“For Latvia the Helsinki Accords of 1974 and the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 set historical processes in motion. The ten points in the Accords spoke about sovereign equality, respect for the rights inherent in sovereignty. They called for refraining from the threat or use of force, inviolability of frontiers and territorial integrity of states,” emphasised Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, in her address at a conference devoted to the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords organised on 24 April by the Saeima and the European Movement – Latvia. 

In her address at the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, urged EU parliaments to ratify the Association Agreements with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. This year the annual Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments was held on 20 – 21 April in Rome.

“This is a very special day for me. I am standing in the very heart of a proud, beautiful and inspiring country. I feel the closeness of the warm blood which runs through its veins and has always linked us with you – the mighty Lithuanian nation. We are standing underneath the fluttering Baltic flags, recalling what has been achieved during the past quarter of a century and looking with confidence at future challenges,” said Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, on Wednesday, 11 March, in her address at the raising of the flags of the Baltic States at the Independence Square in Vilnius during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Restoration of Independence of Lithuania. 

On Thursday, 5 March, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, at the opening of a high-level foreign policy and defence conference emphasised: “Europe has sobered up during the last year. Over a relatively short period, the international society realised that some international agreements are actually ineffective, as was the case with the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances signed in 1994, which, among other issues, stipulates Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The sanctity of its borders is violated. The values are challenged”. 

On Monday, 23 February, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, addressed representatives from the parliaments of all the EU member states who had gathered in the Saeima to discuss social affairs. In her opening address, the Speaker emphasised that social maturity is  revealed  by society’s attitude towards the most vulnerable groups and that the EU member states must join their efforts in finding new and effective ways of including socially vulnerable people in both social life and the labour market.

On Tuesday, 27 January, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, participated in a memorial event in Poland to mark the 70th anniversary of liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she stated that the horrors of war are once again ravaging the borders of Europe.

Together with other countries in the region, Latvia has understood at an early stage that the need for security is a priority. This reveals Latvia and the Baltic region as a sensitive international seismograph which detects regional geopolitical challenges, notices potential eruptions before others are aware of them and calls for measures to deal with them. This was emphasised by Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, on Thursday, 22 January, in her address at the annual Foreign Policy Debate in the Saeima. The Speaker of the Saeima described 2014 as a turning point when the Baltics, whose previous concerns had gone unnoticed by the rest of Europe, became the initiator of reinforcing security.