Latvian Presidency of the EU 2015-1

On 26 May, Latvian Minister for Welfare Mr Uldis Augulis will open the meeting of the Senior Labour Inspectors Committee (SLIC) during which a thematic day entitled "Effective Labour Inspection Interaction: Control versus Advice" and the 68th plenary meeting dealing with important working environment supervision issues will take place.

On 26 May, Latvian Minister for Welfare Mr Uldis Augulis will open the meeting of the Senior Labour Inspectors Committee (SLIC) during which a thematic day entitled "Effective Labour Inspection Interaction: Control versus Advice" and the 68th plenary meeting dealing with important working environment supervision issues will take place.

EU Chief Officers of Plant Health Services, representatives from EU Commission and Secretariat-General will meet in informal meeting on 27 - 28 May in Riga to discuss harmonisation of procedures on plant and plant product import control and other plant health issues.

EU Chief Officers of Plant Health Services, representatives from EU Commission and Secretariat-General will meet in informal meeting on 27 - 28 May in Riga to discuss harmonisation of procedures on plant and plant product import control and other plant health issues.

With an aim to foster a coherent European Union's (EU) inland and marine waters policy in all the Member States, on 26 - 27 May, under the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU, informal meeting of Water and Marine Directors of the EU will be held in Riga.

On 27-28 May, Riga will host the International Conference on ICT for Information Accessibility in Learning (ICT4IAL). The conference will present guidelines developed over the past two years for the use of ICT in the learning process making the information more accessible, including for people with special needs. Issues covered at the conference correspond to one of the main priorities of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU – Digital Europe.

On 26 - 27 May, 2015  international conference “EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 - implementation” will be held in Riga. During the conference representatives from EU Member States and non-governmental organisations will discuss the preservation of biodiversity.

On Wednesday 27 May, the Amber – the Baltic Jewel exhibition will open at the Goldsmiths' Centre in London. The exhibition will feature amber jewellery, photographs and textile art.

On 22 May 2015 the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Council (Coreper) endorsed the terms of an agreement between the Latvian presidency and European Parliament representatives on the reform of the Travel Package Directive. The Competitiveness Council will be invited to confirm the political agreement at its meeting on 28 May.

In the latest short film from the #mindpower project, lines written by the Latvian poetess Aspazija travel to the cradle of European culture – Greece – where the musician Psarantonis affirms that culture can unite nations.

Today, the 4th Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit – a high-level meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the EU countries and six partner countries organised within the framework of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union – ended in Riga with the adoption of the Summit Declaration.

On Tuesday 19 May, the guest performance by the Latvian National Opera (LNO) of Arturs Maskats’ opera Valentina hosted by the Deutsche Oper Berlin earned rapturous applause from the German audience.

Although the European Union's (EU) Eastern Partnership (EaP) policy is not directly related to EU enlargement, the EU's doors remain open for the EaP countries. This was the opinion voiced today by the Latvian Foreign Minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, at the close of the EU's EaP Civil Society Conference. It is important that the EaP countries continue to carry out reforms, even when these can be painful, the Foreign Minister pointed out.