A special law to ensure the operation of municipalities in the eastern border area is not only desirable, but necessary. This is the view of the heads of the border region municipalities.
The idea of the need for such a law was put forward by the Chairman of the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments, Gints Kaminskis. He acknowledged that people, of course, live throughout Latvia, but in the border area they face enormous challenges in providing services. In addition, the security risks characteristic of the region, related to the manifestations of unfriendly neighbouring states, must be taken into account. Considering this, border areas must receive special treatment from the state, which could be achieved by drafting a special law, said G. Kaminskis.
“We need such a law! We believe it must clearly establish what exactly constitutes the border area and set out how the disruptions to economic activity will be compensated. The law should provide bonuses; otherwise the border area will be left without people,” says the Chairman of Augšdaugava Municipality Council, Vitālijs Aizbalts. He stresses that border municipalities spend ten percent and more of their budget on various social benefits, while in Riga and other large cities only one percent is allocated for this. “This is not fair if we want the whole country to develop,” the municipal leader adds.
The Chairman of Krāslava Municipality Council, Gunārs Upenieks, also points out that it is still not clearly defined what the border area is, and this would be one of the issues that the law should resolve.
He also reminds that, due to aggressive neighbours, entrepreneurship in the border area is hampered because banks do not want to provide loans. “The presence of the border does not encourage starting a business, banks do not give loans, insurers also have a different attitude, and there are various technical restrictions as well — all this should be resolved,” says G. Upenieks, who fears that without a special law there will soon be no people living in the border area at all.
“A law is needed; this is a special place, it is the Eastern border, it is a special region, and it is important that people do not feel disadvantaged,” says the head of Balvi Municipality, Jānis Trupovnieks. In his view, the law is needed not only to resolve the inconveniences residents face due to security measures, but also to set out various everyday exceptions. For example, the municipality he heads needs buses to transport schoolchildren. However, under the current rules, the municipality must purchase the more expensive electric buses. “There are reliefs and support, but even so we still have to take out a loan, we do not have enough money, and this creates social tension, because a large part of our budget is diverted to social benefits. Maybe in Riga this works, but here with us it does not,” says J. Trupovnieks.
All the municipal leaders surveyed particularly stress that unless the inequality between the state centre and the border area is eliminated, there will soon be no residents left in the border area, because starting a business is difficult, mobility is limited, and there are other problems due to which up to 80% of school leavers leave their native regions and never return.
Originally published at https://inc-baltics.com/agresorvalstim-blakus-dzivojosie-velas-sev-specialu-likumu-bez-ta-pierobeza-izmirsot/
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