Economics, Latvia, Legislation

After a meeting with the presidents of the Baltic States today, Zatlers told LETA that he will speak with all political parties on March 31, so that he could understand what has been accomplished the past three months, whether or not these parties are satisfied at what has been accomplished, as well as future plans.

Zatlers also awaits for such an evaluation from the prime minister and Saeima. Afterwards, he will give his assessments on March 31 live on Latvian Television.

''At the moment, we need a clear position from the government and Saeima on where we are heading in this time of economic troubles, so that we can gain as much trust from the public as possible,'' said Zatlers.

As reported, in the wake of the January 13 protests and rioting in Riga's Old Town, Zatlers assigned three tasks to Saeima and three tasks to the then Ivars Godmanis (Latvia's First Party/Latvia's Way) government. Zatlers said that if the tasks are not completed by the end of March, he would call a referendum on dissolving the 9th Saeima.

The first task is for Saeima to pass amendments to the Constitution, which would give the nation the right to propose dissolving the parliament. Second, Saeima must amend the laws on elections in accordance with Zatlers' proposals, to eliminate the principle of the so-called "locomotives" or the election tickets being headed by popular personalities. The third task for Saeima is to set up a supervisory council that will supervise the work on an economic recovery plan for Latvia and the utilization of international loan for Latvia. Out of these three tasks, only the Constitutional amendments have not been passed, which is currently in its second reading at Saeima.

Zatlers also gave three tasks to the government: to draw up an economic recovery plan for Latvia and start implementing it, appoint a new head for the Corruption Prevention Bureau (CPB), and urgently draw up a government and public administration reorganization plan. The CPB has a new head, however, the other tasks have not yet been carried out.