The Constitutional Court is visited by the USA Ambassador to Latvia Nancy Bikoff Pettit
On Friday, 16 March, the President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele met the Ambassador of the United States of America (hereinafter – USA) to Latvia Nancy Bikoff Pettit. During the meeting, the parties discussed the recent developments in the sphere of justice, as well as the issues related to the strengthening of constitutional identity and raising public awareness of constitutional values.
The USA Ambassador Nancy Bikoff Pettit noted that the USA Embassy in Latvia paid special attention to providing support to Latvia in the fields of defence and security, as well as for the promotion of economic growth. The Ambassador stressed that those matters were closely linked with the Latvian legal environment, which, in turn, had a substantial influence on business development and attraction of investment.
The President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele provided an insight into the recent developments in the work of the Constitutional Court and informed the Ambassador about the published Report on the Work of the Constitutional Court in 2017. She emphasised the high level of professionalism and expertise of the Constitutional Court judges and pointed out the binding force of the Court’s judgments. Ineta Ziemele also underscored the strict methodology – for evaluating infringements of fundamental rights, as well as the matters of quality of legislation – used to produce Constitutional Court judgments.
Speaking about the promotion of statehood consciousness in the society, the President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele highlighted several communication projects initiated by the Constitutional Court for public information and school youth education purposes. The parties were at one in thinking that it was necessary to strengthen the statehood consciousness of the society, speaking about the fundamental values of Latvia as a democratic state governed by the rule of law. In this respect, a significant contribution could be made by mass media representatives, considering their important role in the formation of public opinion.