The winners of the future politician title of the 11th Youth Saeima have been determined

On Friday, April 26, at the conclusion of the 11th Youth Saeima, the winners of the title of future politician were awarded: Emīls Bergs, Kristaps Kārlis Naglis, Arturs Pīlācis and Madara Senkāne. These young people, working in the Youth Saeima commissions, showed particularly active participation in the discussion and development of proposals.

While awarding the young people, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, the member of the Speaker of the Saeima, emphasized the passion and zeal of young people in defending their ideas: “It is worth doing a lot, doing it passionately, because it gives you the opportunity to convince and inspire others. We come here together with ideas because we want the best for our country – that is the most important community.”

Young people gathered in the parliament today both in sittings and worked in four commissions. In the second half of the day, young people discussed the ideas supported by the commissions and their inclusion in the declaration of the 11th Youth Saeima. In both meetings and commissions, young people debated issues of education, defense, health and the European Union.

The sessions of the 11th Youth Saeima were chaired by the Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa and the co-chairwoman Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica and the Presidium of the Youth – members whose submitted ideas received the most support in the 11th Youth Saeima elections: Eduards Liepiņš, Kate Sūniņa, Vladimirs Orlovs and Alans Baguzins.

On the other hand, the work in commissions for young people was led by Agita Zariņa-Stūre, chairman of the Education, Culture and Science Commission, Igors Rajevs, deputy of the Defense, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Commission, Edmunds Cepurītis, chairman of the European Affairs Commission, and Leila Rasima, chairman of the Human Rights and Public Affairs Commission.

The Youth Saeima is brought closer to the real work of parliament – the process of drafting laws in commissions and Saeima sessions. The Youth Saeima promotes the civic involvement of young people in making important decisions, gives them the opportunity to express and defend their ideas from the podium of the parliament, as well as to get to know the everyday life of the members more closely.

Celebrating 20 years since Latvia has been a member of the European Union and NATO, this year the motto of the 11th Youth Saeima was focused on the future – “Latvia after 20 years”. In 20 years, today’s youth will be leading our country. Young people were invited to think about how the decisions made today, the education system, investment in national security and other conditions will affect the way we will live in Latvia in 2044.

In order to run for the 11th Youth Saeima, young people had to submit an idea for the elections and collect votes in support of it. In total, 100 young people were elected to the Youth Saeima, but today 91 young people gathered at the Saeima. This year, the Youth Saeima was formed by reducing the mockery of parliamentary work procedures, while devoting more time to debates in commissions and meetings.