Greetings!
Honourable Speaker of the Saeima!
Deputies!
Ministers!
Distinguished guests!
It must truly be said that the idea to organise a conference on the eastern border region, to assess where we stand now following the adoption of a special plan, is a good one. In my view, we very often speak about the importance of the eastern border, and a great deal of work has been done to strengthen it, both in term of migration control and what is now modernly termed counter-mobility measures. A significant amount of resources has been invested. However, we find ourselves in a situation where there is a dual understanding of the eastern border.
On the one hand, we frequently discuss the region's economic performance, which significantly falls behind the national average. I have visited the districts of Latgale on numerous occasions, as well as those eastern border districts situated in Vidzeme. We very often discuss the fact that people are leaving, that economic activity is declining.
On the other hand, during each of my regional visits – most recently in Rēzekne municipality – I see highly motivated people who do not look at their district or parish with the attitude of “everything is bad.” They are very motivated. They may not calculate GDP or compare it with national or European indicators. Instead, they simply take care of their farms, their businesses, their employees on a daily basis. They say that it is not so easy to find workers. The potential is quite significant. And then we encounter the situation that, whether it be banks or financial institutions, they see Latvia only within 70–100 km of Riga, and there are no loans, no special business promotion measures available.
We see that people continue to maintain culture, maintain art. But again, an example from Rēzekne municipality. I quite recently visited “Pīterkolns”, where, in order to develop and preserve Latgale’s culture, the Latgalian culture and language, people turn not to the State Culture Capital Foundation, but to the Rural Support Service and compete with farms.
Is that right? Why our Culture Capital Foundation is not able to allocate some funding specifically for these activities? Precisely to preserve the distinctive cultural mentality of the eastern border region? Does this require a plan? No. Does it require any guidelines? No. Does it require common sense? Yes. And unfortunately, with all due respect to the plan, which is a very well-written document, in the end, its implementation rests with us, with our people, with our responsible officials. And then we begin to see some rather interesting twists. It turns out that there is no money in one place, no money in another place, in a third place they say – come back another time. And in the end, it is the question of attitude that very much troubles people in the eastern border region. And this attitude begins in Riga and often continues across many responsible institutions.
And therefore, when we speak of plans, that is all well and good. But when we speak of their implementation, when we speak of how real people feel, that differs entirely from those plans. From this perspective, I hope that this conference will not only feature beautiful speeches about how much has been accomplished and how much has been achieved, but that it will also highlight the real problems.
Another point I would like to make is that one of the essential issues in the development and, indeed to a large extent, the preservation of the border region is not only military matters, not only security matters. These are important. People are truly concerned about the situation, and the dialogue is needed. There is always room to improve dialogue. I know that both the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior are working extensively on this. I know that, all too often, we have to deal with disinformation. But one crucial matter is education and access to education. And this is not only about schools, it is also about higher education. I believe it is extremely important that there is cooperation between universities and businesses not only across Latvia, but particularly in the border regions. It is essential that Latgale retains at least one fully-fledged university. In this case, it is Daugavpils University. I am aware that the decision on this has been postponed. I think it is high time we clearly state that we will no longer conduct any further experiments with universities, and that Daugavpils University must remain. I spoke about this during my visit to the city and municipality of Daugavpils. There are certain issues which we simply must set aside once and for all, stop debating, and declare that we are indeed prepared perhaps to contribute more, perhaps to revise somewhat the criteria imposed on both the education and higher education systems. But we must truly act on this, because we understand that the potential of the border region, its development, is unique.
I also recently visited Malta Secondary School, which from next year will become the Pēteris Radziņš Military Secondary School. I believe these are the good examples where we can see investment. We see the Border Guard College. We see that there are developments taking place. But of course, when developing school programmes, it is equally important to consider how to strike a balance between the quality of education and access to education, and these are by no means self-evident matters.
There are many problems to be solved. We are very capable of drafting plans. We are capable of drafting visions. We are capable of drafting strategies. The question is – how do we implement them? That is why today I wish you not only a discussion in which we pat each other on the back and speak of how well everything is going, but a real understanding of the two or three issues that need to be addressed.
And finally, this is, in fact, an election year. I can say to the deputies, ministers, and politicians sitting here – dear friends, those of you who will be candidates in Latgale’s, and perhaps also Vidzeme’s, constituencies, those who have spent the past three or four years, every year, every month or every day, in your electoral district – people remember you. But those who have been there only before the elections, well, I wish you luck. Because people there have unfortunately formed the view that those who turn up two or three months before the election, show up, then disappear, and then reappear only for the next election, are indeed part of the problem – the very problem of power being disconnected from the people.
I wish you a good conference, good speeches, but above all, good results!
