Dear participants,
Dear family members of Gustavs Zemgals,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I
I am very pleased to greet you all here today at Riga Castle. It is an even greater pleasure to celebrate together the 150th birthday of the excellent statesman, the second President of Latvia Gustavs Zemgals.
You have probably just viewed the new addition in the ceiling painting of the Festival Hall, where painter Andris Eglītis has given a vivid interpretation of the moment of proclaiming the state of Latvia on 18 November 1918. If we look at the painting again, we will most definitely recognise in it the image of the man we are celebrating today.
The state of Latvia was dreamed, proclaimed and created by many, but among them Gustavs Zemgals played a special role.
He was the one to oversee the adoption of the act of proclamation of the Republic of Latvia on 18 November 1918. As the chair of the meeting, after the reading of the organisation protocol of the People’s Council of Latvia, he announced that the People’s Council of Latvia has assumed sovereign power over the state of Latvia and a new state had been established.
II
Immediately after the proclamation of the state — on that very same day — Gustavs Zemgals together with Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis signed the Appeal to Latvian Citizens.
All of the acts I have mentioned, as well as the platform of the People’s Council of Latvia, which was adopted the night before, together formed the first provisional constitution of Latvia, which was later in 1920 replaced by the second provisional constitution until 1922, when the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia, which is still in force today, came into effect.
These constitutional acts, which were co-drafted and signed by Gustavs Zemgals, reflect the fundamental standard of our state and legal system — the nation’s desire as expressed by the People’s Council of Latvia for Latvia to be an independent, democratic republican state within the ethnographic Latvian borders embodying the principle of a Latvian national state.
This is the foundation of our Satversme, the 100th anniversary of which we will celebrate next year, as well as the whole system of our state. Latvia is an independent, democratic republic, it is a law-based and national state where the sovereign power lies with the people of Latvia.
I have always stressed that we have a successful and strong democracy. Its success and strength always need to be seen in context. If we look back at the first period of independence during the 1920s and 1930s, we see that democracy was maintained in Latvia far longer than in most European countries, where it has already waned. Thus, despite all the naysayers, we can consider our democracy strong, and we can take pride in our democrats from the time of establishing and strengthening the state, as well as today, as we remember those who restored our independence and the Satversme 30 years ago.
III
A tradition of Latvia’s democracy and Riga Castle was already established during the inter-war period — to remember and honour the first President of Latvia Jānis Čakste.
Čakste has become one of the greatest symbols of the statehood and democracy of Latvia. He was the first to introduce democratic traditions and shaped the democratic identity of our society.
Yet this democracy does not live and rely merely on one man's strength and example alone. In the days of Čakste and Zemgals, as well as today we see that democracy can quickly crumble and fail, if the first president-democrat is not succeeded by other democrats, or, quite the contrary: official positions fall to autocrats or populists to whom democratic values are foreign.
That is precisely why today it is important that we remember also our second President of Latvia, who seemingly simply just continued the road embarked upon by Jānis Čakste and followed his example. However, it is crucially important, that it was Gustavs Zemgals, with his values and worldview, who became the second President of Latvia. For any new democracy, not only first, but also the second and third presidents are critical as they strengthen the foundations laid and through daily routine continue the life and development of the state and democracy, they establish tradition.
IV
In my address on 8 July 2019 after giving the solemn oath, I reflected upon my predecessors in the position of President of Latvia. I am pleased to have two of them here today.
As regards Gustavs Zemgals, I said then and I can reiterate it today, that I highly appreciate his humbleness and humility in holding the highest offices of the state of Latvia. Indeed, the keywords to characterise the life’s work of Gustavs Zemgals in the name of Latvia, are “a sense of responsibility” and “servility”. He rose to the occasion when Latvia needed it and when there was no one else.
We are grateful to him for his contribution in the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia and chairing the People’s Council of Latvia. The People’s Council of Latvia was our first parliament and it was headed by Gustavs Zemgals. We are grateful to him that in that complicated time when the People’s Council of Latvia was established prior to the proclamation of the state of Latvia, as well as during the first half year after the proclamation, he chaired the parliament as it then was until the Saeima was established as the parliament in 1922.
We recall the footprints he has left in the office of the President of Latvia by irreversibly developing the institution of a democratic president and agreeing to run for president only when the Saeima was unable to select a new president following the death of Jānis Čakste as this was already starting to resemble a political crisis.
After his presidency, he continued his political and social activity. His agreeing to become minister of finance under Prime Minister Marģers Skujenieks after the end of his presidency, is still often undervalued. At that time, Latvia was experiencing the global economic crisis.
His role in the development of the city of Riga is also a little known fact among the general public. Let us recall that he was Mayor of Riga from 1918 till 1920. He performed these duties at a time when the capital of Latvia was rapidly growing and recovering from World War I. This moment in the biography of Gustavs Zemgals also needs to be properly appreciated. Moreover, he was the first Latvian to become Mayor of Riga 700 years after the city was founded.
V
I am certain that the excellent presentations at today’s conference will provide us with many valuable thoughts and ideas about Gustavs Zemgals, about the fates of Latvia’s democracy and its value to all of us.
Allow me to just briefly highlight two notions, which I associate the name of Gustavs Zemgals with.
First of all, loyalty to the Satversme and protecting it with all of the authority granted to the President of Latvia even when the majority of the Saeima, including people who had participated in the drafting of the Satversme, were willing to violate it.
Second, his social and political activity in nurturing the new state of Latvia and its democracy. The Satversme demands every citizen to take responsibility for Latvia and democratically participate in national matters. In this regard, Gustavs Zemgals is a role model to all of us.
VI
I am grateful to everyone who responded to the invitation and took part in organising the various events through which we are celebrating the 150th birthday of Gustavs Zemgals this year. Today I would like to give special thanks to the rapporteurs of this conference for their responsiveness and willingness to share with us their opinions about the great statesman Gustavs Zemgals.
Let us remember and honour our strong democrats!