On Thursday, 8 September 2016, Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis held a meeting with Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, in Rīga. During the meeting, the officials discussed matters relating to the future of Europe and the upcoming European Council meeting to be held on September 16 in Bratislava.
M.Kučinskis stated that, at the meeting in Bratislava, the European leaders must be serious in relation to what is being decided. “Everything is built on the respect for the Member States’ obligations and the implementation of the decisions made. One of the reasons for the growing Euroskepticism is exactly the fact that we fail to comply with the promises we have made,” said the Prime Minister.
He also expressed the view that Latvia is ready to discuss defence issues, while pointing out that Latvia does not support the establishment of a single EU army; instead, Latvia favours the development of an EU-NATO cooperation. “Security should be seen in a wider context. The European and Latvian citizens' anxiety is still associated with the economic situation, employment and growth”, said M.Kučinskis. D. Tusk also pointed out that Europe “must be careful with the idea of the creation of a single army,” thus expressing support for Latvia’s position on this issue.
As regards the UK referendum, the Prime Minister stressed that it was largely inspired by internal rather than external migration, which, in turn, was caused by great economic disparities among the European Union states.
In addition, the two parties agreed that one of the main tasks now is the suspension of external migration flows, and to achieve this goal, it is necessary to strengthen the external borders of the European Union.
The European Council meeting will be held on September 16 in Bratislava.
Supplementary information:
Andrejs Vaivars
Press Secretary to the Prime Minister
Phone: +371 29228678
E-mail: Andrejs.Vaivars@mk.gov.lv