A case on 2011 State Budget Law sub-programme has been initiated
The First Panel of the Constitutional Court has initiated a case “On Compliance of Sub-programme 23.00.00 of the Law “On the State Budget 2011” with Article 1 of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia”.
Article 1 of the Satversme provides that Latvia is an independent and democratic republic. The Applicants, namely members of the 10th Saeima hold that the contested norm infringes principles of a democratic republic that follow from Article 1 of the Satversme.
The Contested Norm establishes the amount of financial resources to be allocated to the State Road Fund in 2011. It has been indicated in the application that, pursuant to the Law “On Roads”, the funding should constitute about 220.5 million lats; however, the contested norm establishes the funding only at the amount of 80.6 million lats. Consequently, the principle of lawfulness that provides that, in a democratic republic, the parliament shall observe laws adopted by it has been breached. The contested norm infringes legitimate expectations of car drivers and entrepreneurs.
The Saeima (Parliament) was asked to provide, before 11 July 2011, a reply on factual circumstances of the case and legal justification thereof. The term of preparation of the case is 9 October 2011.
Linked case: 2011-11-01