade Association and the national statistical institutions of EECCAA countries took part in the drafting of the Law.

Only together do waves become the sea. Only together do trees become a forest. Starlings do not fly alone; one raindrop is not a downpour. It is only by singing together that we can give life and soul to a song. When sung alone, a song creeps through the heather, settles on stony ground and vanishes. But when many voices join together in song, it soars up into the sky in a woven garland of celebration and resonates for miles and miles. It is a powerful feeling when thousands of voices become one.

On 4-5 June, the meeting of the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM) took place in Riga. Discussions focused on topical issues related to the planning and conduct of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) civilian missions, and the participation of civilian experts from Member States to these missions.

In the context of EU sanctions related to the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds, the Council decided on 5 June to extend the asset freeze for three of the four persons covered by measures applying until 6 June 2015. The measures are extended by 9 months for two of the persons concerned and by 4 months for the third. 

The 4th European Standardization Summit on 4 June served as a platform for discussions on how standardisation can contribute to a cleaner and smarter economy in Europe focusing on the construction sector.