On 21 January European Voice held a debate to discuss the programme, priorities and preoccupations of Latvia’s presidency of the Council of the EU with main speakers, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Latvia’s state Minister of European Affairs, Andris Piebalgs adviser on Latvia’s presidency of the Council of the EU and MEP Roberts Zīle.
Source: Robert Szile, twitter
Ms Lukaševica developed the content of the three top priorities for the Latvian Presidency: a competitive, digital and engaged Europe and claimed that Latvia will use the Presidency to raise awareness of EU. The main priority areas of the Latvian Presidency’s six month programme will be: 1) EU competitiveness and growth; 2) using Europe’s digital potential to boost smart, sustainable and inclusive growth for the EU; and 3) strengthening the EU’s role as a global actor. Explaining the way a Presidency runs, she said that it is for the presidency to feel how things are evolving.
For the next six months, the Latvian Presidency aims to make significant progress on the European Commission’s investment package, and move forward with a strategy for the Energy Union – both aimed at boosting Europe’s competitiveness. In order to foster a digital Europe, the Latvian Presidency of the Council will focus on putting the EU Telecoms Package in place.
More precisely:
- Juncker Commission and investment plan – Latvia’s priorities reflect what Juncker Commission wants to deliver. That’s the only way to success. Latvia aims to reach an agreement on Juncker investment plan during its Presidency.
- Energy Union – For Latvian presidency the first priority for the energy union is energy security, but if we want to limit climate change we inevitably turn to electricity. There is a need for power exchange, interconnectors, price competitiveness and sustainability. They do not see gas as a strategic issue and there will be a high-level conference in Riga on energy union in February.
- Digital Market – In June a Digital Assembly will take place in Riga. Commission will present proposals on digital single market in June. The idea is to open new opportunities for the digital economy
Concerning the events in Paris the speakers noted that Latvian Presidency had a few minutes or hours to react and they did so. Furthermore, Latvian presidency has worked hard to get 2015 to be European Year of Development taking into consideration always Latvian NGOs suggestions.
In the end, Mr. Piebalgs added that ‘’I care if we run a good presidency. Our priorities are European priorities’’, while Ms Lukaševica underlined that a good Presidency would create a better Europe and better Latvia.