Today, the Saeima approved the National Development Plan for 2021-2027 (NAP2027), which sets out the strategic goals, priorities and tasks for the sustainable and balanced development of Latvia in the next seven-year planning period.
There were 77 votes in favor, two against and two abstentions, but 11 abstentions.
Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis (S), the rapporteur of the draft decision, introduced the NAP2027 to the deputies, noted that the National Development Plan (NDP) has never been completed, but its support in the Saeima is considered to be a “starting shot”. He also explained that although the document was a long-term plan, it also included short-term solutions to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 crisis.
Discussing the draft decision, Daniels Pavļuts (AP!) Noted that although Latvia has made significant progress since the adoption of the previous NDP, it still lags behind its neighbors in many important indicators, such as health care and poverty reduction. Accordingly, he emphasized that NAP2027 provides significant support for medicine, digital development, green growth, media literacy and also culture.
In his turn, Jānis Butāns (JKP) emphasized that NAP2027 shows a vision of what the transport sector in Latvia will be like in the future.
Several deputies, including Andris Kazinovskis and Dana Reizniece-Ozola (ZZS), pointed out that the NAP2027 pays too little attention to reducing inequalities between Riga and the regions.
However, Jānis Dombrava (VL-TB / LNNK) expressed satisfaction that NAP2027 had managed to include and reflect the most important issues for his party, including the exclusion of measures to promote immigration and the inclusion of an action map to promote public health by reducing tobacco and alcohol dependence.
Regīna Ločmele-Luņova (S), on the other hand, noted that NAP2027 did not comply with the Satversme, as it insufficiently reduces the risks of poverty for the population. Aldis Gobzems also criticized the draft decision, emphasizing that it was a “bureaucratic document” that did not say anything. He also pointed to a number of negative statistical indicators, in which Latvia is at the top.
Sandis Riekstins (JKP) stated in the debate that NAP2027 could not be supported because it was intended to reduce the existing support for sports.
The Saeima press service explained that NAP2027 is aimed at changing the habits of the society, striving for a higher quality of life, a more knowledgeable society, smarter entrepreneurship and greater responsibility for the quality of the environment in Latvia. The basis for this is a high-quality, efficient and developed education system that provides lifelong education to support the growth of every inhabitant of Latvia and the purposeful use of the acquired knowledge.
Parliament’s decision notes that the rapid spread of Covid-19 around the world and the measures taken to contain the pandemic have had a serious impact on national economic development. The crisis caused by the pandemic is also a serious test for Latvian society and the state. It is an opportunity to change habits and actions, plan national development and the state budget to achieve clearly defined goals, rather than fragmented by sectors, direct more resources to more productive growth of future sectors and ideas, less – to maintain an unproductive economic structure.
The decision states that the Covid-19 crisis has already demonstrated the relevance and importance of the NAP2027 theme “Change Habits – The Road to Development” and the strategic goals of productivity and income, equal opportunities, regional development and social trust in terms of national sustainability.
Given that the macroeconomic projections for the coming years are uncertain, different future scenarios may materialize for the global distribution of Covid-19. The country’s long-term development also depends on the constraints imposed by Covid-19 and state aid measures, so it is important to make prudent investments in the areas on which public safety and health and mitigation of the Covid-19 wave most directly depend, the decision said.
During this period, MEPs call on the Cabinet of Ministers to urgently implement and strengthen measures in the field of health care and public security to attract human resources to the state-paid health care services sector and improve the quality and accessibility of health care, especially for socially vulnerable people. It also called for measures to strengthen the capacity of the health care system, develop a centralized electronic patient health record and remote health services, cooperation capacity of the Ministry of Health, health care and security institutions and disaster and crisis preparedness, increasing state budget funding for health care, including salaries medical practitioners, as well as providing investments from EU funds.
The decision calls for a targeted effort to bring public budget funding for health care close to or even above the EU average during the NAP2027 implementation period and to maintain the public sector as a key player in the public care system by providing an adequate network of treatment facilities throughout the country.
In the field of social protection and equal opportunities, MEPs call for special attention to be paid to ensuring a minimum income for all members of society and access to social, psychological and material support, especially for people in crisis and households, people at social risk and poverty and social exclusion. vulnerable groups.
The decision also calls on the economy to provide the necessary state support to facilitate the availability of working capital and capital for companies, so that they can overcome the effects of the crisis more quickly and continue to improve their productivity. It also called for a digital transformation of the economy, taking advantage of the new opportunities offered by e-commerce and e-government, introducing new forms of employment, developing higher digital skills, high-quality data infrastructure, information and communication technology solutions and greater electronicisation of public services.
The decision also calls for strengthening the capacity of active labor market policies to respond to rising short-term unemployment, as well as for developing and implementing sustainable labor market policies and a flexible lifelong learning system, enabling citizens to successfully enter the labor market, support targeted investment in enterprises. flexibility and ability to adapt existing plants and service delivery platforms for the production of new, marketable products and services, including by promoting a more efficient use of local resources.
MEPs call for support for investment in infrastructure important for public security, energy efficiency, including district heating, and the development of security of supply for local economies as part of a comprehensive national defense to promote resilience, crisis resilience and recovery as soon as possible. to support the strengthening of the rule of law and investment protection.
The decision emphasizes the need to promote a more rapid and sustainable transformation of the structure of the Latvian economy during the NAP2027 implementation period, to increase targeted public and private sector investments in science and education, especially in higher education and lifelong learning, as well as research and development.
The deputies also point out that the Saeima has decided to include regional development in the set of strategic goals of the NAP2027 and that the initiated administrative-territorial reform must help solve such challenges as promoting polycentric development, reducing peripheral effects and strengthening cultural and historical diversity in new administrative territories. The Cabinet of Ministers is instructed to assess the potential of development centers in the merged local governments as a result of administrative-territorial reform and to propose to the Saeima a review of development centers specified in the Latvian Sustainable Development Strategy until 2030 together with the mid-term evaluation of NAP2027.
The decision also emphasizes the need to preserve and nurture Latvia’s cultural heritage, promote creative processes, develop a diverse cultural environment, fully operate in the European and world cultural space, provide support to the cultural and media industries to reduce the crisis and recover, create socially responsible and sustainable employment models. in these sectors, as they play a crucial role in shaping national identity and the functioning of a democratic society.
During the development of NAP2027, discussions between deputies and experts have taken place in the Saeima Sustainable Development Commission, other Saeima commissions and various forums on NAP2027 priorities, sectoral analysis and their development perspectives, thus all parties have made significant contributions to NAP2027 content.
The NDP is the main medium-term planning document, which defines the national development goals, priorities and directions of action in each of them, as well as the results to be achieved and the responsible institutions.
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