On Tuesday, 2 November, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the draft law “Law on Construction of the External Land Border Infrastructure” submitted by the Ministry of the Interior. The draft law has been developed to ensure swift and efficient construction of the infrastructure required for the protection of the external land border by establishing a special legal framework.
The Law will regulate the division of responsibilities between the Ministry of the Interior, other ministries, public authorities and capital companies in the preparation, design and supervision of border construction. The Law will assign a higher priority to the harmonisation of construction-related decisions in all public administration institutions and greater involvement and cooperation among public authorities.
“Since the declaration of the state of emergency in August, the Ministry of the Interior has taken a number of measures to find a short-term solution - a barbed wire fence on the Latvia-Belarus border by the end of November. However, it is also necessary to accelerate the construction of the permanent fence. The urgent construction of the external border is a matter of national security; however, the current legal framework has hampered the swift adoption of effective solutions. This draft law will significantly accelerate the construction of the permanent border and will apply to both the Latvia-Belarus and Latvia-Russia border," said Marija Golubeva, Minister for the Interior.
The government has requested the Saeima to consider the draft law as a matter of urgency in order to ensure faster progress in the construction of the eastern border.
The Law will determine the division of responsibilities in the construction of the external land border. The State Border Guard and the Provision State Agency will be responsible for marking and measuring the frontier zone and for the management of property matters. The Provision State Agency will be responsible for identifying user requirements to develop technical specifications. The state-owned capital company “Latvia’s State Forests” in cooperation with the Provision State Agency will be responsible for deforestation, while the state-owned capital company “State Real Estate” will be responsible for the procurements, management, organisation, supervision of construction works.
In order to monitor and co-ordinate the development of the external border infrastructure, it is envisaged to set up a Monitoring Committee for the Construction of the External Border Infrastructure. The work of the Committee will be organized and it will be chaired by the Ministry of the Interior.
Prepared by:
Linda Curika
Adviser to the Minister for the Interior on Strategic Communications